Overcoming hurdles and hardship, Lijo Johny, V Abhivijay and Anubhav Bhardwaj blazed their way through hackathons, winning not only laurels galore but also dream placements, following an international hackathon in Malaysia. Students of International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, they trace their journey as students, what went into winning the hackathon which had 200 teams from over 26 countries
L to R: Anubhav Bhardwaj, V Abhivijay and Lijo JohnyAbhivijay recalls the experience of their first hackathon and the ones that followed, “I still remember participating in the first hackathon, a 24-hour competition, in our first year itself. We were probably the youngest and didn't know much. That was a reality check for us. From then on, we attended multiple hackathons in 2013- 2014, just gaining experience. We didn't win a single hackathon during this period. We only learnt all we could, and developed our skills. In 2013, we participated in the Goibibo hack and won the first prize of Rs.3 lakh. Then there was no looking back. We went on to win Swiss Re (Rs.3 lakh), Amadeus (Rs.1 lakh), IBM and Myntra hackathons. All these had pan-India participant developers. In 2015, IBM gave us the title of ‘best student team at the national level’ and we got to share the stage with CEO of IBM and the Chief Editor of Forbes.”
Anubhav fills in: “When everyone in college was preparing for GATE, a senior of ours suggested that our team participate in hackathons, and the following Sunday, we won our first one organised by Goibibo. Then, our winning streak continued till we won our 10th one arranged by Myntra.”
Then, they learnt about the Hilti Mobile App Hackathon in Malaysia. “We were given three themes to choose from and the idea was to build a mobile app in the chosen theme. We designed an app that involved Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality. Task division was always clear among us—we knew who among us three could find bugs in the software and who could pitch any idea on stage and who could give the product demo, Abhivijay explains.
Lijo adds more details. “Every year, Hilti organises an IT competition to help solve some of the industry’s most pressing problems. The competition was to make a mobile app for Hilti. After three rounds of shortlisting, the 10 best teams from all over the world were invited to Hilti's office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the grand finale in February 2016. With 200 teams from over 26 countries competing, we secured the first place in the Hilti Mobile App Hackathon 2016. We made an artificially-intelligent augmented reality application for Hilti’s customers, so that they can obtain quick information about the products by just scanning them using their mobile device.”
“A major struggle when I joined engineering was that I didn’t have prior knowledge about programming, while almost all my classmates did. This was a major issue because the professors were teaching at a fast pace and I had to work twice as hard as my classmates. Though I failed initially, I trusted my abilities and succeeded”
Lijo Johny
The Hackathon was divided into three parts, says Anubhav: “A video demo of the prototype, Skype round with the judges and finals in Hilti Malaysia. The whole process took around a month, and at last we were invited to Hilti Malaysia for the final demo and presentation.”
Since they were classmates, they knew each other very well, so they would discuss their ideas and then split them into various small tasks with each focusing on a specific one and helping the others when they hit a road block.
But winning the hackathon was not all. Less than 24 hours after that, the company offered them internships. They signed the internship letters before they went on the Euro Tour. There was more: after a few months of internship, the company was happy with their performance and offered them full-time jobs. The company also made them the offer of working at the Hilti US office after a year of work in Kuala Lumpur.
Anubhav remembers, “I was very happy when the company offered us a summer internship because it was my first international internship. Then in July 2016, the company confirmed a 6 month internship and a full-time job offer.”
Their happiness was complete.
Looking back, perhaps it was destiny that brought the three together at IIIT-B and paved their way to success.
Lijo Johny studied till his tenth at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Hyderabad and “later, joined the trend of preparing for IIT JEE at Narayana Junior College. Despite being above-average in studies, IIT JEE was one thing that I couldn't crack. Fortunately, I got around 205 marks in AIEEE and this helped me to secure a seat in integrated M Tech (5-year) course at IIIT-B, ” he remarks. His master’s is in Data Science.
Abhivijay did his schooling from Vidyaranya High School, Hyderabad, joined IITians Pace for his 11th and 12th. In 2012, he joined the 5-year integrated course (B Tech + M Tech) Computer Science at IIIT-B. “This was probably a life-changing decision for me, ’’ he says, adding that the special emphasis on ‘Silicon City’ Bengaluru was a huge plus.
Anubhav did most of his schooling from Dungarpur Public School in Dungarpur and St. Paul’s. He says, “Even though I was good at Biology till my secondary education, I chose engineering because I was always fascinated by how machines worked. Initially, I wanted to study Mechanical Engineering but couldn't get into any good college because of my score in AIEEE. But, as they say, “Whatever happens, happens for the best”, and I got into Computer Science at IIIT-B, ” his course being Integrated B Tech and M Tech in Computer Science.
Of course, there were stumbling blocks and struggles along the way. Lijo Johny looks back, saying, “There were a lot of struggles and failures throughout my life. But I’m blessed with supporting parents and friends who chipped in whenever required. A major struggle when I joined engineering was that I didn't have prior knowledge about programming, while almost all my classmates did. This was a major issue because the professors were teaching at a fast pace and I had to work twice as hard as my classmates. Though I failed initially, I trusted my abilities and succeeded.” Then followed a 3-month internship during the 5th semester at a startup named Plivo. The first-hand experience was very useful. “I could choose a field of my choice and work on it; at the end of the third month, the knowledge I gained was quite substantial, ’ he remembers.
That was then. Now, a bright future awaits them. Coming back to the hackathon and after, of course, they received hefty pay packages. But all they say is that it was the highest placement package in college. What was the reaction of their parents and others? Says Abhivijay, “Our teachers were thrilled. Some of my friends asked us to recommend their names to the company. My mother was in tears when I told her the news. My dad was pretty cool about it. I attribute a large part of my success to my parents, who were instrumental in convincing me to join IIIT-Bangalore.” or Lijo, it’s his mother, a nurse. He elaborates, “My Mom has been my biggest source of inspiration throughout my life. She motivates, guides and challenges me every day; and this has been my pillar of strength when in adversity. Despite failing in the tenth class once and dropping a year in school, she got a bachelor’s in nursing and today, she is a successful nurse. The mere thought that she does what she has to do—that’s uncomfortable, scary and hard— as part of her profession and that she has the will to succeed even after failing in her tenth inspires me every day.”
For Anubhav, “There is not just one person who has helped me throughout my journey of five years at college. I had the constant support of my family and friends who helped me handle all my ups and downs.”
And Abhivijay speaks of his uncle and others. “My uncle, Dinesh Arora, IAS, always believed in me and motivated me to go the extra mile. I quote his words, which, in turn, were told him by his father: ‘There is no competition in the extra mile.’ Then, there’s Abhivijay’s professor at college, Prof Debabrata Das. “He believed in me when I performed poorly in my first year. I always consulted him when I needed advice.” Plus, there are his seniors, “Priyankar Talukdar and Abhinav Pundir guided me continuously. Priyankar was the one who told us to participate in a hackathon when our entire batch was preparing for the GATE Exam.”
By Geetha Rao
