Hackathon, Finals

The Hackathon Finals were today (this morning, starting at 9:30 AM). Overall, there were 25 presenters… and we kept more or less the same order as yesterday. So with Chicago being later on the list, we presented closer to the end.

The one difference this time around was that we got as much of our group together as we could, to take the stage when our time came. And instead of me driving and talking, Shyamal would run the slides… and I’d hold the mic, free to gesture and move around a bit more.

We got done, and pretty much finished within the time limit (I got the buzzer yesterday, and had to stop abruptly). Today was much smoother.

And then, we got some lunch and came back for the Awards ceremony at 1:00PM for the Awards Ceremony. And to find out who won.

You’re not going to believe this: we got second place!

L to R it’s Zohair, Shyamal, Yibo (our intern), me, and Anjana. We’re holding a placeholder trophy, as the real one is getting shipped to us from NY.

A photo afterwards, with us sipping a bit of champagne. More team members this time. L to R it’s Rose (who served as a coach/adviser), Anjana, Laura, me, Yibo, Shyamal, and Sanket. Not pictured, some of our remote folks: Steven and Luis. And Sajit, who was out on paternity leave.

An amazing part of the award is that we get $3,000 to spend on food/celebration for our team.

There were a ton of amazing projects, and I’m still in awe that we placed. This was an incredible end to an incredibly hectic week. And it’s still such a blur that I’m still not convinced this actually happened.

Related:
Hackathon, Semi-Finals