Jackson Sunny, a Master of Science and Technology student comes first in the challenge hosted by Sunrise and Swissski during a Hackathon organized in Zurich.
Get to know more about Jackson, the Hackathon and the MSc&T in Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Visual Computing he is following.
Who are you?
My name is Jackson Sunny, I am from India and I am following the MSc&T AIViC at Ecole polytechnique. I recently participated in the HackZurich and came first in the challenge hosted by Sunrise and Swiss-ski.
What is HackZurich about?
HackZurich is one of the best Hackaton in Europe. Participants are selected from a global pool of over 5500 applications, representing several prestigious schools from all over the world. Together, we develop highly innovative applications during a 40-hour hackathon in teams of 2 to 5 people.
International companies and organizations of different industries provide us with hardware, brand new technologies, tools, datasets, and APIs to spark the creation of new prototypes.
Since the Hackathon started on the 16th of September and my classes began on the 19th of September, I was not able to do the Hackathon with an MSc&T classmate. I joined the group with an Indian friend that is an AI Engineer.
Why did you chose to participate ?
My friend and I love Hackathons because that gives you lots of opportunities, exposure and allows you to learn a lot outside of classes. Since our Bachelor’s degree, we are doing as much Hackathons as we can (I participated in more than 10 Hackathons for now).
What did you like the most about that Hackathon ?
The energy of the place! From the begining to the end everyone was here to give their best, stressing out but also really enjoying it and that’s what is magical about hackathons.
How is it linked to the MSc&T AIViC of Ecole polytechnique?
The solution I made during the hackathon was using AI and computer vision algorithms which I have to study in detail in the MSc&T AIVIC of Ecole Polytechnique.
What did you learn from the Hackathon ?
It was a very good start to my European life!
I learned that I have to work harder – the competition is very high. Lots of people are collaborating together to work on real issues that matter to the world. I think that is one of my responsabilities to collaborate as much as possible to make the world a better place.
How did you feel when you found out that your team came first in the challenege hosted by Sunrise and Swiss-ski?
I felt awesome after winning the prize. However, I reminded myself that I need to keep working harder to keep the momentum going and do better in the upcoming hackathons.
What advice would you give to future students that would like to participate in hackathons?
Go for it – participate actively in Hackathons and make sure to do it in person because the experience is totally different!
What matters the most is to go there, participate and learn from the people that you are going to meet. It is also a way to network, show your work to companies and get some work/internships proposals!
What are your ambitions for the future?
I would like to become a researcher, to dive deep into the AI part and use it to accelerate the scientific discoveries.
