We recently ran an internal hackathon. Here's the details:
The Tech Community Team is excited to bring you Hackathon25! A three day Hackathon open to everyone across our Technology teams. The event will be taking place between June 16-19th. Bringing together teams from across the Group(including Bankwest) to explore Generative AI and how we can utilise its potential to create innovative solutions for a brighter future for our customers.

 

Participants will be encouraged to adopt a Product mindset, focusing on addressing customer problems with scalable solutions that leverage the Bank's strategic tools. 

Don't miss this chance to collaborate, innovate, and make a meaningful impact!

I have interviewed Genfolio the winning team and want to create an article profiling their win. Please use these notes from an interview I had with them over Teams to craete an artcle. we will share the article on Sharepoint with our internal tech community and also externally on our careers page - we wnat to use the article and the hackathon expereince to promote CommBank as a great place to work for technology talent. Please pull out some direct quotes from the people a place them in the article:
Generated by AI. Make sure to check for accuracy.
Meeting notes:
Hackathon SharePoint Page: 
Katie explained that the hackathon results will be posted on the Hackathon SharePoint page and possibly on the external technology careers page. The team can share it on LinkedIn and other platforms.
Team Introduction: 
Timothy, Alex, Anna, Dingyi, James, Jason, Tony, and Marella introduced themselves, sharing their educational backgrounds and current roles at CBA. They highlighted their diverse experiences and how they came together for the hackathon.
	Timothy's Background: Timothy introduced himself, mentioning his Bachelor of Computer Science with honours, his role as a startup founder for an edtech company, and his previous experience as a NAB trader before moving to CBA.
	Alex's Background: Alex shared his background in engineering, initially pursuing civil engineering before pivoting to coding. He interned at CBA and participated in a previous hackathon during his internship.
	Anna's Background: Anna introduced herself as a data science grad, currently rotating in advanced data capabilities. She studied economics and econometrics and interned with Alex and Tony during their engineering stream.
	Dingyi's Background: Dingyi shared her background in computer science and commerce, currently working in the Diaries team as a data science grad.
	James's Background: James introduced himself as a data science grad with a unique background in nursing. He worked as a nurse for two years while completing his master's in data science and is now at CBA.
	Jason's Background: Jason shared his background in computer science, initially starting in BioMed before transferring to computer science. He is currently an engineering grad at CBA.
	Tony's Background: Tony introduced himself, mentioning his extensive background in computer science since high school and his current role as an engineer at CBA.
	Marella's Background: Marella shared her background in software engineering, working as a full stack developer for three years at a not-for-profit before joining CBA.
Team Formation: 
Timothy and James discussed how the team was formed, combining engineers and data scientists with a shared mindset of creating a powerful product to make an impact at CBA. They aimed to stand out from other grad cohorts.
	Timothy's Approach: Timothy explained that he did not know anyone on the call until the Grad programme started. He kept an eye out for engineers with a similar mindset and reached out to Alex and Tony, who had participated in a previous hackathon during their internship.
	James's Approach: James shared that the hackathon buzz started towards the end of their modelling project. He looked for data science grads who shared the sentiment of wanting to win and approached Timothy's team of exceptional engineers.
	Team Assembly: Timothy and James described the process of assembling the team, combining engineers and data scientists with a shared goal of creating a powerful product to make an impact at CBA.
Project Overview: 
Tony explained the core problem they aimed to solve: automating documentation for engineers to streamline their work. Alex added that this was a requirement for grads to keep tabs on their work, making it easier for engineering managers.
	Core Problem: Tony explained that the core problem they aimed to solve was the frustration engineers face when switching between engineering work and documentation. Their solution was to automate documentation to allow engineers to focus on their work.
	Grad Requirement: Alex added that the need for automated documentation arose from a requirement for grads to keep tabs on their work, making it easier for engineering managers to track progress and skills development.
Innovative and Unique Project: 
Marella highlighted the uniqueness of their project, which addressed a common problem faced by grads. They utilised CBA's platforms and conducted a survey with other engineering grads to validate the issue.
	Common Problem: Marella explained that the project addressed a common problem faced by grads: difficulty in keeping up with the engineering portfolio and matching tasks against the engineering skills matrix.
