 interesting episode of how to age the hackathon. I, Arindam, on behalf of entire SIS team welcome you to this interesting masterclass of hacking the hackathon. Today, we have with us one of our alumni who was also a winner of Smart India Hackathon 2022, Mr. Rajat. Without taking much of your time, let us welcome him and let us have a word or two with Mr. Rajat. Hi, sir. Thank you. So, Rajat, welcome to this show. This show's plan is something that our first-timers, who are going to participate in the sixth edition of Smart India Hackathon for the first time this time, are going to participate in. Because you are experiencing this Smart India Hackathon, some tips, some tricks can be told to them, so that the hackathon process becomes a little easier for them. So, we would like to know from you how was your Smart India Hackathon experience, what was your strategy, what ministry problem statement did you compete with, and how was your team formation or other things. So, if you brief it a little, our participants will get a little help. Yes, sir. So, first of all, I would like to tell you that I am basically a UIT-Crucifier from the University of Pisaic College located in Haryana. So, as you have told us, how was our experience, how was the team formation. So, first of all, I would like to tell you that we participated in the first year actually. So, our selection didn't happen at that time. So, it was like, we have to do SIS now. After that, it didn't happen in COVID year. When it happened in the third year, then SIS-22 was declared. So, if I tell you about the team formation, first of all, you are the seven people with whom you do projects, you participate in other competitions. So, you can talk to them, like you can basically choose a problem statement with them. So, the most important part of team formation is that what requirements you are working for the problem statement. So, how do you approach people, you approach your seniors, juniors, you can approach your classmates. And you are a good team that to tackle that problem statement, to solve that problem statement, you can do whatever you want. Apart from this, if I talk about experience, then it was extremely invaluable. Because in this, it was like, we learned so much. Because even in the last college time, I didn't learn as much as in the last four to five months. Because if you are forced to work in a real product building mindset, then how do you develop a product that is really implementable? Apart from this, we did team formation first. And the problem statement, like we had chosen that we go through one by one problem statement. So, we see some of the problem statements that we can solve it. And there is a big factor in this that what domain are you from? Basically, I am from data science, like I prefer data science, I work in data science, I also practice it. And currently, I am working as a data scientist and I agree that there is a lot of contribution in it. Because at that time, what I learned, it helped me in my interviews, in my job. So, firstly, there was a big role of machine learning in our organizational statement. So, as I was a lead, I saw that factor while choosing the problem statement. So, after that, what happened was that the requirements were like Android development requirements, web development. So, according to that, I approached the students, so I made a team like this. After that, we were selected for the national level. Like this is in our Bangalore, like we are from Haryana. So, it is quite far from here. So, like traveling and all, like you learn a lot basically because you are traveling for the first time, you travel with your family, but this time you are traveling with your mentor or your classmates, your teammates. So, that is also a good part of a lot of learning, that you are on coordination six with others. And technically, you are on a technical level. Rajat, I would like to ask you this. Like you said, like you learn teamwork, coordination, how to work in a team, which is your main point. Apart from this, I would like to say that when you reach the nodal center, when you reach the grand finale, because the evaluators are industry experts. So, what kind of learning do you have with them? Because there are some mentoring sessions, some evaluation sessions. So, interacting directly with the leaders, the leaders of the industry interact directly with them. So, if you tell them a little bit of experience, then our participants will be a little easier to understand. Yes, sir, I will tell you. Like you are selected for the national level, you reach the nodal center. After that, you start the 36 hours thing. Basically, your first verification is done, then you have a lot of space, then you start coding. So, you start your work. At that time, we had only 6 rounds. Basically, there were 3 mentoring rounds, there were 3 evaluation rounds. In that, it happens that you go, you think about something, you think about a solution, basically you work on some modules, modules are made for you. But they give you a different perspective. I mean, you get mentors first, they ask you what you have thought, what you are working on. Then they realize that you should have done this. Second, I have also seen that like evaluators, they test you in every way. They don't just tell you that when you have developed it, it is feasible, they test it. Technically, they check the possibility. How are you working, how accurate is the solution, they all check. Apart from this, they also check how confident you are on your solution. That is the most important part. They try to make you feel that how did you do this? This is not possible. But you should be very confident on your solution. So, you have to keep a balance that you have to take input from them and you have to improve on your points. The interaction with the leaders is of a very different level. They test you in every way. If you pass in that testing, then you are a winner. You have said quite right that this is not just a solution-based hackathon. It is depending on and overall your presentation, how confident you are with your product. This is also something very important during this hackathon. Rajat, let's talk about success. I would especially like to know about some mistakes that may have occurred in your time or from your team. What do you want to suggest from the participants that they should be careful not to make these mistakes or to take care of these things. What are those? There are some mistakes but I will tell you in the best part what happens to them. The previous SIH as you are from a college previously there were SIH participants. Arshaal is organized like this. So, you should contact them. You can either make them a mentor or they are your alumni. You should be in contact with them because the experience helps a lot. Even our mentors had a SIH alumni and they were not there. First of all, you should be in contact with a SIH alumni. They will help you a lot. Secondly, we often think that we will do a lot of work at the end. Basically, you have to understand that management is very important for this. Generally, you have to develop there but you have to take some modules from the beginning. Everything is possible on the site. You take your base solution and you integrate the inputs from the mentor and the evaluator so you should keep in mind that the necessary modules should be made first. Apart from that you should listen to their suggestions carefully because it will matter a lot because if you don't do that, it will be very difficult. So, viewers, as you have heard, don't wait till the end. Whatever modules you have, you should divide them in phases so that in the last 36 hours your final product, your evaluators, or industry experts can show them in the working module. So, Rajat, I think you have said a lot. Yes, I was saying that I would like to add one more thing that you are a little flexible in the beginning in the beginning. You cannot do much in the last you are flexible in the beginning you should discuss with people you should discuss with your teachers you should discuss with your mentors you should discuss with your batch mates with your alumni whatever you know in the industry you should discuss with your solution and work on their inputs so I agree that we have helped to build a good winning solution. Thank you. So, Rajat, before we end this talk show I would like to know what is your most memorable experience if this hackathon is asked during this time then what will be for you? By the way, there are a lot of things that I still remember being memorable but travelling was very memorable for us because you make a team but if you are a girl candidate then taking a team was a difficult part for me but finally I took the whole team so that was the memorable part on the other side there was a mentor at the nodal centre so they liked our solution and they even came to drop us when we were coming back to the railway station we had a very good bonding so we liked it absolutely there is a sense of achievement when you lead a whole team from start to end and after that you become a winner so that experience is of course memorable experience also, what is our hackathon intention is that it is not about developing a solution it is also about creating networks so this is a very good medium for you where you directly when you are in college may not be as connected with industry experts but this is a smart and hackathon platform that gives you a lot of opportunity to connect as you said many people will not understand this but of course when you go to hackathon you will experience this so Rajat, thank you very much for guiding me we wish you in future whatever your projects are all the best from entire smart India hackathon family and hope that we will be connected thank you so much Rajat thank you sir and thank you the entire team we participated in SIH and we got to learn so much and now we are connected and thank you so much sir thank you so viewers that was Rajat for you I am sure you have learnt a lot from their experience and you will want to implement this experience in your journey and hopefully you can become winners of SIH 2023 for such interesting videos stay connected with us stay on our channel and we will meet you again till then Jai Hind Jai Bharat