November 25th and 26th, Algorithmics Berlin sponsored BerlinHacks, a teenage Hackathon arranged for teenagers by HackClub Berlin at CODE University of Applied Sciences .
HackClub Berlin is a teenager led community that planned and executed the to collect an approximate of 70 Registrations from students aged between 12 to 19 years of age. The team aged under 18 years of age managed to create a platform, have a registration process, Market extensively and book the amazing venue Matrix at Code University Berlin.
They were supported by partial sponsorship by the Code University management, which is also dedicated to supporting tech initiatives for young adults. The main sponsor for the event was Algorithmics Berlin as they offered 4 Masterclasses, including Python Start, Python Pro, Front End Development and Game Design that helped kickstart the event with some re-fresher for all participants. The Algorithmics Berlin team served as the Jury for the event and also sponsored prizes worth 18,000 EUR as Merit Scholarships for the winning teams and participants. All the participants were offered certificates of participation by Algorithmics, the International School of Programming.
For almost 90% of participants this was the first time participating in such an event.
To make it simple for the participants, there was no theme assigned and they were free to choose the projects they like within their teams. Use of ChatGpt was encouraged and the Algorithmics Teachers also helped with potential topics. The Algorithmics Platform has a global community of 12 + Million students who have shared their projects online and the participants were encouraged to explore the projects for inspiration.
BerlinHacks Weekend 25th to 26th November at Code University Berlin
Program Summary
Technical Workshops
As a Sponsor, Algorithmics sponsored workshops on 25th November on their International Platform. All the participants had their unique log-ins assigned to them in advance and based on their age and coding level were assigned to the masterclasses respectively. The workshops offered for the 12-19 year olds were :
- Python Start (12-13 years of age)
- Python Pro (14 to 18 years of age)
- Game Design in Roblox (10 to 12 years of age)
- Front End Design (15 to 18 years of age)
Almost 80% of the Hackathon Attendees had rated their coding skills below 3/10 which is extremely lower than the universal average for students their age based on the Algorithmics global statistics.
Even though the participants above 14 years of age should get assigned to Python Pro, the majority of the students asked to be transferred to Python Start due to their coding skills.
The workshops offered were 1/64 Lesson courses each so the concepts were basic but they served to be a great refresher and kickstart for the students who were new to the world of coding. They also helped the students interact with the Algorithmics Platform and the teachers.
Hackathon Projects
- Bongo Bozos
- Urban Hackers
- 50 Shades of Geek
- Chaotic Integrators
- Roblox Kiddies
- Touch Grass
The teams were made to ensure an equal split of coding experts and non-experts to have a fair competition. The teams were also offered constant technical support during the two day period by Algorithmics and HackClub teams.
Hackathon Presentations
The graduating criteria for the hackathon was pre-communicated and every team had 5 minutes to present their projects followed by another 5 minutes of Q&A and Feedback. The Algorithmics judges took care of the time limit and were very accurate with the time assigned. A strict submission deadline was given to all candidates for their projects.
The teams had great submissions as all projects were very unique, involved a lot of effort and had a MVP to present. The team members had all met together for the first time and everyone was able to meet the deadlines.
However, all the 6 teams mentioned the same struggles which are :
Coding Expertise
They believed the team members all had different levels and that meant unfair division of tasks. They struggled a lot with coding related challenges that restricted their growth and also didn’t let them target what they would ideally prefer.
Team Collaboration
All 6 teams mentioned that they had issues working together. This is partially due to the fact that they were working together for the first time and they did not have much experience working in a team environment.
Project Management
Stemming from Team Collaboration and Coding Expertise issues, the teams also struggled with putting the project elements together. The backend and frontend integration was one of the most popular project management challenge highlighted.
Grading and Evaluation
The Judges for the event were the experienced Algorithmics Jury who had technical expertise to understand the complexity of the project and also had multiple experiences with grading hackathons before. We had a total of 4 Judges – Lars Dickmann, Patrick Elsen, Ivan Nikulin and Maria Duzhenko.
