My name is Aarav Saxena, I’m a second-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in data science at SP Jain School of Global Management. With the ever-changing world of the internet, the skill of taking theoretical education and applying it in the real world is what makes students stand out. SP Jain School of Global Management's Bachelor of Data Science (BDS) course revolves around that with practical experience, and hackathons are at the center of it.

Not just about coding

Competitive coding is not the only thing hackathons are about. They are high-risk, high-reward environments where technology and imagination meet and where students must develop intuitive solutions under tight deadlines. For BDS students, they are a great way of demonstrating our multidisciplinary skills by combining software development, business, and time management into a concentrated learning experience.

From books to real-world solutions

With homework and lectures, we go in-depth into subjects like programming and data visualisation, just to mention a few. Knowledge is, however, pointless if one is not able to use it in the real world. This is where hackathons fit in, they enable us to use those concepts in real time, most of the time in unexpected and very dynamic environments. That mix of randomness and form, with the added limitation of time, is precisely what makes us ready for the type of challenge we will encounter in the real world.

At the IIIT Delhi Finance Hackathon

My firsthand exposure to real-world applications occurred when my friend and I, along with three of my peers, made it to the final round of the IIIT Delhi Finance Hackathon — bringing together some of the country's brightest minds. The final round was conducted on campus at IIIT Delhi, and although we did not succeed, the process of getting to the final round was one of the most rewarding experiences of my BDS experience so far.

What we worked on

We constructed a complete, web-based application using Dart and various other technologies, most of which we did not know beforehand, during the hackathon. This resulted in the fact that apart from utilising what we already understood, we had to learn on the fly, delve into the documentation, debug on the fly, allocate responsibilities strategically, and create something from scratch on tight schedules. That sort of intuitive, learn-as-you-go kind of learning is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate in a learning environment.

Blending soft skills with hard coding

What was impressive during the hackathon was not necessarily so much the technicalities, but the feeling of collaboration. Collaborating as a team, compromising on conflicting ideas, and reaching a mutual understanding on design, logic, and execution taught us the kinds of soft skills that are always undervalued, but are absolutely essential in real-world project scenarios.

The importance of user-centric designs

Another major take-away for me was understanding the importance of user-centered design and not necessarily designing what's technologically groundbreaking. That shift in mentality, from designing for ourselves to designing for someone else, was a major revelation that we've carried over to other projects and courses since then.

Learning from competitors

Hackathons also introduce you to a bigger pool of students, startups, and industry mentors. It's an environment where you're learning all the time, not only from your own project but from the ideas of other teams and their problem-solving approaches. For data science students, in particular, this type of exposure is priceless. You learn to think outside the math data set and begin to work with messy, real-world data with real-world constraints and stakeholder considerations in mind.

Building a job-ready portfolio

Professionally, hackathon participation serves to sharpen your portfolio, and mind as well. Employers and recruiters are now looking for applicants who can provide evidence of problem-solving beyond the classroom. Hackathons offer just that: evidence that you are capable of thinking, creating, and developing under time pressure.

On failing fast and learning faster

Most importantly, hackathons teach you to fail fast and learn faster. You quickly understand that while what is in theory sounds great, it doesn't always work: not each prototype works perfectly, and sometimes the best learning is in what didn't quite work as planned. That was certainly the case in our IIIT Delhi experience. While we were proud of what we had done, we also saw where we could have done better. That harsh reality taught us more than any victory would have.

More than an add-on; it’s a mindset

In short, hackathons are not "add-ons" to the BDS experience, they're flat-out essential. They're a chance for you to take what you've learnt and experiment with it, flip it around, think about it again, and do it in a high-energy, team-driven environment in an incredibly rewarding manner. Whether it's through the creation of a live prototype, presenting an idea to industry professionals, or essentially making it up with your team at 3 AM, at the end of the day, you're leaving with sharper skills, tighter bonds, and a much deeper sense of what it's like to be a real-world problem solver. If you're a BDS student or just a student in general wondering if it's worth your weekend to participate in a hackathon instead of resting, it definitely is. It's not just a certificate you'll receive. It's a mindset.

About the Author

Aarav Saxena is a second-year student pursuing our Bachelor of Data Science.

Curious about the BDS journey at SP Jain? Learn more about the experiences that shape our students here.