2) Beta software - These are Softwares that are sent to beta testers or clients
for initial scrutiny and bug reporting so as to develop a full product.
Swagger.io gives you a great way of developing our software with efficient
SDLC.
3) Hardware simulations or Proof of Concept - Creating a hardware
prototype is tough as you need to have various physical components
available to you all the time and all of them require troubleshooting and
ambient conditions. In such cases using boards like Arduino or Raspberry Pi
and other simulation softwares help a lot before developing on Board likes
ARM for patenting.
Hackathons are a great place to showcase your development skills and will help
you get things done in stipulated time but the schemes for the same are sceptical,
like how will someone reward you with expensive gifts just for a work of 2-5 days!
The answer lies in the organizing committee. The company or organization who
sponsors your competition is probably facing the provided problem statement on a
big scale probably even on National/international scale. The value of your solution
is probably 30-50x or much more than the reward for the same. What matters to
the student is their portfolio of projects and prizes. They simply should not go
further to pursue the benefits of the technology they have built but also focus on
the impact it creates.
So next time you participate in some hackathon question yourself how will the
organization implement your prototype/solution and what is its scale and whether
it’s good to let them have your solution or to pursue it on your own and capitalize
on it.
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