The Judges graded between 1 to 5 on the below parameters during the presentations individually:
- Technology : engineering skill demonstrated, quality code
- Design : attention to aesthetics, interaction and user interface
- Business : meets a customer need, potential to be scalable
- Presentation : clarity of written and oral presentation
- Idea : Team’s faith and excitement about the idea
Grading Process : The 4 judges had individually graded each project on the parameters 1 to 5. They averaged out each score per parameter and filled out the summary. The winner was decided on the relative basis with the highest total.
Evaluation Certificate Shared with all Teams
The teams were given their score at the end and were encouraged to ask for feedback on how they can improve. The grading process was very transparent as we believed it was the first time for many participants.
Winning Teams
Audience Award : Bongo Bozos
1st Position : Bongo Bozos (2000 EUR Scholarship)
2nd Position : Urban Hackers (1800 EUR Scholarship)
3rd Position : Chaotic Integrators (12,000 EUR Scholarship)
Winning Teams at BerlinHacks Hackathon
The Audience Award was decided by all the contestants based on a live Kahoot voting while the judges summarized the scores. The Audience Award and the 1st Price was won by Bongo Bozos (Franciszek Ceremuga, Kerem Semiz, Vibbodh Amit Somani, Tom Elliiot Smee, Bhuvana Reddi). Bongo Bozos had a very original idea that was a perfect mix of humor and was very relevant to all the attendees. They created a game ‘Escape the Hackathon’, in which they mapped the Code University room Matrix and the kitchen area where the hackathon was taking place. The game was to collect as many laptops as possible and the hackathon food would help fuel the energy. The project was loved by the audience and the jury.
The 2nd Prize was won by the team ‘Urban Hackers’. The idea was aimed at solving a real issue the student faced with her school, Nelson Mandela, cafeteria website. They recognized the need and potential with the UI Design of the website and created one of their own. The presentation was very well structured by drawing a comparison between the current and proposed website design and also talked about the struggles the students faced with the current layout. We really hope the students are able to take the motivation from their win and get the actual website changed to their proposed design.
The 3rd Prize was won by Chaotic Integrators for their game ‘Poker for Children’. The initiative was designed to focus on the strategic skills Poker demands and eliminate the aspect of gambling so the game can be targeted to young adults and children. The project was technologically very strong and we wish to see the game fully developed and available to us.
All the teams had great projects and everyone was rewarded with a Masterclass and Hackathon Participation certificate by Algorithmics. All the participants also have a 50 EUR scholarship for the programming courses offered by Algorithmics for Academic Year 2024.
Key Findings
- 90 % of the participants had never participated in a hackathon before.
- 80% of the participants had rated their coding skills below 3/10.
- Coding Expertise : They believed the team members all had different levels and that meant unfair division of tasks. They struggled a lot with coding related challenges that restricted their growth and also didn’t let them target what they would ideally prefer.
- Team Collaboration : All 6 teams mentioned that they had issues working together. This is partially due to the fact that they were working together for the first time and they did not have much experience working in a team environment.
- Project Management : Stemming from Team Collaboration and Coding Expertise issues, the teams also struggled with putting the project elements together. The backend and frontend integration was one of the most popular project management problems highlighted.
Algorithmics Berlin plans to have quarterly Hackathons and sponsor existing planned Hackathons to increase the opportunity for young adults in this ecosystem. We plan to create a system where students attend courses with us, learn coding, project management, team collaboration and presentation skills. They then attend frequent hackathons where they build projects of their own and compete with other participants and have the drive to do even better every time. The Algorithmics courses are designed to teach digital literacy from the age of 6 and teach students till advanced Python and Front End Development skills so they are ready to attend university with the necessary skills. The courses involve a lot of teamwork and project management to help equip the students with the necessary skills. The details of our courses are available upon request.
The success of the Hackathon shows the enormous potential and interest of young people in the technology industry. This event marks a significant milestone in fostering the technical skills and entrepreneurship of the next generation.
Follow us for updates on our future events to help the children with the key challenges we have identified for them.
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More details available at : https://berlin-mitte-tiergarten.alg.academy
