The Opportunity
It all started with a poster.
My team and I stumbled across a hackathon called "Hack to Crack 2.0" in Maharashtra. As we reviewed the problem statements, one particular challenge in the healthcare domain using blockchain caught our attention. Not only was it interesting, but we already had an idea that aligned perfectly with the requirements.
As second-year students from the AIML department, both healthcare and blockchain were relatively new territories for us. But that's what hackathons are for, right? Diving into the unknown and exploring new possibilities. We did some research, conducted feasibility checks, prepared our pitch deck, and submitted our application.
Then, I completely forgot about it.
The Pleasant Surprise
About a week later, while checking my emails at 1 AM, I was shocked to find a two-day-old message stating we had been selected! The real challenge? The hackathon was scheduled for March 20-21, 2025 – perfectly aligned with our internal exams.
We faced a dilemma: internals or hackathon?
Guess which one we chose?
The Journey Begins
Our Team CodeZero consisted of Sathwik Shetty(Me) , Shreyas, Ritvik, and Khushbu. Due to time constraints, we needed to arrive a day before the hackathon, meaning we'd miss exams for three subjects. Thankfully, our supportive department teachers agreed to our leave request, and we booked our tickets.
A special mention to Shreyas's aunt Pallavi, who accommodated all four of us in Pune before and after the hackathon. She, along with Shreyas's uncle and grandmother, made us feel at home and boosted our confidence.
When we arrived at the venue, we were somewhat intimidated seeing participants from IITs, IISc, and numerous Smart India Hackathon winners. With over 100 finalist teams from 14 different states across India, the competition was fierce. But we knew what we had to do.
The Hackathon Day
Out of 15 teams in the healthcare domain, we had to make our mark. We divided the workload efficiently:
- I handled blockchain and backend
- Ritvik and Shreyas worked on AI and ML components
- Khushbu managed the frontend
By the end of the first evaluation round, our blockchain backbone was ready and deployed. Now we had to build everything else around it.
The All-Nighter
As night fell, Shreyas and Ritvik went to get some sleep. I, with my habit of staying awake during hackathons (despite normally sleeping 9+ hours daily), made regular trips to the canteen for coffee – about 10 cups in total!
With more than 40% of the work remaining, Ritvik returned at 4 AM. Khushbu was still working on the frontend when Ritvik and I briefly rested our heads on the table, asking her to wake us when she finished. But being the considerate person she is, Khushbu felt it would be rude to wake us and went to the hostel to sleep herself – despite unresolved bugs in the frontend!
I woke up about 10 minutes after she left and, unable to reach her by phone, took on the frontend debugging myself despite knowing very little JavaScript. After two grueling hours, I woke Ritvik to help while I shifted to backend work.
The Final Push
By 7 AM, all four of us were back at work, improving the UI. During the second round of mentoring, a new bug appeared while demonstrating our project to the judges – likely introduced during UI improvements. Somehow, we managed to get through that round.
With the final presentation just an hour away, Ritvik, Khushbu, and Shreyas prepared the slides while I remained determined to fix the bugs. After two adrenaline-fueled hours (the judging was delayed by 30 minutes), we were finally ready.
Our presentation went beautifully, and the judge was so impressed he had no suggestions for improvement!
The Results
During the awards ceremony, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. First, they announced the three main prizes, which we didn't win. Then came the domain-specific awards.
We sat on the edge of our seats as they announced: "The Champions of the Healthcare Domain is HC_003 Team CodeZero!"
We literally jumped with joy as we collected our prizes, all tiredness instantly forgotten.
We didn't win the overall championship, which we had anticipated – our problem statement focused more on ideas than technicality. But becoming domain champions among 100 teams from 14 states? That was more than enough for us!
What We Learned
- Sometimes, taking risks (like missing internals) can lead to incredible rewards
- Teamwork and clear division of responsibilities are crucial
- Last-minute bugs are inevitable – keep your cool
- Support systems (like Shreyas's family) make all the difference
- Taking on new domains might be intimidating but can be extremely rewarding
So the next time you're torn between playing it safe with your academics or diving into a new challenge – remember our story. Sometimes the right choice is to bunk those internals and win hackathons instead!
What's your hackathon story? Share in the comments below!
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