First place at LegalHack.

First published on LinkedIn on 14 March 2018, two weeks after the event. Republished here as written, with a few typos fixed.

I am a fifth-year student studying Computer Science Preparing my Masters in Big Data & Internet of things at ENSAM school in Casablanca, a small liberal arts institution located in the Sidi Othman. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the 2018 IBM open Innovation hackathon hosted in Technopark, Casablanca. This hackathon is a unique experience where students from all over the Country are invited to attend professional workshops, network with fellow students, and participate in a 30-hour hackathon to come up with technical solutions for the legal cause.

As a career-changer coming from a non-legal background, my path to Computer Science has been unconventional and often intimidating. With just 5 years of programming under my belt, I feared that my inexperience would dictate my first participation in the hackathon as an expert in my domain, and it was then that I decided that I may not be the most technical person at this event, but I would try my best to be the most prepared, going into Technopark, my luggage was a bit heavier than it needed to be. I had a binder of research materials, school textbooks, markers, my tablet, and a lot of blank papers. I even installed software on my laptop that I thought may be useful. I wanted to make the most out of this experience.

After meeting several other participants, I was feeling more and more anxious and out of place. Here I was, a noob "Hacker" from a small liberal arts school, in a sea of talented students from all over the country, Rabat, Safi, Marrakesh, and so on. If I hadn’t known the imposter syndrome before, I certainly was feeling it then. But everyone I met was extremely kind, helpful, and eager to connect with me. I learned so much just from speaking and interacting with the people there. Despite my nerves and doubts about belonging to this special cohort, I knew that these new friendships were already going to be highlight of my trip.

After a full day of technical workshops and professional speakers, it was time. As we entered the legal hackathon mood, I could not help but feel excited for the next impending 30 hours. There were bean bags, chairs, snacks, and my personal favorite, coffee on tap. We broke into groups of four to seven and my team was selected to work on the idea that we already pitched, its a project aiming to help facilitate the legalisation of documents in Morocco using the Blockchain technology. My team spent a good amount of time planning and conceptualizing our idea. We wanted to incorporate the security and the viability of the protocols that would appeal to the crowd. Users would have it easy to work with our product, and do require some time investment in order to advance, and the services themselves would interact with the actors of our projects. I will not bore you with the details of my project but in a short description this project will help the state to manage legal documents, organization to manage the way they process legal documents and clients to have it easy when in need of this procedures.

It’s funny how quickly time passes when you are surrounded by determined and equally caffeinated people. Many of us took turns taking naps and breaks. Before I knew it, the sun was rising, and we were preparing to present our project. When the judgment results were in, we were so ecstatic to hear that we had won “First Place and prize”, but even more surprising was that shortly after, we were also announced “Judge’s Favorite” for our innovative ideas and creative platform. I remember being so happy and proud of my team, and also proud of myself for exceeding my own expectations. From feeling like a nervous and underqualified imposter, to winning two awards at this hackathon, I never knew I could transform so much in two days.

But despite the euphoria during the judgment results, my favorite part of the weekend was actually the five or so minutes after we presented our demo. I had just told my teammates that I was so grateful to them for letting me be on their team despite my lack of experience. They suddenly got firm with me, and said, “No, you contributed just as much, if not more. Anyone can build a technical website. But your ideas and design skills really helped lead us in this direction and that’s why our project is so unique.” With those words, I was finally able to put to rest my self-doubt about belonging in Computer Science. My non-technical experiences were not handicaps, but assets. I am studying at a small liberal arts school and I can hang with the big leagues. I may not have the best programming skills yet, but I have good ideas and I am a great team member. I’ll forever be grateful for this opportunity to grow personally and to affirm my decision to go into the tech world.

I came up with this quote, which perfectly summarizes all the amazing opportunities that the 2018 legal-hack event had.

Do not be afraid. Inexperience just means that there is more to experience.