My First Hackathon Experience at PropertyGuru: Part One - Racing Against the Clock and make it to the top 3
On 14 Nov 2022, I had the opportunity to participate in a hackathon at PropertyGuru, a leading online property portal in Southeast Asia. The goal of the hackathon theme was “Builder of the Future”. Mainly target is to try to use existing data to develop innovative solutions that could help the real estate industry to better serve its customers. I was excited to participate, but little did I know how intense and exhilarating the experience would be.
I was part of a team of five, which included product owners and salespeople from India and Singapore, as well as myself as the sole programmer who is from Malaysia. Initially, I was worried about whether I’d be able to work effectively with a group of people who were not technical experts plus different time zone and never worked together before. However, as we started working together, I realized that each person brought their own unique skills and perspective to the table, which made for a strong and well-rounded team.
Our team spent a lot of time at the beginning of the hackathon discussing and fine-tuning our workflow and having an interview conversation with our existing client named Jenn from IJM property developer. We had to come up with a plan that would allow us to work efficiently and make the most of our limited time. As the only programmer on the team, I had to take the lead on developing the technical aspects of our solution, while also making sure that the product owners and salespeople understood what we were building and were able to fulfill the requirements and needs of the customer.
One of the biggest challenges we faced during the hackathon was time. We only had 24 hours to develop our solution, and we spent a lot of time in the early stages of the hackathon discussing and refining our workflow. This meant that by the time we started coding were lesser, we had less than 12 hours left to complete our project. I was nervous about whether we’d be able to make it, but I also knew that we had a strong team that was committed to the challenge.
Despite the time constraints, I was able to code feverishly and create a solution. Our team presenters (Bibas and Raghav) were able to throw out an exciting pitch and demo that impressed the judges. We were thrilled to learn that we had made it to the top three teams, and even more, excited when we found out that we’d be able to participate in the finale at the Asia Real Estate Summit 2022 which is held in Bangkok.
Which also meant that we can finally meet each other in person. As I looked back on this experience, I realized that our success was due in large part to the strength of our team. Each member brought their own unique skills and perspectives to the table, which helped us to develop a well-rounded solution that impressed the judges.
Participating in the PropertyGuru hackathon was an intense and exhilarating experience. It was amazing to see how our team was able to come together and create a solution that impressed the judges despite the time constraints and in different countries. Looking back on the experience, I realized that the key to success was having a strong team that was committed to the challenge, and working closely with our customers is very important.
The following will be a screenshot of the project
