DAHacks returned for the fifth time, with 120 coders, fueled by free Red Bull energy drinks and pizza, competing to code the best app with the theme — education and finance — on May 30 in the Hinson Campus Center.
The judges awarded first place to “Rich Life Planner” by Jacob Kao, 26, data science major, Julia Wei, 25, computer science major, Osbert Huang, 21, computer science major, Hamza Zafer, 21, cognitive science major and Min Gacayan, 26, computer science major.
The app projects how much money your education will cost and how quickly you can make your money back.
The second place app, “Class Pass AI,” was created by Harish Thanigaivel, 19, data science major, Aasheer Magendran, 18, computer science major, Dan Wu, 19, computer science major and Aaditya Desai, 21, computer science major.
The project customizes an academic calendar for the user’s desired units and prerequisite courses.
Third place went to Tyler Darisme, 20, computer science major and his creation “AceAnything,” an AI tool that creates quizzes based on assignments you upload.
“As you go through the quiz, an AI will guide you through it and make sure you’re actually learning,” Darisme said. “If any of you guys want to try this, it’s live right now.”
Many participants were first-timers, but those with experience called it a “short” hackathon, since it was only nine hours compared to previous two-day hackathons.
De Anza College professors were called to judge along with associates from top tech companies, including Divesh Chowdary, a software developer at NVIDIA. Many judges were invited by Enkhbold Ganbold, 22, computer science major and the hackathon’s tech lead.
Chowdary said he has competed in nearly 50 hackathons and was looking for a “zero to one product which can be launched today.”
DA Developers, the team behind the semiannual hackathon, began its preparations weeks in advance; they received support from faculty and instructors from the computer information systems department with booking the campus center and contracting judges.
The organizers were separated into teams; mentors, logistics, marketing, finance and tech. Benjamin Lee, 18, computer science major and part of DAHacks’ tech team, created the app that helped hackers find teammates.
“It works kind of like Tinder,” Lee said. “You swipe to match people, and if two people match with each other they get paired.”
The tech team also created an app for hackers to contact mentors if they need help with software setup or for Wi-Fi connection, like they encountered at a previous DAHacks.
The “Locked In” project is a website and extension that creates a study plan by retrieving the courses and assignments with a student’s Foothill-De Anza Campuswide ID. It also tracks your internet usage and categorizes by tabs such as “leisure” and “school.”
Mikayel Hanbardzumyan, 18, computer science major, said his team began developing the app after one hour of planning at the event.
Another project, created by a team of roommates, “put a twist on ‘Rate My Professor,’” the popular website that lists students’ ratings of their professors.
“Whenever (professors) tackle a new class … they’re not sure how students are going to act,” said Pyae Phyo Aung, 19, electrical engineering major and co-creator of “Rate My Students.” “We made the app so professors have a better idea of who they are going to take care of during the quarter.”
Ganbold, who built the event website, said his reward lies in the process of creating.
“Helping students to build something crazy is amazing,” Ganbold said. “It feels so nice to make people happy … Even if you don’t win, it’s still very good to know you built something.”
