Get ready for a Hackathon

Gurnaaz Kaur

A group of four students have come up with a novel idea of bringing the IT community and school students together. This they plan to do through Hackathon Navikaranam. 

Brainchild of Devansh Gupta, a class XII student from Strawberry Fields High School, Hackathon Navikaranam 2018, powered by TestingXperts, is a unique event that aims to broaden exposure and foster greater access to the world of computer technology for young coding enthusiasts. It provides a platform for aspiring engineers to transform their tech ideas into reality and win prizes worth Rs 50,000.

“Last year, Infosys Chandigarh campus had organised a Hackathon where they gave us real life problems, to which we had to find simple solutions by making programmes, applications, websites etc. We had 48 hours to work on our solution. It promoted the youth to get involved, put on their thinking cap, use technology and deliver. It gave us an insight into a real office environment. About 35 teams participated in this event. The team sent from my school included Anshul Shelke (class XI), Mehul Sen and Sanchit Monga (class XII) and me. We won the first prize. It was a great initiative and learning experience. That’s when I decided to organise a hackathon exclusively for schools and give a similar experience, that sense of achievement for all the students of tricity,” shares an excited Devansh. He teamed up with three more students— Aashman Verma, Ridhi Gupta and Naima Chhabra. 

Aashman, a student of Strawberry Fields, is managing the overall marketing activities. Ridhi, an economics undergraduate from PU, is taking care of graphic designs and content management. Naima, a student of Carmel Convent School, is looking after the overall branding.

“The planning started just after they completed their exams in March. A complete hackathon guide was created. Then we planned steps for execution, including seeking venue partner, collaborating with IT industry experts, etc,” he shares.

On July 21 and 22 at TestingXperts, IT Park, Chandigarh