Champions Of Contentstack Techsurf 2022 Share Insights, Strategy Tips, And Lessons Learned!

Content Management System (CMS) firm Contentstack aims to provide developers and marketers with a platform where they can collaborate around content and have dynamic digital experiences. Contentstack organized a country-wide hackathon to recognize the brilliant young coders of the nation. They also sought to extend their tribe through this hackathon where the winners had the opportunity to win a pool prize of INR 4 lakh and also grab PPI opportunities with 15 lakh LPA.

The hackathon titled- Techsurf 2022 was open to final-year students pursuing B.Tech/B.E. (all specializations), BCA, MCA, and B.Sc.(IT). The coding competition was split into three rounds- an online quiz round, a video pitch submission round, and the final prototype submission round. About 19 people made it to the finale of whom Vishvam S (IIT Madras) placed first, Soumik Paul (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Mumbai) second, and Faraaz Biyabani (Viva Institute of Technology) third. In this article, the winners share insights from their journey in the competition, their strategies, and some inspiring lessons learned. 

A Fun and Interesting Competition

Soumik Paul from RGIT, Mumbai felt that the questions posed to them in the competition were really interesting and he had a lot of fun thinking about a solution. He felt great after taking part in the hackathon by Contentstack, an esteemed organization with good work-life culture. Once the results were announced he had the opportunity to look at the winning project and felt that the final judgment was perfect since the winner did put a lot of effort into building a website annotation library from scratch. Vishvam S, the winner of the competition also found the competition to be unique and different from other hackathons in terms of the problem statement and solution they were working on.

Faraaz Biyabani loved the extended duration format of the competition but thought that the structure could have been improved with a few alterations. He felt that the organizers could have made the second round ideation and planning round, where participants could submit a PPT/ document describing the implementation details of their solution. And then the third round could have been where they submitted the final code and a video pitch. According to him, this would have given those candidates who are not good at physically presenting their ideas with designs/ visuals an equally fair chance. Nonetheless, at the end of the competition, he felt ecstatic to have a project that has a fairly good foundation and is easy to get back to later on.

Also read: Upcoming Hackathons 2022 Every Engineering Student Must Know! 

Strategy 1- Take a Structured Approach

Faraaz took a simple yet structured approach where he first designed different components on a high level, researched, listed down compatible ways to combine those components, and then started building the first iteration. This way, in case a library/technique/algorithm didn’t work, he had a few other options that were already evaluated to fall back on. This strategy helps in building a solution for a wider base and also helps in reducing dependencies. 

Strategy 2- Research and Focus on Overcoming Challenges

The best way to approach a problem statement and build a solution, according to Soumik is to conduct thorough research and gather all the information before working on the actual solution. Once he decided on one of the two problem statements presented to them, he spent about 3 days gathering the information and developing the video pitch. He then worked on the prototype for about 2 more months. 

The strategy Vishvam followed was to first work on the segments/ aspects he was strong in and then spend the rest of the time in overcoming the challenging aspects. He dedicated about 3 weeks to the development aspect of his solution and the rest to testing which was challenging since that was new for him. 

Learning New Skills & Importance of Time Management

Every competition is a learning experience and the same was true for the winners of Techsurf. Vishvam learned a new skill during the course of the competition, which is- testing code. He knew he would have to pick up the skill sometime in his professional life, and the hackathon pushed him to learn it now. After all, it's better sooner, rather than later.

The competition helped Faraaz realize how important time management is, and that he needs to work on his time management skills. He felt he wasted a good amount of time on portions of the project from where he should have just moved on after basic implementation. This is a lesson he will remember.

The Unforgettable Moments

Someone rightly said- ‘Unforgettable moments give us the memories that last forever’. And the competition gave each of the participants plenty of unforgettable moments. For Vishvam the moment in which he figured out a way to solve a problem that was bugging me for a while, was noteworthy. He will also always remember the moment when the results of the prototype round were announced and he was declared the winner.

Soumik’s unforgettable moment was when all his hard work took its final shape and he finished his project. For Faraaz the whole process of picking the perfect name for his project was a memory he’ll forever cherish. He wanted to be clever, yet subtle, and finally came up with 'Markerr' (with a double r) as in 'Mark err' meaning marking the mistakes (on a webpage), which he thought was the primary use case of his project.

The experience as we heard from the winners of Contentstack Techsurf 2022 was spellbinding. You too can be a part of such an experience, learn priceless lessons, and make memories that’ll last you a lifetime. Read this article to know more about such opportunities- Boosting Career Opportunities For Engineers Through E-School Competitions

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