From Building a Smart Triage Assistant to a Rainy Midnight Walk.
Every once in a while, an experience transforms how we see ourselves - not just as developers, but as people. For me, that moment happened during a 24-hour hackathon. This post is a reflection of what my team built, the journey of leading a team for the first time, and a story of a midnight rainwalk that I'll never forget.
The Problem We Tackled
The hackathon challenge centered around improving healthcare access and efficiency. According to the World Health Organization, 70% of patients experience delays in triage - a critical step in emergency and primary care. These delays stem from overburdened staff, lack of accessibility in remote areas, and non-intelligent response systems. We wanted to change that.
Our Solution: SnapAid
Our project, SnapAid, is a Smart Triage Assistant powered by multimodal AI. The assistant supports voice, text, and image inputs to quickly assess patient symptoms and generate urgency recommendations. The platform also includes a personalized health quiz, automatic tagging of cases (like "urgent" or "infection"), and real-time notifications to doctors for high-risk scenarios. The idea was simple: empower users with fast, intelligent, and accessible healthcare insights.
Taking the Lead
This hackathon was also my debut as a team leader. I was nervous. I didn’t know if I could plan, delegate, or even inspire my team well. I started by organizing planning sessions, listing priorities, and trying to keep everyone in sync. Despite the initial hesitation, I realized that leadership isn't about knowing everything - it's about listening, learning, and helping others do their best.
Out of our group, only one teammate truly synced with my rhythm. While others couldn't fully coordinate due to various reasons, this one teammate stayed committed throughout the event. Together, we brainstormed, debugged, and pushed through challenges. Her presence turned this into more than just a coding sprint—it became a shared journey.
First All-Nighter
Some moments are etched into memory forever. It was past midnight, and we stepped out into the drizzle after hours of coding. The streets were empty. We walked, talked about code, life, and how crazy this all felt. Caffeine-fueled, sleep-deprived, but so alive. That short walk under the rain meant more to me than any milestone—it was clarity, connection, and comfort. I particularly told her to not put water on me, but no use T-T.
Let me be clear, I wasnt awake for anything for the whole night up until now T-T. I used to sleep at own hackathons i used to go. This was also my first time staying up an entire night just for a project. No sleep, just code, good food, and teamwork. There’s something magical. Gotta agree tho, it was exhausting, yes—but equally exhilarating.
The Demo & Reaction
Our pitch went well. We demoed the multimodal triage assistant, explained the tech stack, and showcased real-time alerts. Some of the judges were intrigued. Others seemed rushed. It wasn’t the standing ovation I secretly hoped for, but I knew we had built something real.
Now comes the honest part. Some teams had clearly been working on their projects long before the event started. Others used ChatGPT to generate huge codebases, including structured tables straight from AI—and it showed. Somehow, those got selected. It felt like the raw, sleepless hustle of the moment went unnoticed. Only the devs who stayed up and built it from scratch understood the true grind.
Despite everything, I wouldn't trade this night for anything. The coding, the chaos, the connection—it was one of the most memorable experiences of my developer journey. Just two teammates, fueled by ambition, caffeine, and the joy of building something from nothing.
If you’ve ever led a team, pulled an all-nighter for a hackathon, or felt invisible amidst the crowd—share your story. And tell me: how do we keep hackathons fair, inspiring, and real?