Behind the Lines of Code: Insights UNYO, EU Code Week Hackathon Winner

Publication date: December 8, 2023

We are really excited to share with you a glimpse into the minds of these young coding experts, of course we are talking about the Unyo’s Team, the winners of the EU Code Week Hackathon! We asked the team some thought-provoking questions to discover how, when and why they joined the EU Code Week hackathon. But we also talked about the motivations, strategies, and visions behind their outstanding work. Join us on this insightful journey, let’s dive in! 

What made you enter the EU Code Week Hackathon? And how did you came to know it? 

Our team, UNYO met one another through friends not knowing each one of us had a great passion for coding and technology. We learned about the EU Code Week Hackathon through the official page of the Albanian ICT Academy. The hackathon was a great opportunity to work and tackle challenges in Albania but also to contribute to the community.  

We are really happy on how the Albanian Code Week was organized, ambassador and mentors were always willing to offer help. Each teams had a space with tools and activities and sessions to make the experience more enjoyable. We wanted to learn from others but also prove ourselves, that is why we entered the EU Code Week hackathon.  

Can you share the story behind the initial idea and development of your project? 

The main objective behind BLITE is to transform the way people learn and connect thanks to an App. We realised the disparities in educational accessibility and the need for a more inclusive leaning environment. We set out to create a platform that would cater to diverse learning styles and address the unique needs of users from various backgrounds. 

Firstly, we studied and checked the existing educational platforms. We came across issues of limited accessibility for individuals with disabilities and a lack of personalized learning experience. We designed learning modules, tailored interactive quizzes and we integrated hand recognition AI to enhance the user interactions. Our team incorporated a Mentorship Hub, a Community Chat feature, and regular Events & Workshops, the idea was to create  a sense of belonging and encourage users to connect, share experiences, and engage in discussions. Finaly we integrated translation tools.  The ultimate objective behind BLITE is to create a digital platform able to break barriers. 

Would you like to repeat the experience? what would you do better?  

Yes! We would definitely would like to repeat this experience and to challenge ourselves with other teams form not only our countries but all over Europe. We really enjoyed developing BLITE and we would love to keep improving it.  

Did the team felt good competing? what was the overall feeling of the students?

Our team started the challenge with a lot of enthusiasm. First we divided the roles, then we were indeed really excited about the competition, a lot of adrenaline! We wanted to implement our project and we believe that every challenge became also an opportunity to grow and learn. We faced coding obstacles, time constraints but in the end we worked together and we made it. 

What was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenges that loomed over our team was doubtlessly the time and the complexity of the problem statement. The task required technical expertise, creativity but also strategy, and also a good management of time. We tried to make the best out of every minute we had, however we also felt a lot of stress while the clock kept on ticking. 

What did you think of the platform and of the hackathon format? Would you change anything?

The platform was intuitive, it facilitated the communication and it allowed our team navigate easily, thus we could focus on the hackathon’s core objectives 

The timeframe gave a sense of urgency and creativity, while the problem statements challenged the team to think critically. We really liked the experience, nevertheless we would make some changes to extend networking opportunities and provide access to post-hackathon learning resources, such as tutorials and webinars.