Community Spotlights: Mentors of nwHacks 2022
Meet some of the incredible mentors who joined us at Western Canada’s Largest Hackathon
This January, hundreds of hackers, mentors, and sponsors joined us virtually for our annual hackathon, nwHacks 2022! With the Community Spotlights program, we hope to engage members of the local tech community (and people who would like to get engaged!) by highlighting the diversity of the people who join us.
This article is a compilation of the Spotlights from the mentors of nwHacks. Check out the Community Spotlights page to see our compilation of the hacker Spotlights from nwHacks!
We hope these stories inspire you like they inspired us, and encourage you to try something new in the tech industry as well. Without further ado, meet the mentors of nwHacks 2022!
Nadia Le (she/her)
What drew you to join us at nwHacks?
— “I heard about nwHacks in my undergrad when I went to SFU as a Communications major. I’d always had an interest in tech and design. My first hackathon was UBC Local Hack Day by nwPlus when I was still studying. I self-learned product design, and so coming back to nwHacks, I’m really excited to give back to the community and provide guidance as a Design Mentor.”
What inspired you to pivot into Product Design from Communications/Marketing?
— “In 2020 I did a marketing co-op at a consultancy in Toronto at the beginning of COVID. When I was working from home then, I did some self-reflection and found that I wanted to get into UX specifically because there was a very talented design dept when I was doing my co-op. During the last bit of my co-op I did a lot of networking like coffee chats and 1–1s to learn as much as I could from the design team.”
— “Something that I did carry over from Communications and working often with people in general is that it’s very important to skim over all information (this applies if you have 20–40 page readings or documents) in order to find what’s best for your user. A professor that I had mentioned that skimming is an important skill: take a glance over all your information first and distill the important parts before you settle down and get to work.”
What are some resources that you used that would also be useful resources for beginners?
— “When I flew back to Vancouver to continue my studies, one of my connections had gotten into involved in the local tech community by founding Design Buddies. I volunteered to help out with the web design for Design Buddies, and that helped me meet a ton of knowledgeable people with different backgrounds that were also passionate about giving back to the community.”
— “Make sure to check out Figma Community to learn more about product design! Figma also has a lot of online resources, such as their YouTube channel, to learn more about industry standards and trends.”
How does product design fit into hackathons and similar project-based events/competitions?
— “I also participated in Adobe Creative Jams, which is a design-focused version of hackathons. A pro-tip for any beginners wanting to win a Creative Jam (and hackathons by extension), the judges focus on a strong first impression with prototyping and visual design to communicate your project’s vision. Of course, hackathons aren’t always about winning, but visual design is critical in communicating user flow and sets a direction in where you want to go for your prototype, so it’s very important to pay attention to your project’s design!”
Jordan Yep (he/him)
You have a lot of internship and career experience in tech — what would you give as advice to someone who is starting out?
— “My co-op advisors suggested to try a lot of different areas in tech, so I tried out a bunch of internships including tech for local government, business analytics, and smaller tech companies. You should focus on your side projects and passions! How I got my first internship was not mainly based on my academic accomplishments, but also my side projects such as original work or redesigns. Joining hackathons and events in tech also showcase your passion for the industry and community!”
What is the biggest difference between being a hacker and a mentor?
— “As a hacker it’s really easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much on the details. It’s a very fast process as a hacker between ideating and building, and it’s easy to become too laser-focused on the project instead of the bigger picture.”
— “As a mentor you have more of an outside lens on projects. Giving a hacker the advice to take a wider perspective allows them to ask questions early and plan out their work in advance.”
I noticed you’re the co-host of a podcast, Frontlog podcast. Can you tell me more?
— “My friend Mike and I started the podcast as interns in the same SAP co-op cohort, with passion in product design and product management. Frontlog tackles topics such as the importance of products that allow workers to disconnect from work, now that many people are working from home. For example, Slack allows scheduling of messages so that workers can respect their coworkers’ working hours. Discussions like these encourage the community to build tools that are mindful of each other for inclusivity in the workplace.”
What would make a project successful at a hackathon?
— “I have mentored at hackathons, designathons, protothons, and similar events. For your project to be successful, there should be a clear identification and presentation of the problem statement that your project is solving. Can you clearly communicate the problem and how you plan to solve that problem? Is there effective storytelling to convince your audience and investors that your solution aims to tackle this problem? You should be able to sell the idea effectively by presenting both your problem and your solution clearly.”
