4 awesome solutions that came out of the CodeAbility Hackathon

What is it like to apply for work if you’re a candidate with a disability? In a nutshell - not easy. There are a number of elements at play. For a start, employers can be fearful of taking on staff with disabilities due to lack of knowledge about what they would need to provide, and what adjustments they may need to make to a candidate’s working environment. There’s also frequently a lack of confidence on the candidate’s part and an unwillingness to disclose invisible disabilities until a later stage in the recruitment process. If you’d like to read about some of the barriers and challenges in the process, check out our interview with Maciej Machniewski from WarsawJS.

We recognize that this is a challenge for many and this is why we decided to partner with The MożeszITy Foundation to offer support to job seekers with disabilities.

The result? A fantastic 3 day hackathon, featuring four teams with top solutions in the shape of products which are near enough ready for the market. We’re excited to tell you about them!

The Winners

1. Experiensi

The solution: A platform to support people with disabilities to seek out a range of career paths which they might not have considered, through matching their skills and their life situation to the right jobs. The platform also includes a dedicated mentoring programme.

The other teams

2. The Programmers

The solution: A comprehensive platform which connects disabled applicants with NGOs, enabling them to exchange knowledge and business needs. The platform embeds the “Synesthesia” app which translates provided text into audio and video messages to ease communication. The platform also utilises gamification techniques.

3. Stargazing Capybaras

The solution: A voice-to-text converter to support all video-meetings, webinars and online face-to-face interactions. The tool is designed to benefit deaf people who form a large proportion of the 12% disabled people living in Poland. The solution will also feature a text-to-speech synthesizer which will read out the typed words of the deaf meeting participant to the others.

4. Team of 4

The solution: A website which connects inclusive employers in the IT industry with potential employees with disabilities. The aim is to provide these job seekers with the confidence to apply as it is clear that the employer is looking for individuals with disabilities such as theirs and is fully capable of accommodating them.

Why hackathons are worth signing up for

There are so many things about hackathons that make them worth signing up for and which might not seem immediately apparent. The obvious one of course is that you’re doing something for a good cause - your work and ideas can be put to use to benefit the whole community. But at the same time you get the opportunity to meet some inspirational mentors, to network with other people in design, development and project management communities, to learn, explore and maybe even build lasting personal and professional relationships.

You get the opportunity to meet some inspirational mentors, to network with other people in design, development and project management communities, to learn, explore and maybe even build lasting personal and professional relationships.

This was certainly the case at The CodeAbility Hackathon, which is why we really look forward to hosting the event again in the future! Thank you again to everyone who took part and until next time!