2nd Hackathon Experience! MindScape.
Tags: webdev, opensource, codenewbie, devjournal
Published: 2022-02-01 11:53:12

Hey Guys!

Back with another article on documenting my latest Coding experience!
So recently I just finished participating in a Hackathon as a part of my Bootcamps program! In this case the Hackathon was done in conjuction with a charity called SODA Social and they invest in Rethinking solutions to help build an initiative to improve different aspects of mental health and well-being in 2022.

This was a great project to get involved in as I am also a big advocate of Mental Health and how the subject needs to be discussed a lot more and implemented in to the workplace especially with history showing us how it has affected the workforce in the pandemic.

For the project we built an interactive website using HTML, CSS3, JAVAscript and Python. The range of features we have are a bunch of resources you can use to help yourself and others raise awareness about mental health, links to NHS(UK's National Health System) that provides information and support for a variety of topics related to mental health.

We have a clear your head feature on the site:
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c0dq7tp1sij9u55rn9yp.png)

This feature allows you to write in your concerns, frustrations and thoughts into a text box completely anonymous and allows you to clear it after. Like I'm sure most of you guys do with your tweets but without having to delete them  :grin:

Just under the the Clear your head box we have a Timer feature that allows you to put in a timer to help facilitate meditation or a break for yourself during work with a time out session. This encourages the user to take some time out from there day and can hold the user accountable. It's easy to say that you will take 5 minutes but when it is timed it is more likely to happen.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/87bh84kwx0bbypwsw3zd.png)

 We also have a "My Daily Lift" Feature that enables you to check off an item from your day that helps you manage stress at work. These check off boxes will provide you with motivation and just that little extra mental push to let you know your not alone.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3c4syyeyfpuuqzsfrzm3.png)

A future element we will also include for the site is a Live chat feature that allows you to talk with a mental health representative bot that replies with motivational quotes or guidance depending on the mood your in. Also a login page we have for returning users to use when they are back so they can track their daily lifts and have regular access to the site to keep them accountable for managing their mental health.

What I learned from this experience is that AGAIN its always great to work in a development team. There is so much you can learn from other members in your team, you are not alone in your coding journey. With everyone varying with different levels of experience you forget about how much knowledge you know thats essential. For example even me giving advice on how to deploy on github and how to make commits and pull requests which are extremely important in the open source process is truly rewarding now that I look back.

Learning some tips of code for Javascript and Python I didnt know previously which I will definitely be taking into my future projects will also help quite a bit. As I will be working on my next portfolio project which will be a Python one very shortly this will be very useful. 

I hope you enjoyed this read and enjoying this coding journey with me so far. There is so much more to learn and so much more to do. Look forward to my next post about my next project coming soon. :smile:

p.s.

Links to Hackathon Project here!
Want help with your Mental Health? Try MindScape!

GitHub Repo: https://lnkd.in/eyfyejiK

Deployed at: https://lnkd.in/eKhxgRYi

Follow me on Twitter: @CodezMikazuki 

Thanks for Reading,
Malcz/Mika.