Cooked or Cooking

Are you cooked or are you cooking? Scout the competition and gain insight into how the entire group of attendees is working.

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Inspiration

Do you ever feel like everyone around you is working harder than you at a hackathon? It's already tough enough and that added stress of wondering if you are being productive enough wears down on you.

We began to find out that many people at Hackathons often experience imposter syndrome, questioning their abilities of being able to contribute or even build a project on time. That's where the idea of Cooked or Cooking emerged. We wanted to create a platform where we track real time productivity of other hackers and see who is cooking (working hard) or cooking (taking a break).

Not only does this help you take everything at your own pace and understand that everyones doing their own thing on their own schedule but it can act as a little motivator that can push others to be more productive in such a competitive environment. After all, all the best things are made when there's competition.

What it does

Our application provides insights on real time productivity by visualizing the current background applications of users. By analysing users open tabs, it generates a heatmap that displays whether users are “cooking” (currently working) or “cooked” (taking a break, a long one)

How to get started!

  1. Download the application from website cookedorcooking
  2. Log into application with your hacker badge
  3. Set up the app to begin tracking how you you spend your time and your productivity letting it run
  4. Check out cookedorcookingmap to view hackers productivity

How we built it

Cooked or Cooking was built using a variety of technologies, including Python, React, MongoDB, Mapedin, Deck.GL, and GoDaddy domains.

Our database is stored using MongoDB, and the application that analyzes open tabs is written in Python. The backend was powered by MongoDB and Python, while the frontend was built using React. Key features, such as the heatmap and map visualization, were implemented using Mapedin and Deck.GL.

  • Our database is stored on MongoDB.
  • The application that analyzes open tabs is written in Python.
  • The backend is built with MongoDB and Python.
  • The frontend was developed using React.
  • Features like the heatmap and map were created using Mappedin and Deck.GL.

Challenges we ran into

We faced several challenges throughout this project, the biggest being the need for a complete pivot. Initially, we were working with the Spotify API and Mappedin. However, late on Saturday, we discovered that the Spotify API capped us at 25 users, which effectively rendered our project unusable. This left us with two choices: either create predictive data to continue with our original concept or build something from scratch that other attendees could actually use and find value in. That’s when we pivoted to Cooked or Cooking.

We also struggled with creating a system to effectively pinpoint the location of the user inside the building, this is because we weren't able to access bluedot data from the users iphone and therefore we eventually requested the users to submit their own location. In the future we would like to utlize indoor positioning systems to improve the project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re very proud of how much we've learned. This was our first time using React as well as our first time building fully packaged Python applications. We've gained a lot of valuable experience, especially from working with the Mapedin API and Deck.GL.

lme and the boys after pulling an all nighter!

What we learned

On a technical level, we learned a lot about React, packaged Python applications, the Mapedin API, and Deck.GL. But beyond the tech, we gained some valuable lessons. Here are a few:

  • Adaptability is key: One of the most important lessons we learned this weekend is the need for flexibility. Projects don’t always go as planned, but it’s crucial to stay calm and think on your feet to overcome setbacks.

  • You don’t need to be an expert to start: A major challenge our team faced early on was deciding what to build. We brainstormed a variety of ideas and realized that you don’t need years of coding experience to create something meaningful—you just need the courage to start and the willingness to learn along the way.

  • It’s okay to ask for help: As high school students with little to no hackathon experience, we often sought help. We're incredibly grateful to the mentors and the MappedIn team members who guided us. Special thanks to Zach and Kimberly for all their support!

What's next for Cooked or Cooking

We believe there is significant value in tracking productivity data and pairing it with location information. Not only at hackathons, where such data can help organizers optimize future events—like introducing new activities or workshops in areas where productivity drops—but also on a larger scale. This data can be highly beneficial for companies and businesses. An enterprise product built around the core idea of Cooked or Cooking would allow large tech companies and enterprises to analyze employee productivity across different locations. For example, companies like Nvidia or Shopify, with open-concept offices, could use this data to better optimize their workspaces, ultimately improving employee productivity and performance for a higher return on investment.

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