<Code>Kaya Hackathon1, How Was It?

Highlights and Participants Experience from the Event

If you are reading this, you might or might not have heard about the <Code>Kaya Network since we are quite new in the tech industry. Do not worry though because the point of this article is to give you an understanding of who we are by reflecting back on our very first event as a start-up, the <Code>Kaya hackathon1. Our core mission is to connect talented Kenyan and East African developers to growth and job opportunities. So, we thought, what a better way to achieve this than through a hackathon that would serve as both an informative platform through the talks of influential figures in technology, and also provide an environment for developers to ideate and implement solutions?

It is unfortunate that the Kenyan job market is filled with qualified people who are unemployed due to a lack of information on available opportunities that suit them. When you think about the situation, what are some of the ideas that come to mind about making the situation better? This question is what <Code>Kaya hackathon1 was centered around. The theme of the hackathon was, “Creating Impactful job opportunities using technology”. We challenged our developers to be proactive in creating solutions to solve pressing problems around them.

The winning team (made up of Breens, Mueni, and Evans) approached the challenge in an interesting way that aimed to not only digitize the job market but also provide opportunities to people who are talented but limited by education qualification. They came up with an app that would humanize job applications more by replacing the dependency on

CVs with use of portfolios. Resumes only provide the employer with a glance of what an individual is capable of but they are not able to know that the person really does possess the listed skills. On the other hand, a portfolio showcases projects previously worked, increasing the employer’s trust in the capabilities of the potential hire. After their presentation, the team got lots of insights from other attendees on the strengths of their application and ways in which they can improve it while scaling it. This solution is really impressive, and we hope the team continues to work towards eventually releasing the product to the market. The winning developers walked away with a cool <Code>Kaya swag package and internship opportunities.

Everyone who attended the hackathon also got a chance to learn more about personal and brand development, monetizing programming skills, dealing with imposter syndrome, entrepreneurship mindset, and the essentiality of developer communities. This part of the hackathon was made possible by our amazing speakers, Wayne Gakuo, Faith Mueni, and

Eddie Adinah, to whom we are very much grateful. The attendees enjoyed these sessions thoroughly and had a chance to express their opinions on the topics, ask questions, and also network with the speakers.

We could go on about how amazing and impactful the hackathon was, but this part of the story is better told from the perspective of the people who motivate us to do what we

do, our attendees, so below is what a few of them thought about <Code>Kaya hackathon1:

“I learned the power of learning from other developers and other people in the field”

“My highlight was hearing people from different tech stacks share their success, challenges and how they overcome them and the interaction of course”

“I loved receiving the <Code>Kaya Swag package”

“The food on point”

“What stood out for me is how the founders are so motivated to help the Kenyan community get opportunities and most importantly learn to be problem solvers”

If you never got a chance to attend the first hackathon, don’t worry, we got you! We will be having 2 more hackathons in 2022. See you there!

In the meantime, follow us on social media to stay updated on what we are up to next, including webinars, career fairs, mental wellness sessions, and code and sip sessions.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodeKaya (@CodeKaya)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codekaya_network/ (@codekaya_network)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/code-kaya-network (<Code>Kaya Network)