Photo Courtesy: DWIT Software Club

The first ever “Inter-College” hackathon exclusively for Bsc.CSIT students was conducted from 2^nd to 3^rd July, 2016 during the weekend by “The Software Club” of Deerwalk Institute of Technology. The official name of the event was “Deerthon”.  A total of 17 students (Organizers, Volunteers and Mentors) ensured that the event was carried out smoothly and it turned out to be an overwhelming success.

The main aim of this event was to bring together all the brilliant minds of CSIT students and discover the problem-solving capabilities of each individual.

What made this unique from other hackathons was that firstly, it was exclusive only for Bsc.Csit students. Second, while other hackathons focused more on the final presentations rather than the actual software developed, Deerthon was more focused on the technical details rather than the presentation. That’s not to say that the presentations didn’t carry any weightage in the final result; they did but the actual code and technical details carried majority of the judging weightage. Third, the themes and the topics was given on the day of the event rather than a few days before the event. Each team had to brainstorm and develop their software prototype on the 2 days of the event itself and no prior preparation was allowed which made for a fair judgement of the proficiency of the teams. And finally, the winning prize, an internship opportunity at Deerwalk Services Pvt. Ltd. to go along with the cash prize, was a unique prize that not many hackathons could offer.

The deadline for interested teams, each consisting of no less than 3 and no more than 4 members, to submit the application forms on the official website (http://deerthon.dwit.edu.np/) was on 13^th June, 2016. A total of 27 teams applied for the event which was a much higher number than anyone in the organizing committee had expected. It was safe to say that the event got off to a wonderful start. Out of the 27 team, with the help of a standard selection procedure where each team were given a set of brain-teasers and were given 2 days’ time to come up with a solution, the top 12 teams with the best solutions were selected to participate in the event.

The organizing team (DWIT software club) along with a few volunteers from all the batches of the college worked tirelessly to get the venue, Sagarmatha Hall, ready in time for the competition. “The DWIT News Club” and “DWIT Media Club” were appointed media partners for the event and “DWIT IT Club” were given the responsibility for the smooth running of the internet connection that was essential for all the participants. After hours and hours of hard work, the stage was finally set for the event.

After 2 days of hard work form all the participating teams, they were all able to put up admirable prototypes of their products. The presentation session was scheduled for 5 pm on the second day (Sunday) of the event. The 3 judges for the session were among the most well-known people in the IT field – Sweta Karna, Associate Director of Deerwalk Services Pvt. Ltd, Prakash Neupane, Co-Founder of NepFlights and Amit Agrawal, CEO of Janaki Technology Pvt. Ltd.

All the teams were given 4 minutes to present their ideas and they were judged on the clarity of their concept, and the ability of their products to solve real-time problems

Prakash Neupane said that even though all the participants did a great job in creating their prototypes, they could’ve utilized the allotted 4 minute presentation time in focusing more on the actual core details rather than in unnecessary points. He reminded them that even though they would be judged based on the technicalities, the presentation still carried some weightage in the overall results. Sweta Karna and Amit Agrawal added that the participants need to continue building their products even after the competition and even if they don’t win otherwise, all their efforts would go to waste. They advised the participants to continue working hard and continue learning and growing together.

Perhaps the most commendable fact of the event was that throughout the days leading up to the event and on the 2 days of the event itself, there were no major problems that any of the participants had to face. Everything went right according to plan. That is down to the effort and commitment shown by every single individual who helped in making this program such a huge success. Deerthon 2016 has undoubtedly set the bar very high for future such hackathons that will take place in the years to come.

Reporters involved:

Ashmita Thapa, Shibesh Duwadi