10Alytics has rewarded three winners with a $1000 cash prize in the grand finale of its exclusive Data Analytics Hackathon staged over the weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday, May 13 and 14, respectively, the Data Analytics Hackathon was held online, and participants came from a variety of locations all over the world. The event was open only to those who had previously graduated from the academy or are now enrolled in its courses.
Adeiza Suleman, the founder of 10Alytics, began by introducing the panel of judges by naming Michelle Conway, the Lead Data Scientist at Lloyds Banking Group; Sadeeq Akintola, the Smart Analytics Customer Engineer at Google; Olamide Jolaoso, the Head of Data & Analytics at Wema Bank Nigeria; and Sebastian Obeta, a Data Scientist and Ethics Researcher.
He mentioned that all of the registered participants were allotted 10 hours to work on a case study that was to be submitted, and after that period of time, only 10 persons were chosen to go to the final round.
As Adeiza was explaining the guidelines for the competition, she mentioned that there would be five factors that would be used to select the winners. He stated that the participants were evaluated according to their level of comprehension of the case study, their eloquence, their ability to manage their time effectively during presentations, their capacity to react to questions with convictions, and the calibre of the insights they produced.
Rita Ozoh came in first place with a score of 89%, followed by Muhammad Suleman in second place with a score of 84%, and Emmanuel Fagbenle and Olayinka Akerekan tied for third place with a score of 83%.
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The primary objective of the Data hackathon
Rita Ozoh came in first place with a score of 89% during her speech at the event, Efemena Ikpro, who is also the co-founder of 10Alytics, highlighted that the hackathon is an international competition that provides participants with a platform on which to practise and improve their talents.
According to him, the primary objective of the hackathon is to demonstrate to people in a hands-on setting how data can be utilised to make decisions. In addition to this, the hackathon is designed to aid participants in developing their confidence and in making the transition from the classroom to the working world.
Remarks from the winners
Rita Ozoh, who came in first place, showed her gratitude to the event’s organizers in her remarks by saying,
“I didn’t expect this. I did a night shift on Friday and I planned to participate; but when I joined, I realized that there were a lot of things that I needed to do and my eyes were really heavy. I was contemplating going to sleep and join next time. But I was able to battle it and I became more interested and wanted to finish it.
“When the rules of the competition were being read out, it was as if my heart wanted to sink into my stomach. Usually, I invite my Mum for things like this, but I didn’t tell her in case something goes wrong. So, that shows I didn’t see this coming and I’m very happy and I appreciate 10Alytics for giving me this opportunity. I’m very grateful.”
In a similar vein, Olayinka Akerekan, who came in third place and is also a working pharmacist disclosed that he did not anticipate making it to the final stage of the competition.
“I currently practice as a pharmacist in a hospital. Yesterday, when I received the data set, I was very sick and on medications; but I had resolved to be a part of the hackathon. As I was using drugs, I was writing my codes. I felt it was better to submit and not be selected, than to not make any effort. I’m better than I was yesterday; I didn’t expect to make it this far,” he said.
The judges extended their congratulations to the victors and praised everyone else who participated for the efforts that they put in.
Previous editions of the Data Analytics hackathon
Despite most participants being sick or tired, Sadeeq, a judge, was pleased with the results.
Michelle said Lloyds Banking Group would analyse hackathon applicants for data-related roles in line with 10Alytics’ mission of assisting people get computing jobs.
Olamide recommended entrants use their hackathon participation to land tech jobs instead of waiting for a formal career, while Sebastian praised 10Alytics for a platform and stated he was delighted to judge.
The Data Analytics hackathon had three previous editions: October 2021, May 2022, and December 2022. Sadeeq was satisfied with the outcomes and performance despite most participants being unwell or sleepy.
