Highlights from Scitek, the Data Science and Data Engineering event
Take a closer look at the 4th edition of Poatek's Scitek and Datathon
Scitek is an event organized by Poatekers, Poatek's employees, with a focus on data engineering, data science, and innovation. We aim to give the opportunity to students and professionals interested in these topics to get updated about what is happening in the market and also inside Poatek, bringing experienced professionals and offering talks, Q&A sessions, coffee breaks with a lot of networking, and a Datathon competition.
This year, we had the fourth edition between November 9th and 11th. During the first two days, we offered talks and a Q&A session about the career in data areas. The third day was reserved exclusively for the Datathon, including short workshops about Data Science and Data Engineering. You can find more information and pictures on our website.
Scitek during the first and second day
The first two days of the event, which were Thursday and Friday, started at 7 pm. On the first day, during the accreditation was offered, an opening cocktail together with the participants' kit (containing an eco bag, a paper notebook, a pen, a coffee reusable cup, and a 250g pack of William & Sons Coffee).
Our General Manager of LATAM Operations, Sami Bin, made a quick talk introducing the event and welcoming all participants, which was followed by our first talk about the evolution of the data area offered by the Poateker João Pedro Boufleur. The second guest was the UFRGS professor Fernanda Kastensmidt, who talked about Neural Network Accelerators for Embedded Systems. Finally, to close the first day, we had a Q&A session with a Data Engineer and a Data Science Tech Leads from Poatek, Luiz Nonenmacher, and Gennaro Rodrigues, answering about careers.
Moving to the second day, our schedule started with a presentation from Marcos Passos, who works for Mercado Livre, and discussed the journey to implement Data Mesh in their processes. Following that, once again participating in Scitek after the second edition in 2022, we had Solano Campos, the Director of Data Intelligence at Quartile, discussing the construction of an end-to-end Data Engineering architecture from the API to the team management.
Last but not least, we had our closing talk with the Poatekers Lucas Lima de Oliveira and Stefani Villa, who presented about Data Engineering and Data Science projects at Poatek. To conclude these two days of Scitek, the staff offered a closing cocktail at our rooftop with good networking between our participants, Poatekers, and speakers.
Datathon on the third day
Finally, on the third day of the event, Poatek hosted its known Datathon. A Datathon is a competitive event where participants leverage their skills in data science and engineering to address a specific challenge — in this case, the challenge revolved around the ever-pressing issue of climate change.
The event began with introductory talks given by our DSE team, focusing on the fundamentals of data science and engineering, as well as commonly used libraries and tools. These talks provided valuable insights for participants, regardless of their skill level, and included a few tips on how to build their strategies for the competition. Both talks were offered by Poatekers, being the first one given by Guilherme Malta and Lucas Lima, and the second by Isabella Ackermann and João Oliveski.
To ensure a collaborative and supportive environment, the participants were divided into teams of four, resulting in a total of nine groups. These groups counted on the participation of mentors from Poatek, as well as our guest from Quartile — Solano Campos — who devoted their expertise to making our event even greater. Their involvement allowed participants to seek guidance and support throughout the duration of the event, ensuring that no roadblocks hindered the development of their solutions and analyses. During the day it was offered pizza for lunch, energy drinks, and (of course) coffee throughout the day.
With just six hours on the clock, the participating teams displayed extraordinary dedication and focus while building their projects, exploring databases, and creating analyses. The intense atmosphere in the room was met with a collaborative spirit as participants engaged in lively discussions, exchanged ideas, and troubleshooted together. Each team had the opportunity to present their work to a public audience and a panel of judges who assessed their performance based on criteria such as creativity, complexity, technical quality, and presentation skills. The Datathon’s judging panel comprised Solano Campos, our guest evaluator, alongside Eliezer Bernart and Guilherme Malta from the Data Science team, coupled with Isabela Ackermann and João Oliveski from the Data Engineering team. Their collective expertise across data science and data engineering ensured a thorough assessment of the participants’ solutions.
Among the many great teams participating in the Datathon, three groups stood out for their solutions. The third-place winners, Andre Rocha, Ashiley Bianca, Eduardo Xavier, and Luana Sostisso, with their creative and well-conducted analysis to investigate temperature patterns and propose alternative crop rotations in Colombia. Second-place winners Bruno Medeiros, Felipe Elsner, Lucas Bandeira, and Marcos Ferreira, stood out by the complexity of the work delivered, with a complete pipeline of data extraction and processing and interesting insights in regard to the effect of climate changes in the incidence of natural disasters.
Finally, the first-place winners, Helena Maia, Isadora Guerra, João Pedro Pfeifer, and Lucas Berr, distinguished themselves by demonstrating strong storytelling abilities and an analytical mindset in investigating the growth of pesticide usage and its connection with climate change.
These winning groups truly embodied the spirit of the Datathon, using their expertise in different areas and cooperative spirit to tackle climate change challenges head-on. As a reward for the great work, besides the friends we made along the way, each winner received a mechanical keyboard for the third place, a JBL sound box for the second place, and a JBL earbuds for the first place.
Closing
As we bring this incredible Scitek to an end, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the participants who made this event such a tremendous success. We are immensely grateful for your participation in the talks, your valuable contributions, and the exceptional teamwork that was displayed throughout the Datathon.
We would also like to take this opportunity to extend a warm invitation to all of you to join us again for the next edition of our Scitek. Building on the success and learnings from this event, we are already excitedly planning an even better experience for all data enthusiasts and problem solvers out there. Stay tuned to our social media for updates and details about how you can participate in the upcoming events.
Authors
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