Do Interviews 4: Hamza Abdelhedi

Q:
Tell us about yourself and your associative background.

A:
I am Hamza Abdelhedi, a senior engineering student at Sup’Com. I specialize in smart image applications. Regarding my associative background, I’ve been an IEEE member since September 2018, as well as an IEEE brand ambassador as of April of the same year. I was the IEEE Sup’Com SB Chairman from  June 2019 to May 2020, and recently, I was an IEEE entrepreneur ambassador, from June 2020 to November 2020. This experience had a great impact on me, both on personal and professional aspects. I organized many events during these years with IEEE. The time I spent as the IEEE Sup’Com SB chairman was very special for me. We won two international awards even though almost half of the term was during the lockdown. We managed to organize many events both on national and international scales. One of our most successful events is the Smart Green Tunisia Makeathon.

Q:
What is the difference between a Makeathon and a normal hackathon?

A:
Well, a Makeathon is not the usual hackathon. For example, in a hackathon, all participants solve the same problem. The organizers only set one problem to be solved by all the participants and mainly this problem is related to software engineering. In a Makeathon, the organizing committee proposes different subjects. The teams are free to choose one to work on. Also, participants are expected to develop a combined solution based on both hardware and software. The final product has to be presented at the end of the Makeathon, and it has to have a social impact.

Q:
Tell us about Smart Green Tunisia.

A:
Smart Green Tunisia is a Tunisian version of Smart Green Island, an event organized every year by ITQ GmbH, a German company in the Canary Islands, Spain. We worked with this company to prepare the first edition of this event in Tunisia.

It was a collaboration between many IEEE SB’s, sponsors, and start-ups. The event took place simultaneously with Afric’Up that included 3000 participants.

So, from the first day, we presented the concept and ideas to the groups and each one of them chose the project that they will work on. We gave them the necessary equipment; the hardware they will need for their projects. The participants worked for 24 hours for 4 days to finish their work. Finally, each group had to pitch his project in front of the jury. Then, there was a showroom where investors and startup owners were present. So the participants presented their work in front of those investors and company owners as well.

Q:
Did you get many participants in the Smart Green Makeathon? And how was it successful compared to other usual kinds of hackathons?  

A:
Actually, we had a small problem related to the equipment. In fact, each group of participants asked for many tools for their projects. That’s why we weren’t able to accept a big number of participants. It was our first edition in Tunisia, and we had doubts about its success. Fortunately, it was a successful event and made a big impact.

That’s why, despite the big rate of participation, we decided to make a selection of 80 participants for the first edition of the event. Around 500 participants were indeed present in Smart Green Island in Spain. But they had already organized 5 or 6 editions but for us, it was the first one. So we decided to start step by step.

Q:
It’s normal these days to find startup owners and investors taking interest in hackathons and sponsoring such events, but how did you manage to get the government involved in Smart Green Tunisia 2019? 

A:
We made a partnership with Afric’Up which is a Tunisian congress that had more than 3000 participants and thanks to Afric’Up we were capable of reaching the government. They were impressed by the idea, and they encouraged us to continue on this track.

Q:
Are there some required qualifications to enhance the chance of winning a hackathon?

A:
Well, my advice to the people who are afraid of participating in hackathons is to get out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves into doing something new, choose a good and compatible team that can handle problems together and have different backgrounds (AI, embedded system, developing…) and most important time management and task management.

Q:
As for the winners of the Makeathon, was there any monitoring and incubation for their work and project?

A:
Our participants had the opportunity to present their work in front of many CTOs and many startups’ founders. As a result, some of them had the chance to find end-of-study projects and others were part of the Smart Green Makeathon that took place in Spain.

Q:
As we know our planet is suffering nowadays, do you believe that using AI is a solution for climatic and environmental problems?

A:
It’s not really a solution but a tool for environmental problems. I saw many ideas and projects that use AI to find solutions for many environmental issues such as climate change. So it depends on the person who uses AI to find good and innovative ideas that save or help our environment. Therefore, we can say that it depends on the way we use AI not AI itself.

Q:
How did you get the idea of organizing a hackathon that includes both IoT and AI?

A:
We organized the hackathon “IoT meets AI” just before the March 2020 lockdown. We had a brainstorming with some professors who told us that the combination of IoT and AI is very important. One of the professors suggested that the subject of the hackathon should be IoT and AI since these topics are becoming popular among the students. So, we decided to choose IoT and AI as the main topic of the hackathon to develop project ideas for the students to work on. Then, we started preparing the hackathon.

Q:
How did you get the sea turtle dataset for the Hack4Earth hackathon? How did you extract the problems related to this dataset? Did the solution get implemented in real life?

A:
As you know IEEE’s objective is to promote technology to improve the quality of life. So the hackathon events organized worldwide usually have impacts on society. There was a research lab in Belgium that contacted us to propose to use the dataset of the sea turtles. The lab would like to predict when each sea turtle comes ashore. So, it can be saved. We found the idea very interesting and challenging. The winning solution continued working with the lab to finalize the project. The project is developed as a non-profit activity. Its objective is to save the environment.

Q:
What is the difference between the organization of the first and last hackathon, what problems did you encounter, and how did you manage to overcome them?

A:
Well, we learned a lot.  I will speak on a personal level and say that I have learned lots of things:

I now know how to motivate the team with which I work, how to manage time. Given that there are many teams like the sponsorship, media, and logistics I had to distribute time and tasks. I also had to know how to give the perfect task to the perfect person. You have to choose according to the skills of a person to grant them the task in which they will excel and also ensure their motivation so that they do their best.

Regarding the differences between the first and the last hackathon I have gained confidence;  you gain experience and confidence in yourself and the team that accompanies you because, with time, you get closer to your teammates, you get to learn the strengths of each person and so the process becomes smoother and even the results will be better.

Q:
As an engineering student, what is the importance of participating in hackathons?

A:
For my part, I organized three, and I attended another. I have participated in more than four hackathons. So the sum is around eight or nine.

Truth be told, I learned a lot. I gained soft skills and knowledge on how to behave with people, how to manage a team, how to manage my stress and these things are much needed even for future projects.

When you work on a new project, you have to know how to distribute the tasks, how you manage your stress, and how you respect the deadlines.

You will indeed develop your technical skills, but even your network is very important because it can help you afterward to get an internship. Of course, you will have a lot of friendships, wherever I go I have a lot of friends, and we meet, and we converse.

Another thing during an interview, there will be a part where the HR will interview you. In this part, you have to talk about your own experience either with clubs or your participation in similar events: you will explain that you participated, and you were second or third in the ranking. Even if you did not get a good ranking you can just mention that you participated and gained experience, and it is, therefore, a plus in your CV compared to a person that only cares about their studies but have no interest in academic development.

Q: A quote that motivates you.

A:
« The engineer has been, and is, a maker of history »

— James Kip Finch