Meet the hackathon team: Green Move
by Kate Westbrook ✦ 29 July 2022 ✦ 2 Min Read
At our recent hackathon, we were so impressed with all the participants. The talent and teamwork blew us away.
The brief we set wasn't easy: use at least one sustainability-focused API as a source of data to build a front-end React app over 2 days. Then pitch it to our judges in 10 minutes.
So what did our teams find most challenging? What sustainable solutions can you build in 48 hours? And what can you learn from a hackathon? We'll be profiling our teams over the next few weeks to showcase their awesome work and thinking. First up is Green Move.
What are your names and levels of experience?
We’re team Green Move; we're Enrica Fedeli-Jaques, Man Poon, Natalie and Zan Makarov. Our coding experience ranges quite a lot, from 3 months to 1.5 years.
Why did you come to the hackathon?
Man: I joined this hackathon in order to gain project experience and improve my coding skills. I also wanted to network, meet some new people and learn more about the tech industry.
Natalie: I particularly wanted to refresh my knowledge of React and JavaScript.
Enrica: I also wanted to practice React, meet like-minded people, try some coding outside of work and learn new skills. And escape the family for a weekend!
Zan: I'd heard lots of great feedback about hackathons during my bootcamp. I wanted to meet and connect with like-minded people, improve my collaborative skills and learn from others.
What did you build?
We built ‘Green Move’ - a web application built with React.JS to measure air pollution, giving a score for any city or specific area to help advise people before they move into a new place to live.
What was the most difficult decision you had to make as a team?
We all agreed that the most difficult decision was splitting up the task based on the variety of our individual experiences. In quite a tight time schedule, choosing the features to implement was hard!
What have you found the biggest challenges in getting into the tech industry?
Man: A big challenge is a lack of industry experience. I’m worried that even after going to a coding bootcamp, the technical test and interview still could be quite difficult.
Enrica: Competition is fierce, and the profession requires a lot of hard work. It’s not always easy to find the hours in the day to prepare for tech interviews.
Zan: Same here, I find it hard to find enough time to apply and prepare for the interviews. Interviewing has never been my strongest skill.
What was one thing you learned at the hackathon?
Teamwork was the number one thing we learned: how to agree when there were many different options on the table.
Enrica: I’d also add the technology, for me.
Green Move won the 'API Exploration' category for their clever use of the APIs in their final application.
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