— “Hackers, don’t try to tackle too much. I’d rather see hackers do one or two things very well, rather than too many things too “hackily.” As a team, it’s important to do a vibe check to ensure that you’re able to accomplish a reasonable goal within 24 hours.”
Jimmy Xu
Hey! Tell me about your hackathon experience and why you’re joining us at nwHacks!
— “This is my first time at nwHacks! I used to do a lot of hackathons in school while I was at Waterloo. I won MicrosoftHacks in 2017 and I attended a couple other hackathons like Hack the North. I haven’t gone to a hackathon in a while, and the hackathon scene has definitely changed, so I’m very excited for all the projects I’d get to check out this weekend!”
You’ve been working for a couple years past grad now, what are some better points of your day-to-day role?
— “In the past year and a half I’ve been working at DataBricks, which is a data analytics company. The problem is, at the moment, not a lot of people know how to do data analytics effectively. There is a ton of data that exists, but it is not synthesized properly. Larger tech companies have the resources to leverage their data and analyze it, but often other industries and smaller tech companies have a lot of very useful data that is not being effectively used at the moment.”
What kind of impact are you able to make, working in the tech industry
— “I’m trying to enable individuals and companies to leverage machine learning as easily as possible. I’m working on tools to make it more accessible for users to learn how to wrangle data. This will be able to impact large companies and people around the world, but I’m just working from my bedroom! The impact that I’ve been able to make is highly scalable and applicable to millions of people around the world. It’s super cool to see how much impact I can create from the comfort of my own room.”
What advice would you give to someone who would want to join the tech industry?
— “Tech is very accessible, as in all the content that you would ever need is out there for you to learn from, but it’s hard to know what direction you want to choose. It’s similar to going to the gym, you can do it anytime and there’s a ton of tools out there, but you need to drive yourself to do it. When you’re self-learning, no one is going to force you to learn anything. It’s different than school where you have set deadlines to meet.”
— “Everyone says that programming is easy, but it isn’t! You need to be honest with yourself that if you want to get into this, you have to commit to trying. The field is definitely not easy, it is not a walk in the park, and if you don’t set the right expectations, you will be demotivated when it gets harder. You need to understand that before entering the field, that times will get tough, and you need to persevere to get through it, but it will all be very rewarding in the end.”
— “If you don’t know where to start at all, there are beginner courses to start with, such as the CS50 course, which give you an idea of where to start. So to recap, for people looking to start out, you should be self-motivated to find out where your passions lie.”
Irem Ozekes
You’ve been at various hackathons before — how would you say product design fits into a winning project?
— “The best product designers I know have excellent storytelling skills. They are able to break down complex ideas into simple, easy-to-follow stories with compelling narratives. Most of the winning projects I see start with unearthing a problem that doesn’t have a unique solution. The hook is explained through steps the team has taken to solve the problem by translating the user needs into a functional workflow.”
What resources would you recommend to new hackers who are interested in learning more about product design?
— “There is a myriad of resources for product design on the Internet but in my opinion, you learn about something by doing hands-on projects. I highly recommend folks to attend a design-only hackathon (or a protothon) and learn from other designers to build a tangible design solution together. “
You have a lot of experience in the local tech community, from working for various local startups as a designer and developer after grad. What is your favourite part about the Vancouver tech scene?
— “It’s growing. Employers are paying attention to Vancouver as a tech hub. They are gradually bringing their companies to our city to hire talent here.”
As a mentor, you have a wealth of knowledge, but I’m sure you had a time where you were also a beginner. What is something you wish someone had told your beginner self when you were starting out?
— “Leverage resources at your school. It’s sometimes hard to make time for career counselling events but meet an advisor and ask them to share resources tailored to your interests and career goals. Find a mentor through hackathons, club events, conferences and so on. If an engagement with one mentor doesn’t work out, that’s OK. Try to find someone else.”
Thank you, Nadia, Jordan, Jimmy, and Irem for sharing your inspiring stories. We’re always so happy to hear from our mentors, so that we can create more insightful experiences for new and experienced participants alike.
Don’t forget to check out our other Community Spotlights.
Stay tuned to hear more from our nwPlus community! 👋
