DEVS

Connects participants with compatible team members and helps to make the hackathon experience more productive and enjoyable.

Comment 4

Inspiration

Whenever I try to take part in a hackathon on Devpost one of the difficulties that I face always is finding a good team or team members for my team. I try to search for people who are looking for teammates like me but because a lot of people mention on Devpost that they are looking for team or team members, it becomes very difficult to choose some people for my team from those 100+ people. This not only wastes my time in searching for team members but also decreases my productivity and the problem does not end here because after long hours of searching even if I had got a good team member, I need to send them a team-up request on Gmail and sometimes these emails go to spam folder on Gmail and not every person reply to these emails. Sometimes due to different time zones, I need to wait for a long time to get a reply from the person whom I had sent the team-up request from Devpost. If that person somehow replies to my mail after one day then after that I need to make a separate channel on discord or slack and again send that channel link to all my team members so that we all can continue our chat on a single platform. This will again take time for them to join my channel where we all can continue our chat because of different time zones. But after a long waiting, I finally get a chance to meet all my team members on a single platform and then we start chatting with each other and comes to the conclusion that we need a google meet or zoom to discuss our idea. So finally after wasting a long time, we finally start our work on the idea that we all had decided on.

The number of platforms involved in this process was - Gmail -> Discord/Slack -> Google Meet/Zoom -> Google Sheets/ docs -> Loom/Vimeo/Zoom (For recording our meeting for the final presentation)

I was seeing matchmaker apps that connect two people who live in different places around the world and from that, I got the idea that if there can be an app that can connect two people together then one can also make an app that connects two developers for a hackathon based on their skills, interests and project preferences and from there I got an idea to make an app DEVS.

What is DEVS?

DEVS is an app that connects participants with compatible team members, which is an important component of a successful hackathon experience. It solves problems related to team formation, diversity, team dynamics, and participation, leading to a more productive and successful hackathon experience.

Features of DEVS

  1. Profiles: Participants first create their profiles that include their skills, interests, and project preferences.

  2. Matching algorithm: DEVS use a matching algorithm to suggest potential team members based on the information in their profiles.

  3. Chat: Participants chat with each other and discuss their ideas before forming a team.

  4. Team formation: Participants form teams, keep track of their progress, and communicate with each other.

  5. Feedback and ratings: After the hackathon, participants rate each other based on their experience, providing valuable feedback for future hackathons.

By connecting participants with compatible team members, DEVS can help make the experience more productive and enjoyable.

How it works?

  • User create their profiles or sign in with Google or Devpost to continue.
  • After sign in users need to choose whether they are Hackathon participants or Hackathon organizers. If the user is an organizer then our app will provide them an event code for their event which they can share with all the participants on Devpost to help them in forming a team.
  • If the user chooses that they are Hackathon participants then our app will ask them to write the name of the Hackathon in which they are participating on Devpost and the event code provided by the Hackathon organizers. Finally, the user needs to select the skills they are looking for and then our app will use a matching algorithm to suggest potential team members based on the information in their profiles.

  • Once the match is found app will suggest all the people which match their queries along with their ratings. These ratings indicate their performance in previous teams which helps the user to understand whether that person will be able to work in their team or not. After selecting the person that the user wants in their team, they can go to that person's profile and can see their profile and can chat with them. If that person agrees to team up with the user then the user will send a team-up request on chat and once that person accepts that request our app will automatically provide a notification to make a separate group for all team members. Our app will ask for a team name and different channels and the schedule of the hackathon and will automatically form a group and will automatically add all those team members which have accepted the user's team-up request.

  • In the group, the team members can see the schedule of the hackathon in their local time zones and the app will also provide notification before the project submission deadline if they want. There are different channels in the group that can help participants such as :

Keep track of progress - In this channel, all the tasks that team members have to do are mentioned and once that task is completed then team members can mark that task that is completed and thus it helps all members to keep track of their progress.

Ideas - Here all the team members can suggest their ideas in the list which is just like a To-Do list and it can help all the members to understand what all are thinking to build before a virtual meet and thus it will save their time in the virtual meet because everyone's knows their team members ideas.

Resource Bot - Here all the team members can ask questions related to their projects, codes, etc. and the bot will answer all their questions which will save their time in doing lots of googling that participants often do during the hackathon.

Voice/Video Call - Here all the team members can meet in a single place and can talk with each other on a call. They can use a whiteboard to discuss ideas, can share their screen, and also can record their meetings for making videos for presentations and can download it later from our app.

  • Finally, once the hackathon is over our app will send a notification to all team members to give feedback and ratings to each other based on their experience and how they feel while working with their team members. These ratings and feedback will help other participants in the future if they want that person on their team and this will also motivate all the team members in a team to work hard for the project because they are getting ratings and reviews.

Why DEVS?

Because it is made by hacker for the hackers - Just Joking😂😜

  1. It helps participants find team members with complementary skills and interests.

  2. By using the app, participants can connect with like-minded individuals who they may not have met otherwise.

  3. It provides a more efficient and effective way to form teams, allowing participants to spend more time working on their projects and less time searching for team members.

  4. It increases the diversity of teams and ideas, leading to more innovative and creative projects.

  5. By matching participants with compatible team members, the app improves the overall experience of the hackathon, making it more enjoyable and productive.

The app provides a platform for participants to communicate and collaborate, which can lead to stronger team dynamics and more successful projects.

What problems DEVS would solve?

  1. Difficulty finding team members: Participants may struggle to find team members who have the right skills and interests to work on their projects. The DEVS can solve this problem by connecting participants with compatible team members.

  2. Time-consuming team formation: Forming a team can be time-consuming and distracting, especially if participants have to spend time searching for team members. DEVS streamline the team formation process and allow participants to focus on their project.

  3. Lack of diversity: Without DEVS, participants may form teams with people who have similar backgrounds and skills. This can lead to a lack of diversity in ideas and approaches. DEVS helps participants to form more diverse teams, which can lead to more innovative and creative projects.

  4. Poor team dynamics: Without DEVS, participants may form teams with people who have conflicting personalities or working styles. This can lead to poor team dynamics and a less successful project. DEVS helps participants form teams with people who are compatible and likely to work well together.

  5. Low participation: A hackathon with low participation can result in a less dynamic and less innovative event. By making it easier for participants to find compatible team members,DEVS increases participation and helps to create a more successful hackathon.

What's next for DEVS?

Currently, DEVS is just a prototype, but in the future, I will make it a complete mobile app as well as a complete full-stack web application and help the user to experience the best out of it.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates