HackHire

Tools Used

  • Figma
  • Google Slides
  • Python
  • Javascript

Overview

Like the previous hackathon, coming here was a last minute decision to come here instead of Princeton Hacks, and I couldn't have made a better decision. imma say right here though that we lost, very badly, but i aint even mad. this was by far the best hackathon ive been too, and it aint even close

before i continue glazing the hackathon hackhire was our project, and it was a platform for recruiters to easily assess candidates in a hackathon style event meant to replace the typical hiring process of OAs and techincal interviews

Talent 2.0

this was the GOAT hackathon. and with this being my last of the season (and the last of my 4x streak), im glad i made it my last. the food was amazing, venue was crazy decked out, and event itself was great.

starting with the location and venue, we were at NextJump's office and were able to roam around their top 3 floors. jungle gyms, actual gyms, and a yoga room made for a hacking area really accomodating, and someplace i would actually wanna work for an extended period of time. the space was modern and clean, and was right above the highline, and in one of the buildings id always wanted to be in whenever i walked the highline. we had roof access which made for a crazy first night dinner except it was a bit too cold to return to... we had three floors to explore and work on and even a gym which we used a bit. i remember doing work in the yoga room next to a mini jungle gym. speaking of which there was an actual jungle gym which we smoked some opps in, along with some hoops where we balled out. we also hit the gym n the showers and there were even some big ass bean bags to sleep on

food was also crazy. for the first time in my hackathon career, i had actual human food, not just pizza and redbulls. we had pasta, a selection of dishes, mexican, cake, it was all good

the event was also well organized, and i was even able to interview the organizer Ami about hosting hackathons, and its something id like to do in the future

Development

we started with initial drawings and a figma, which we worked with throughout the hackathon. we started actually coding on the 2nd day, with a lot of the development being handled by not me. we used python and pandas to develop some models for candidate selection. unlike most hackathons, we spent a lot of time on the idea and pitch. throughout the hackathon we had mentors come in and give us adviced, which we tried to incorporate into our final presentation. we also drafted a narrative and story before putting together slides to show off the product. after getting no sleep (which is something i said i wasnt gonna do after divhacks) we practiced the presentation a few times to prepare for the judges.

the idea for hackhire is that with the typical hiring process, companies rely too heavily on online assessments (OAs) which dont necessarily bring out the best candidates in terms of working on a team. we thought it would be better to officially incorporate hackathons as part of the process, where teamwork plays a larger part. hackhire is the platform meant for recruiters to organize and host in person hackathons for their companies. ideally a company would hire in waves or collaborate with multiple companies to gather cadidates together to have them both create a cool project and showcase their teamwork skills

Reflection

While we didnt win, i learned a lot during the hackathon. with a lot of participants being cornell master's students, we were in a losing fight, however this was an opportunity to see not necessarily what we did poorly, but what other groups did better. there were a surprising amount of business and marketing majors who had much better presentation and pitching skills than us, and their presentations were a lot better than ours. i realized how much presentation mattered at this event, with most of the winners having presentations far greater than anything you would see at a typical hackathon. for my next hackathon, i gotta focus on improving the presentation and putting a lot more effort into it.

i also realized that the public speakers carried at the event. one of the guys i thought was the best, Pradhi, I found was actually a sophomore CS major. apparently he just joined a public speaking club for his 1st year and i think thats the move. im tryna just up on my public speaking skills now

also w team: Samin, Sudiptto, Mahin, Ashleigh, Evan. we WILL run this back and get our getbacks

F24

im not gonna lie, its felt like a whole year has passed with everything ive done up to this point in the semester. its only november but i feel like its been a year since the beginning of the semester. fall 2024 isnt done yet, but im glad i started participating in hackathons this semester, theyve been really fun and being able to just create stuff for fun is great. hoping winter and spring turn out even better, and im able to practice all the skills ive been wanting to