Wayanad Trip : Hackathon 2024

It’s been about 2 years since we had our entire India team outing. This year we wanted to do something offbeat, where we could have a lot of fun but not to a location of a beach. We had Jitendra coming over and the timing was during the rainy season so choosing a hill station was a tough decision. We have also been thinking about organizing a company wide hackathon so the venue choice had to be keeping that in mind. After much deliberation we zeroed in on Zostel Plus in Wayanad and proud to say, the choice and our timing was so right.

Nestled on a 700-Acre private tea estate on the foothills of Chembra peak is a beautiful but dated property of Zostel Plus. The hostel is surrounded with lush green tea plantations in all directions. The trip to Wayanad for 3 Nights & 4 Days began with an 8-hour bus ride from Bangalore to this gorgeous piece of heaven on the earth. Upon arrival & check-in the team was served with the typical mountain breakfast of piping hot bowl of maggi & parathas with their favorite partner in crime - “the chai”. 

The day was tightly scheduled and began with an All-Hands meeting of the whole team. Our Founder & CEO, Jitendra Gupta was traveling with us and our rest of the US team joined over a zoom call. We had a nice projector with a large screen and the staff at the property helped us with setting up everything. The rest of the team in Wayanad accommodated themselves on various bunk beds around the room. Each department enthusiastically delivered their progress as well as plans and roadmap ahead for everyone to know and understand. This was a 1st of its kind All-Hands Meeting which was done with the whole India team in one location sitting together with their team leads delivering the required content in person. 

Despite a long & weary journey, it was exciting for every person in that room. Upon conclusion of the meeting, the key purpose for the trip to Wayanad was brought to focus - The Hackathon 2024. Teams and captains for the hackathon were pre-decided before the trip and so were the topics of the projects for the respective teams. Pankaj Soni (CTO - MyYogaTeacher), announced the competition officially opened with “Let the hunger games begin !!” 

A loud roar filled the room and the excitement & the energy of competition was palpable in that room. For the next 24 hours, the teams deliberated & discoursed on various approaches, scope & preparation of the presentation at the end of the Hackathon. 5 teams were competing for the trophy & prize money (Zostel vouchers), each team comprising 6 members. 

The teams named themselves with quirky tags (again something very centric to the culture at MyYogaTeacher) Bandit Bytes, Nirvana Ninjas, Hack-sanas, Hind-K-Sitare & SpaceBar. The days and evenings were filled with project work at the hackathon. Every team created their logos, we made badges of these logos and everyone wore them during Hackathon. Here was the round-up of the teams.

1. Hackasanas:  Increasing User - Community Interaction

2. Hind ke sitare: Teacher Recommendations by utilizing Sentiment Analysis

3. Space Bar: Chatbot to enhance user experience

4. Byte Bandits: Gamification of User Journey

5. Nirvana Ninjas: Building a merchandize store with fulfillment automations

The 2nd evening concluded with high-tech presentations by each team on some extremely amazing projects for MyYogaTeacher to pursue further & the final winners were announced. It was one of the most memorable experience seeing everyone engaged in the ideas they were working on, so much passion building a proof of concept and present. The presentations were crisp and everyone came forward, it was lovely to see some serious talent and leadership during this Hackathon. 

Winner & runner up teams trophies

Drinks & music with some amazing floor work filled the corridors of the hostel. The never ending party would go on till the wee hours of the morning only to wake up in a couple of hours. With the hackathon concluded, the 3rd day was left to rest and restore. On the final evening of our stay in Wayanad, the party was loud & deliberate. Every member of the team was dressed in glamorous black outfits and put on their best dancing shoes swaying away to music & camaraderie. So many new friendships were formed, so many new connections came to life. Extensive long conversations amongst members of team who otherwise work remotely took place on account of new found rapports. That piece of heaven served us right in every way. 

Special thanks to Jitendra for joining us on this trip. Kudos to Radhika, Ananya, Harsha, Sindhu, Arjit and Pankaj for such an amazing teamwork organizing this Hackathon and meetup. Needless to say that a lot goes in planning such an event and the team did a marvelous job.

Unforgettable memories & amazing conversations - That's what Wayanad was all about !!