	Survey Validation: Marella mentioned that they conducted a survey with other engineering grads to validate the issue, confirming that many grads faced the same problem.
	Gen AI Utilisation: Marella highlighted the use of Gen AI to address the problem, making it easier to track tasks and skills proficiency.
Technologies Used: 
Alex and Marella discussed the technologies used, including AWS, GitHub, H2O, and Docker. They learned these tools quickly through workshops and applied them to their project, despite having no prior experience.
	Technology Learning: Alex explained that they learned various technologies quickly through workshops organised by CBA, including AWS, GitHub, H2O, and Docker.
	Workshop Impact: Marella mentioned that the AWS workshop made the biggest difference, providing them with the fundamentals needed to use AWS effectively in their project.
	Practical Application: Anna added that getting hands-on experience with new projects allowed them to understand the pros and cons of different technologies and make informed decisions.
	Trial and Error: Alex shared that they went through a lot of trial and error, experimenting with different AWS resources and data structures to find the best solution for their project.
Scalability and Impact: 
Alex explained that their solution could be scaled across the entire engineering function and data science function at CBA. They experimented with different data structures and used DynamoDB for technical scalability.
	Scalability Potential: Alex explained that the solution could be scaled across the entire engineering function and data science function at CBA, not just for grads but for all employees with a quantitative skills matrix.
	Technical Scalability: Alex mentioned that they experimented with different data structures and ultimately used DynamoDB, which offers significant technical scalability potential.
	Early Experimentation: Alex shared that they initially used the wrong way of storing data, requiring a quick pivot to a more effective data structure on Day 2 of the hackathon.
Biggest Challenge: 
Anna and James identified the biggest challenge as keeping everyone across the iterations of their architecture and ensuring open communication. They overcame this by having frequent ad hoc group meetings.
	Communication Challenge: Anna identified the biggest challenge as keeping everyone across the iterations of their architecture and ensuring open communication within the team.
	Ad Hoc Meetings: James explained that they overcame the communication challenge by having frequent ad hoc group meetings, including whiteboard sessions to keep everyone on the same page.
	Equal Playing Field: Alex mentioned that being all grads on an equal playing field allowed them to consider all ideas equally, contributing to effective communication and collaboration.
Advice for Future Hackathons: 
Timothy, Jason, and Anna advised future hackathon participants to communicate openly, move quickly, and focus on the business aspects of their solution. They emphasised the importance of presenting the idea effectively.
	Open Communication: Timothy advised future hackathon participants to communicate openly with their team, addressing any queries or uncertainties to ensure a clear understanding of the project.
	Move Quickly: Jason emphasised the importance of moving quickly, using AI tools as a launching pad to get the idea to 20-30% completion before refining it further.
	Business Focus: Anna highlighted the importance of focusing on the business aspects of the solution, ensuring that the technical implementation aligns with the business goals.
Enjoyment of Hackathon: 
Timothy, Marella, Eugene, Costa, and Alex shared their enjoyment of working together, relying on each other's strengths, and having the licence to experiment with new tools. They appreciated the passion and investment of the team.
Next Steps for Solution: 
Eugene revealed that Brandon Hopper is invested in the Gen Folio project, giving the team full licence to continue working on it. They plan to make it into a real product, scale it out, and improve performance management at CBA.
Follow-up tasks:
Hackathon SharePoint Page: 
Upload the hackathon project details to the Hackathon SharePoint page. (Katie)
External Page Sharing: 
Share the hackathon project details on the external technology careers page. (Katie)
LinkedIn Promotion: 
Share the hackathon project details on LinkedIn. (Katie)
Project Overview: 
Prepare a detailed overview of the hackathon project, including the core problem, key features, and technologies used. (Tony)
Scalability and Impact: 
Develop a plan to ensure the hackathon solution is scalable and impactful across the entire engineering function. (Alex)
AWS Training Feedback: 
Provide feedback on the AWS training sessions to Paul's team. (Alex)
Celebration Planning: 
Plan the celebration dinner at the chosen restaurant once the voucher codes are received. (Timothy)
Project Continuation: 
Coordinate with Brandon Hopper to continue working on the hackathon project and develop it into a real product. (Eugene)
Article Preparation: 
Prepare and share the article summarising the hackathon project and its progress with the team before publication. (Katie)
Team Photos: 
Send photos of the team celebrating their hackathon win. (Alex)