Mastercard Code For Change Hackathon experience

Result: Runner-up team✅

Rounds: Online Assessment + Offline Hackathon at Mastercard Pune office

Hello readers, Harsha this side. I am a 3rd-year undergrad pursuing Information Technology from Pune Institute Of Computer Technology (PICT). I had the opportunity to participate in the Mastercard < Code For Change> Hackathon 2024. Here’s a glimpse of my experience.

About the Hackathon: How Did I Learn About the Opportunity?

Mastercard introduced its hackathon-based internship hiring process in 2024. This hackathon was specifically for the top 5 colleges from Pune, PICT being one of them. This hackathon had its primary aim to provide NGOs with technical solutions. In mid-July 2024 my college's training and placement department announced the registrations for the event.

Eligibility Criteria:

Minimum 7.5 GPA aggregate in university

At least 75% in both 10th and 12th boards.

No active backlogs.

Application Portal:

I applied through Mastercard’s official Application Portal. After submitting my application, I received a link to take a coding test on HirePro.

Pro tip: Submit a resume with strong projects, volunteering, or internship experiences as it plays a key role in the shortlisting process

Online Assessment:

Difficulty: Medium🟡

The coding test consisted of 2 questions to be solved within an hour.

• The first question was puzzle-related. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to optimize my solution but ultimately submitted a brute-force approach.

• The second question was related to trees, which I couldn’t completely solve.

To my surprise, I was shortlisted for the offline hackathon :D

Pre-hackathon:

Before the offline hackathon, all the shortlisted participants were divided into teams of 8 and allocated a mentor from the Mastercard team. A Mentor Connect session was arranged for all the teams on 14th August (also my birthday :D) to help us get to know our team better, which would eventually help us develop an optimal solution on hackathon day. The problem statements were to be released on the day of the hackathon itself. My team members were really fun and engaging. We organized various online team meetings and discussed the tech stacks that all of us were familiar with. We also smartly distributed our roles according to our interests and expertise. Qualities such as communication skills, market research and leadership were also taken into consideration.

D-day: The Offline Hackathon

All the participants were asked to report to the Mastercard Pune office at 7 am on 23rd August 2024. The problem statements were released at 9:00 am and were allocated on a random basis. These were real-life problems given by NGOs. We were handed over a document where the main problem came with multiple sub-problems specifying categories (high, medium, and low priority), and technologies that were to be addressed. The most important factor was how effectively we were able to solve the problem. During the first 1.5 hours, my team thoroughly brainstormed solutions to address the problem. We divided all of our ideas into a list of must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and won’t-haves, considering we were time-bound. I made sure to communicate with other teammates & efficiently build the project. I also made sure to showcase and discuss my work with my mentor as they’d be making the decision to select me. We were to submit our Github repository link along with our idea-pitch presentation before 16:45. Throughout the day, Mastercard ensured we were well-fed with breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. (Their cupcakes were divine!)

Post-hackathon: The presentations began at 6 am. I, along with one of my teammates, took the lead in presenting during the event. The presentation is of utmost importance as you showcase your solutions to the senior members including VPs of Mastercard. There were 22 teams in total. All the presentations concluded by 21:30.

Results:

Teams were asked to have their dinner. Post-dinner, all the participants were eagerly waiting for the results. Mastercard really tested our patience as it was almost 23:00 and results were yet not announced. At 11:30 pm, we saw the judges approaching the presentation hall, and the room fell silent. When I heard, “And the runner-up team is Team 3!” I got literal goosebumps. It was an exhilarating moment for my team.

Final Thoughts:

It was an amazing experience overall. Truly grateful to the team Mastercard for providing me with such an amazing opportunity.

That’s all about my experience. Thank you for reading, I hope it was insightful. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn for any questions or thoughts. Good luck with your journey!

Toodles, Harsha.