The problem statement was the same for all students — to design a portal that has the potential to connect all stakeholders in the job market to help youngsters find employment. But what the students had to apply themselves to wasn't the backend or the software, it was all about the design itself. Why? Because the event was Design-athon, organised by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) along with Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H), Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and The Deverakonda Foundation. This six-week-long design-focused hackathon came to a conclusion on December 12, 2020 and saw Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana, award the winners. We caught up with the winners and asked them how they cracked the Design-athon.
It was only two to three months before the Design-athon that Manasa Gottimukkala from BVRIT Hyderabad College of Engineering for Women started growing more and more passionate about learning UI/UX. So the first winning team, consisting of her and Arepalli Sindhura, were truly overwhelmed by their victory. "We went with the 'less is more' approach. Our homepage was very simple, design-wise, because we did not want to clutter it," says the 20-year-old.
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The second winning team comprising Dama Sudheshna, Sahiti Vesangi and Seeram Kaushik from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology thought about developing their idea as a web platform alone so that even those without phones and access to apps can use it, like professors who are not tech-savvy yet. This web platform would prove to be easy to use. "We even included a facility for students to chat with mentors so that they can clarify all their doubts immediately," explains Sudheshna. However, they were facing a new challenge of coordinating online. Hence, Zoom and Google Meet came in handy. "There is so much emphasis on theory that sometimes, there is a lack of practicals. Hackathons like these truly test out theoretical knowledge and help us understand how much we really know," says the 20-year-old.
Throughout her engineering years, Deeksha Reddy has been coding. But when she was recently introduced to UI/UX, she found it interesting. So when she and her teammate Vardhan CM, also from St Martin’s Engineering College, participated in the event and were crowned the third winning team, it gave them confidence. "This was also the first time that I was displaying my work at a competition like this," she says.
Number game
2,300+
The number of students that participated
190+
The number of teams in total
50+
The number of colleges the students came from
50+
The number of teams that were shortlisted
3
The number of winning teams
