Bupa’s first Global hackathon!

"You can't solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level." - Albert Einstein

Bupa organised its first global hackathon “Data-driven solutions” this year and what a response it had! 350 Bupa hackers, 40 judges and 15 coaches from 10 countries came together for the challenge. Hackathon has come a long way since June 4, 1999 when Niels Provos first used the term at a cryptographic development event organised by OpenBSD. The real journey started when Sun Microsystem organised a JavaOne Conference from June 15 – June 19, 1999 to bring together developers to write a code for Palm V.

In the earlier stages hackathon was more common among technology companies however over time non-technology companies realised this is a great event to bring talented individuals together to collaborate with and compete against colleagues, develop ideas, innovate and find opportunities that are viable for funding.

There is a misplaced view of hackathon that this is only about technology and to build codes. Hackathon is more than that. As you may have guessed it, hackathon is a combination of “hack” and “marathon”. Hackathon is an event to collaborate, work rapidly and create a solution for an existing problem or identify a new opportunity using data and technology within a specified time frame as per the challenge outlined by the organisation.

Bupa organised the event very well. There were learning sessions where we could listen and engage with experts to prepare for the hackathon! We had the opportunity to listen to a variety of speakers from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Splunk, Gartner as well as Bupa internal data experts. For two days teams of like-minded colleagues with different skills, knowledge and background came together to brainstorm ideas, follow their instincts, take risks, think differently and apply creativity to come up with a data driven customer focused idea/concepts.

In my team I got to meet and work with three exciting and passionate colleagues from Bupa business who I may not have met otherwise.

I have always enjoyed and craved for opportunities to develop ideas, find solutions and be creative and working with 3 talented, passionate and like minded individuals from wider Bupa business was an amazing opportunity to just be creative, bold and fun in developing a concept. This challenge helped me develop new perspectives, knowledge and build connections.

I would encourage anyone who is reading this blog to look out for such opportunities because they can help you engage more with your business, build new connections and generate ideas to solve existing customer problems or identify new opportunities. This whole experience for me was one of the most satisfying moments at Bupa.

I would like to sincerely thank Stephanie Wand (Bupa UK) and coaches (Phil Gadzinski, Richard Lunn, Madeleine Jones and Gemma Scott) who supported us and gave us insights to improve our idea and pitch. I would also like to thank Jack Liu and Adrian Vruink for providing data speedily that helped us in the delivery of our idea.

And above all, I wouldn’t have had so much fun if it wasn’t for my team mates – Stephanie James, Lukasz Olech and Luca Spinello so thank you for a memorable experience.

#Bupahackathon