Google Partner Techie Hackathon Roundup
Nine hours, five Netpremmers, one mission: to conquer a mystery challenge at the Google Hackathon in London.
Think of it as a caffeine-fueled, code-slinging marathon, where we'll laugh, we'll cry, and we might even solve a problem… Join us as we share the highs, the lows, and the best moments from our 9-to-6 sprint to glory.
9:00 - 09:30 GMT Arrivals and Breakfast
9:05 AM - Bleary-eyed, we arrived at Google's Pancras Square office. The usual Tuesday morning malaise was quickly replaced by a sense of anticipation and a mischievous glint in my eye as I thought of the free breakfast and snacks I'd "borrow" for the train ride home. The air was thick with the aroma of overpriced coffee and the low hum of anxious conversation.
9:26 AM - I watched as the snacks were rolled in, and the first tears of the day came as I watched them roll away without giving anybody a chance to take them.
9:30 - 10:00 Welcome
9:40 AM - The day kicks off with a short introduction from the host, followed by a talk on the calculable value of time spent learning and recording experience in DRI (shameless plug here to remind you to update your DRI profiles).
10:00 - 11:00 Hackathon Briefing
10:01 AM - This is where we start the Hackathon. First, we focus; Luke immediately loses focus.
10:15 AM - We're tasked with using AI to complete a series of coding challenges. The real meat of the competition, though, is the 'Mega Task'. We need to build an app useful for the food/supermarket industry.
10:26 AM - After focusing, we have our tasks. The first step is to pick a team name and create our logo. After being rudely alerted by the loudest noise that made the entire room jump twice, we had our team name for the day (thanks, Gemini).
11:00 - 12:30 Hacking PT 1
11:00 AM—The Hackathon is divided into a series of tasks, ranging from ‘Intro—Vertex AI’ to ‘App Builder’ to the ‘Mega Task’, which is worth more than 10,000 points.
11:02 AM - We are well into our Hackathon now, a whole 2 minutes before we have finished all the tasks with maximum points (thanks, Ben, for the exploit…) monumental effort.
11:04 AM—After a solid two minutes of victory, we were punished for our creative workarounds. Some may call it cheating…, but somehow, we were still in the lead.
11:06 AM - Panic sets in as we realise other teams are already storming ahead, leaving us trailing in their dust. It's like watching our dreams crumble before our eyes. We're officially nowhere near the top, and the only thing keeping us from a full-blown meltdown is the promise of free drinks at the end of the day.
11:55 AM—We are all slowly slipping into madness due to the techno Christmas music serving as our background noise. Working as a team, we continue to knock down the assigned tasks and climb back to the top spot.
12:27 PM - We have finished a large chunk of the tasks, sitting comfortably at the top of the leaderboard at an early stage (even after our fall from grace earlier on).
12:31 PM - With most of the tasks checked off our list, we take a break to discuss our strategy for the afternoon. But let's be honest, we're mostly just hungry and wondering where the promised lunch is.
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
12:32 PM—The announcement that food was ready came, and we went. The food was suitably Googly, with a good selection of items you totally forgot existed until that point.
1:18 PM - We are still winning after lunch.
1:30-3 Hacking PT 2
1:30 PM - Sum up how the day is going so far:
Tom: Didn’t like the dessert at lunch
Rosy: Started from the bottom; now we’re here
Ben: We’re winning, we cheated our way to the top, and now we’re doing it legitly… peaks and troughs.
Matt: We’re the best!
Luke: Still waiting for some snacks I can ‘borrow’
1:47 PM—Ben and Matt are working tirelessly on our mega task, an app that uses Gemini to recognise ingredients and suggest recipes based on what it sees while providing a wealth of nutritional values. Tom is cleaning up our submitted tasks to maximise the point value. Luke and Rosy have completed the simple stuff and transformed into team mascots.
1:55 PM—The whole day has just turned into shameless attempts to get more points, despite being 10,000 points ahead of second place.
2:45 PM - Still working hard, still on top of the leaderboard
3:21 PM—After a short doughnut break, with multiple people helping themselves to seconds (seriously, we should ask who their caterer for those is), we sat down to discover that second place had begun to claw its way back into the race for first.
3:24 PM—Just minutes after the last update, 2nd place has been overtaken by 2 other teams. There are just a small number of points separating places 1-4. Will our (legitimate this time) reign finally come to an end?
3:48 PM - Key takeaway so far:
3:52 PM - Shortly after creating the above image, the group immediately leaves Luke out to dry as the sole presenter of our findings/product of the day.
3:53 PM - Relations are swiftly restored between the group as Tom offers to co-present and demo the application.
15:58 PM—Time is almost up, and with the presentations to follow, it looks like NP will win comfortably in the end. But now we are onto the dreaded judges' score, which, if Eurovision voting is anything to go by, could cause an upset.
3-4 Presentations & Awards
4:15 PM - We watched as places 5-2 delivered their presentations, all with solid app builds and delivered interesting conceptions of the task.
A successfully delivered presentation and demo!
4-4:30 Partner Techie Quiz
4:22 PM - Quiz Time. Everything was happening too quickly to blog during this…
Also, as I am the one writing most of this, I will also brag about my 4th place finish in my first-ever partner techie quiz 🙂
4:35 - 4:50 Presentations & Awards PT2
4:35 PM - Now for the results. After a long, exhausting day of coding, caffeine, and the questionable lack of snack choices, there’s nothing left to do but wait for the verdict.
4:38 PM—Team NP has won it!!!!!!!!!!!* Collective bows*. They were in the lead from start to finish (almost… minus the scandal).
4:39 PM - To the victors ,go the spoils! Well… for 3 out of the 5 of us, at least
4:50 - 6:30 Drinks Reception
Some hours until the first train(s)... time to celebrate with a few drinks. Cheers.
