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Ivan Bliskavka
Ivan Bliskavka

Posted on • Originally published at bliskavka.com on

Smart Cities Hackathon - 1st Place

Our team won the South Florida Tech Hub Hackathon against 20 teams. It was hard work but what an experience!

First place, $2.500 prize: Hurricane Helper

Hurricane Helper’s progressive AWS-based web application is called EDNA – Emergency Disaster Network Application. EDNA is an online platform that streamlines disaster management by using a national volunteer network in a cloud call center.

Tips

  • Don't be greedy. More members on your team means you can get more done and build something impressive - we had the max at 8. It was an 8-way split, but I don't think we would have won with 4.
  • Focus on what makes your app special. Don't worry about the login screen and user management, you can fake that for the presentation.
    • The goal of a hackathon is to pitch the idea and create a Proof-of-Concept.
  • Exploit existing skills - not everyone needs to be a developer.
    • You need someone to work on the pitch, someone to present, and someone to keep notes.
    • I had experience with Amazon Connect and experience leading a team, so I took that role.
  • Check in often. We had a standup every 90 minutes to check progress.
  • If something isn't working, it's OK to pivot to an alternative.
    • Initially, we were designing an Express API but the time to design and implement was taking too long. In the end, we used a single serverless function in AWS Lambda.
  • Include business metrics in the presentation!
    • We included an estimated cost of our platform vs a commercial contact center.
    • The decision-makers are typically not technical and don't care about the tech, they care about the business results.
  • Have fun and don't take it too seriously.
    • We called our submission EDNA, and our key persona was Grandma EDNA. It's OK to work in some humor and be a little tongue-in-cheek.

Team Members

  • Ivan Bliskavka - Lead
  • Derek Donev - Backend
  • Erik White - Frontend
  • Mike Tobin - Dev
  • Michael Roth - PM
  • Holden Gibler - Presenter
  • Taylor Gagne - Backend
  • Alex Ciccolella - Pitch Deck

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