For 2019, we've rolled out a new way of spending the last Friday of the month for everyone in Engineering! It's called DND or Digital Nomadic Day.
So what is DND?
DND is a theme day with a twist. Rather than spending time in the office, the entire Engineering team will invade other places and have all activities be hosted in there. And guess what? The theme of the 1st DND is a Hackathon. Sounds exciting, right?
IDEA CRAFTING / PROBLEM SOLVING:
When we give out the instructions for the criteria of judging, we didn't narrow down the team's option in selecting which problem(s) they have to tackle but instead, we gave them the ability to really think of a problem themselves. We were surprised by what each team came up.
The Grinders, whose members are Kevin (Software Architect), Joy (Salesforce Team Lead) and Loren (Salesforce Developer) came up with a platform that aims to solve parking and traffic jams, named Parkie.
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| TEAM: The Grinders |
Humble Kids, whose members are Jethro (Software Engineer), Diom (Software Engineer) and Elmer (Salesforce Developer) crafted an application that bridges people who are looking for work and those who need something to be done. The application Gotto primarily aims to solve the issue of unemployment.
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| TEAM: Humble Kids |
Lord of the Flies, whose members are Sonito (Software Engineer), Boji (Software Engineer) and Emman (Salesforce Developer) targets the problem about waste management. The approach they introduced utilizes technology to better monitor waste collection and segregation, keeping the world a better and cleaner place. Receptacles is what they call it.
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| TEAM: Lord of the Flies |
Geek Freaks, whose members are Kris (Software Engineer), Wilfred (Software Engineer) and Julian (VP of Engineering) came up with an app that helps people have proper education about different cultures in different regions around the globe. The Fit-In technology basically uses a speech to text mechanism that utilizes machine learning that scores the word you've said (based on how appropriate it is for a location).
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| TEAM: Geek Freaks |
MENTORING SESSION:
While each idea is great, it's always important to have another pair of eyes look into the plans and see what are the things that could be improved, nailing down loopholes and making sure the idea is future proof. Our very own CTO, Rico, spent the whole day with the team, guiding each one to survive the pitching round.
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| Humble Kids ft. Rico (CTO) |
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| Lord of the Flies ft. Rico (CTO) |
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| The Grinders ft. Rico (CTO) |
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| Geek Freaks ft. Rico (CTO) |
PITCHING ROUND:
The pitching round is very crucial as everyone's work is optimum and so we asked our good friends from Product's team to decide who's making it to the top. Special thanks for Marx and Shannen (Growth's UX/UI Designer) for being there with us, making the hard decision on selecting the winner.
Criteria of Judgement:
- Social Impact - 25%
- Execution - 25%
- Customer Viability - 25%
- Business Model - 25%
Hackathon Winner:
- Lord of the Flies with their platform Receptacles.
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| The Grinder, Parkie |
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| Lord of the Flies, Receptacles |
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| Geek Freaks, Fit-In |
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| Humble Kids, Gotto |
CONCLUSION:
It was a long day, too many things have been prepared -- but it was all worth it. Everyone had the chance to showcase their talent and had the chance to show off their entrepreneurial side.
As the event organizer, I've learned that:
- People are generally great in their own way and uniquely equal at some point.
- One's idea could be more polished if a team is working on it.
- Teamwork is essential in any group activity, especially when dealing with limited time.
- Everyone will step-up when they need to.
