We gathered 13 teams from various parts of Ukraine, including students, interns, and career switchers who wanted to test their skills. The main requirements were the ability to code in C# and basic knowledge of GitHub. The hackathon was conducted via Discord. The platform, popular among gamers for communication, once again proved to be an effective tool for a hackathon as well. On September 6th, we gathered, introduced mentors and teams, presented tasks, and started to work.

We asked Maxim Kabakov, a .NET Developer at HYS Enterprise and the task initiator, about the purpose and goals of the hackathon.

What was the essence of the tasks for the participants? What did they have to do? 

This year, tasks were united by a common theme: creating a backend for a Telegram bot. We offered participants the opportunity to develop their own bot, which could be helpful for work or study. Teams could choose from the following options:

— A bot for managing conferences in Zoom
— A bot that extends the capabilities of Google Calendar
— A bot assistant for learning foreign languages

We aimed to engage participants with diverse skills, so each task included an optional frontend component, specifically the creation of a separate admin panel for managing the selected bot’s functionality. Our goal was not to limit participants in their choice of additional technologies and features for the project. Each team had the freedom to interpret the task in their own way and solve it based on their experience and relevant knowledge.

What exactly did mentors assess?

The most important aspects. The evaluation was divided into two parts: technical and presentational. First, we assessed the code the teams wrote, such as how well the developers mastered the chosen technologies, which approaches and architectural solutions they used, etc. The next part was the presentation of a functional prototype (if available). Here, we checked out creativity and the ability to present a working product. Non-standard approaches were specifically noted during the demonstrations.

This approach to evaluation allowed us to balance the assessment of both the technical level of task execution and the teams’ ability to work with real users and present their ideas.

Why is  hackathon important for professionals? What do they gain as professionals?

It is hard to overestimate the importance of a hackathon for participants. First of all, it offers experience in team collaboration and improves communication skills, which are essential traits of a modern IT specialist. We specifically focused on selecting tasks that would require communication between specialists from different fields in order to achieve good results. Secondly, it helps with personal resource management, as the task was complex but the time was limited. Thirdly, it fosters the development of technical skills, particularly by gaining experience working with various libraries and third-party resources.

What challenges did you face?

This iteration of the hackathon was different from the previous ones due to the complexity of the task, which raised the bar for participants. Although each of our hackathons is designed for beginners, I saw that some teams struggled due to a lack of experience and technical difficulties. Some simply didn’t have enough time to implement all of their ideas. Additionally, some participants faced power supply issues due to regular electricity outages. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the level of preparation among the teams. All of the winners deserve to earn their places and demonstrate a truly high level of internal communication and mastery of technologies they chose.

In conclusion

We also want to thank our mentors for their dedication and professionalism. Maxim Kabakov (.NET Developer), Dmitriy Barabash (.NET Developer), Alexey Smirnov (.NET Developer), Daniil Salivon (.NET Developer), Gleb Rutskyi (Front-End Developer), Philipp Bulanin (Front-End Developer), Roman Onofreychuk (.NET Developer). We wouldn’t have been able to implement all our ideas without people who love their work and are always willing to share their knowledge. All seven mentors worked perfectly in tandem and strived to help their mentees. The winners of the top three places received this kind of corporate-themed merchandise.

Also, the winners competed for gaming keyboards, headphones, Steam gift cards and additionally received certificates of acquired skills, which they can include in their CVs.

Feedback

First of all, we wanted to say that this was an incredibly valuable experience and a great event overall. Thanks to the organisers for the professional approach and assistance. We look forward to enjoying our tandem at this event again and are already eagerly awaiting next year. However, we also held a retrospective (just like after sprints 😄) on how to further improve some aspects, and we are sure that next year we will perform even better, as there is always a  room for improvement. A personal comment from me: this isn’t my first year participating, and I can honestly say I feel the dynamic change towards even more interesting tasks that are exciting to explore and implement. It’s already becoming a tradition to attend your hackathon once a year and come up with something cool.

Vlad, Team 1

I’m glad there’s a company that organises events like hackathons, podcasts, and conferences on various topics. Our team completed task #1, and the most challenging part was setting up the proper interaction with the Zoom API, particularly finding out how to correctly obtain an access token. I wish knowledge of integration with other applications was listed as a required skill in the hackathon terms. Thank you for organising this hackathon in such challenging times.

Roman, Team 9

Everything was great. Our mentor gave us plenty of attention and thoroughly advised us on all important and unclear points. It was also awesome that all teams had a chance to showcase their work, that was a good motivator. One thing I would improve is that at one hackathon, the organisers automatically searched for and added people to teams when there were not enough members, and that was really helpful.

Max, team 13

Mentors: Mentor Alexey explained the evaluation system and was ready to answer all the questions. We didn’t use the help of frontend mentors, so unfortunately, we can’t evaluate them.
Tasks: We unanimously believe that the tasks were well-chosen, diverse, and appropriate for the duration of the event.
Evaluation: There were some differences of opinion in our team: some thought the presentation was graded too highly, while others believed it was evaluated just right. Personally, I think the evaluation was fair: the code was prioritised, but the effort put into the presentation was also rewarded (some teams really went above and beyond with their presentations).

Thank you again for the opportunity to test our skills in practice. It was a unique and highly useful experience, and we were all happy to take part in your hackathon ❤️

Ruslan, Team 14

So, we have a year to reflect, make the evaluation process more transparent, and make team formation more flexible. We take all your suggestions into account and will definitely improve what we can. So let’s keep working! In these challenging times for everyone, we continue to grow teams, create new jobs, and passionately await the opportunity to hold a hackathon within the walls of our home office. And to not miss the next announcement of the upcoming tournament, subscribe to the HYS Events Telegram channel. See you soon!