What did we learn from our first student hackathon experience?
We’ve just finished a virtual hackathon about the “Future of Ecommerce”, co-organized with the Wild Code School. It was really intense and I can’t believe that we learnt so much from it. This article is addressed to each Tech team that is wondering why they should support such events and to each curious reader interested to know more about the winning projects. You’ll find at the end, ManoMano key learnings and what we’ll need to improve to reach the next level of experience.
My role as a Tech Ambassador is to connect ManoMano and its teams with external tech ecosystems. I first met with the Wild Code School team to think about potential collaboration with their students by mid-October. As I used to be a hackathon organizer (4y spent at BeMyApp), we quickly came up with the idea of the hackathon that they organize every year with a fast-growing tech company. After a couple of meetings, we finally ended up with a “Build-Up the Future of Ecommerce” hackathon, a key topic for ManoMano, that we split into 4 subtopics:
- Upgrade the Customer eXperience in the ManoMano buying process, addressed by the Web Development training students
- Boost Customer Engagement with the help of Data, addressed by the Data Analysis training students
- Optimize the User shopping eXperience, addressed by the Product Management training students
- Guarantee a safe journey for each visitor, addressed by the Cybersecurity training students
For each topic, I benefited from the commitment of ManoMano Tech Teams and as they’ll probably read this article, I’m sharing a big THANKS to them! We were all able to join forces to mentor the students and provide some materials to nurture each topic: Identified pain points, Personas, Databases, Heatmaps, etc… We even gave students access to ManoManoPro our B2B website dedicated to building pros.
The second day of the event, we had the opportunity to organize a live testimonial with Fanny & Benoit, 2 ex-Wilders that are now part of ManoMano Tech Team. Following this session, Roksana from our HR team also had the chance to share about ManoMano’s culture, values & recruiting journey.
After 3 days of intense coding, we organized the Final Demos on Zoom. You can have access to the recording on this link.
And the winners are…
To begin, I’d really like to say congratulations to all the winners, however I’d like to remind everybody that winning is just a step in your path… so, with the same conviction, I’m glad to say congratulations to all the other teams!
To strike while the iron is hot and in order to see if each team is motivated to keep their projects going, I’ve scheduled a follow-up session with each one mentioned below, maybe we can write a longer story, who knows?
UPGRADE THE BUYING PROCESS EXPERIENCE
1st — Les <br> icolos
Our mobile feature adds a community dimension, such as basket sharing, and provides a hands-on experience to the B2C journey on ManoMano’s website. Based on React.js.
2nd — Dans Ton Code
« ManoBot » , the virtual agent to reassure the customers and help them to complete the purchase. Based on PHP Symfony & JavaScript.
3rd — La force tranquille
We developed ManoPoto, an IA that analyzes your pic & solves your problems. Based on React.js.
BOOSTING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
1st — Dato Dato
Our web app is trying to find out what causes some customers to become detractors (Customer Effort Score 1 to 6), and what can be done to prevent this. Based on: Dataiku DSS and Python.
2nd — La Tribu de Data
Our project aims to point out different issues in the basket conversion and share keys to improve the process. We designed several recommendations in different fields, logistics, marketing and web development. Based on Python, Tableau and NLP Analyses.
3rd — Happy Four Friends
Data exploration to identify customers’ dissatisfaction, start with the main reasons, followed by a gift shop suggestion to grow customer’s happiness. Based on: Database Exploration approach, NLP, sentiment analysis with Python, including library “text2emotion”, and Power BI.
OPTIMIZING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
1st — Les Nains Capables
Our prototype aims to improve the customer experience, especially focusing on the shipping fees.
GUARANTEEING A SAFE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
1st — Kaliatids
Impacts of cybersecurity breaches on e-commerce.
Key learnings & improvements for the next level
This hackathon was a great experience as it really achieved the goals we had from the beginning:
- Provide a 3-day hackathon experience with a renowned European bootcamp
- Share the “ManoMano ways of doing things” with more than 600+ talented profiles
- Be confronted to more than 40+ innovative projects and to all the teams that developed them
Now that the event is done and if we take some steps back, here are the improvements we should quickly work on to reach the next level of experience:
- Provide more accurate tech materials to the students, such as APIs, databases, documentation or dedicated dev environment
- Design a better process to match Mentors & Students based on the needs, the skills and the topic
To wrap-up this article, I’d like to tell you a story. In November 2013, I was part of the organizers of the Open e-Education Weekend, a 48-hour hackathon to create new digital learning experiences for students & teachers. During this event, the Wild Code School cofounders teamed-up to participate.
I can’t remember the result but my main point here is to show how far we can go from such an event. Since I joined ManoMano, I can’t stop sharing with my team to make the most out of their tech ecosystem, and to be involved as a participant, as a speaker or as a volunteer. I’m personally involved in BDX I/O conference and my belief is, being part of it. It always triggers opportunities to meet, share and grow, both on personal and professional aspects!
We ❤️ learning and sharing
I took a lot of pleasure to write this article, feel free to post your feedback below, reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Whether you had a similar or totally different experience, I’d love to hear about it.
