Had a fantastic time at caseHacks! It’s a Scotia sponsored hackathon that’s run by Laurier and it combines business and technology with a case competition.
Out of the shell
This was a big jump for me because I’ve never gone to a hackathon on my own, and I wasn’t even going to compete because I couldn’t attend the second day. I was just going to attend their workshops/events, meet cool people, and hopefully see some old friends from Scotiabank. It had me wondering why I was driving more than an hour to attend, even with what I wanted to get out of it. At the end of the day, I was really glad that I went.
I can't say I'm extroverted at all. In fact, part of the other reason that I went is because I'm attending some Toronto Tech Week events next week and felt like it'd be helpful to get myself in a large crowd and practice my social skills. I made myself a promise that I'd never sit alone; I would always find someone to sit beside and strike up a conversation. It worked really well. I met super cool people, had some good conversations, and enjoyed my time a lot more.
Workshops
How to case competition
They had two workshops in the morning, the first going over how to actually make a case for a case competition. It's really funny because the more you learn, the more you tie together different languages used across fields that mean the same thing. For example, the first step is to identify a real, meaningful problem, and the second is to find the users who experience it and the value a solution would bring to you. In agile, that's basically user stories. In software requirements, it's stakeholders and part of the requirements elicitation phase.
Everything boils down to the people involved and making sure that you're solving a real problem that brings value, so I can't say I'm surprised that different frameworks/methodologies/languages were built around that idea. It's universal to a good product after all.
Resume roast
The resume roast was after lunch and well done. Two people, probably around my age, presented their website Rezzy which is an AI resume tailoring platform that uses agents to give feedback on your resume and tailor it to job postings. Tons of those out there, but their product was visually impressive and seemed good from the demo. I just throw it into Claude/Gemini, but a platform is cool too.
When they reviewed my resume, they immediately bashed it for having colours. It's mostly black with blue for my name at the top and the roles in my work experiences section. I preferred having the differentiator between company and role be black vs blue, instead of what I believe is typically bold/italicized vs no formatting. I'm curious what recruiters actually think. I like how it pops, but perhaps that same pop would turn some people away? At the end of the day, it's the same as with everything else. There are trade-offs to the decision, and unless I gather tons of data to say what is more effective on average, there's really no way to know if I made the "best" trade-off.
My favourite workshops
NOTE: aliases are used in the below paragraph
The best events were definitely the alumni panel and Scotiabank CIO fireside chat. In the alumni panel, different alumni (I believe from the organizing committee of the competition?) answered some pre-made questions and also ones from the crowd. I've heard a lot of talks like this from other events and at co-op, but immediately perked up when Jasmine, the original founder of the competition, mentioned the environmental impact of AI and how she knows people who she literally cannot talk about it around. I'm also concerned about the impact, so asked about how she viewed the benefits vs cost of AI and if there was a certain cost at which she'd rethink using it. Honestly, I just wanted a good conversation with someone who clearly seemed likeminded from her other answers about how to think about your career and navigate change.
We continued our chat after the panel ended, and had a good discussion about benefits in areas like healthcare and the fact that there will always be good and bad. I compared it to the internet, where it enables cyberbullying, exploitation of vulnerable groups, and misinformation, yet at the same time has helped the world in many ways.
At the fireside chat, Sebastian Blandizzi and Laura Bolton were talking. I am so impressed with the both of them, but Sebastian especially left a mark on me. I'm not sure how universal this is, but I believe there is a belief that the further up the corporate ladder you go, the harder it is to talk to people. Not necessarily because they're unapproachable, but because it's so hard to imagine what they must have accomplished to get so high up, and the vast knowledge/experience they have. Sebastian was one of the most open and inviting people I have met. He made it clear from the beginning that he wanted a discussion to hear our opinions and questions, made jokes with the competitors, and gave really honest and caring advice about mentalities that he believes sets you up for a successful career. To him, success is happiness. So, try to work with people that you enjoy being with, and keep in touch with those who you know you work well with.
He said something that I know will be near impossible for the students to follow through with in this tough job market, but I believe is really important: If you really don't mesh with the interviewers/culture and they seem like you could never acclimate, don't take the job. No matter how much you might originally like the work, you'll be unproductive because the environment will drain you.
How to stump a CIO
One of my proudest moments is stumping Sebastian. Having worked in Capital Markets which is under his scope, I've seen some of the risks that they're willing to take. But Sebastian's scope covers many different business lines, all very different. So I asked how he prioritizes when his business lines have very different risk tolerances. He looked at me, looked at the crowd, and then put his head in his hands.
"That is a very good question".
He didn't have an answer at the moment, and multiple times said that he'd be thinking about that question for a while now. That he's sure he has implicit thoughts when analyzing the businesses because they do have such different risk tolerances, yet he's never consciously put thought into it. After his initial reaction, his repeated show of the question being a good one was the cherry on top.
How far I've come
After his talk, I chatted more with both Olivia recruiters from Scotiabank. I'd previously met one during my time there, and said hi to the other while introducing myself. Turns out, she remembered me from messaging on LinkedIn! She said that when I asked the question, she recognized me. Not only that, but she remembered that I'd messaged her, recognized my face, and remembered that I'd posted about winning Co-op Student of the Year earlier! That was a major compliment, made better by her praising me for showing great AOO (attitude, ownership, opportunity) and wishing that I was there when she was trying to give an example earlier to students about what you should do to succeed and put yourself out there. Incredibly sweet to hear, especially coming from someone whose job it is to find good candidates.
Anyways, this conference was monumental in a sense for me. I drove an hour to a school I'd never been to on my own, not even competing in the competition, just because I wanted to show up. If this were a LinkedIn post, I'd end it with something along the lines of "Showing up is the first step". Jokes aside, what it really did was push me outside of my comfort zone. Striking up conversations with new people, even giving advice from my own co-ops, and participating in events all day with no one I knew. It was daunting, but I gained a lot. Wonderful advice, conversations, and the realization that I can put myself out there if I try. Sure, I learned that lesson at work, but I think it shows me a lot more about myself when I chose to attend caseHacks like today.