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The Fruits of a Private-Academic Partnership for Education in IT

Winners of the program Discover Your Call in IT 2016

The 2ndedition of the “Discover your call in IT” practical education and mentoring program has come to an end. The winning application helps you unlock your door without a key if you are locked out of your house.

High school students, IT companies, mentors and teachers gathered at the closing ceremony of the current edition of “Discover your call in IT”, held at the end of September. Over 100 high school students, organized in 20 teams, submitted and presented the projects they developed during the program, under the guidance of senior software engineers who acted as mentors.

The format of the program initiated by Fortech, evolved to an independent form. Today, it is organized by the FOR IT Association and implemented with the combined support from multiple IT companies which recognize that enriching and educating the next generation is neither a small task nor the sole responsibility of academic institutions. The architecture of the program was designed to provide practical ways of engaging with young students to help them build a solid knowledge-base while exploring the possibilities that a career in IT could offer. The aim is to encourage them to pursue their career dreams in the field.

The winners of the first prize built an application that allows the user to unlock the door remotely. Called Lockee, it is a universal remote controlled locker. It allows users to register, login, share locks (by default or for a given period of time). We are exceptionally proud of the winning team, since they took the project from the scratch.

Lockee Application

VOMPi (Voice of Modern People) is a platform designed to facilitate the voting process at all levels: nation, school, corporate. VOMPi helps you to organize the election of the student council president or to express your option in the presidential elections with a single click, from your couch at home. The team got the 2nd prize.

The third prize went to “The Happy Coders Team”  for the DjShuffle project, an application that allows users to act as Djs and choose their own music.

All the winners of the first 3 places got substantial financial prizes.

Other projects that caught our attention and got special prizes from the partners are:

YouPizza – a mobile application for all pizza lovers. With an easy to use interface, the users can “bake” their preferred pizza from scratch or can choose and build on some suggested templates. All the team members got Pebble smartwatches from the partners.

Go Purple is for those fascinated by dice games. The player throws the dice and is allowed to advance a number of steps if they meet a Bonus and to turn back if they meet a trap. Players can customize their pawn or the size of the playing surface. In addition, the team developed a Web application for those who want to dine out and avoid crowded places. The application offers real-time information about most dining places in the city, the number of available seats and pictures of the places. The team members got Noon VR Glasses from the partners.

Flashcards is a web application that allows the user to learn through a special technique, called “speed repetition”. The user inserts a series of questions and answers and the application helps them check their knowledge. The team was rewarded with SmartWatches and one-year support to continue the development of the application inside the sponsor company.

EDUCKATION is a gamified learning platform that allows high school students to exchange information related to their homework or school lessons. It encourages peer to peer learning and a creative approach of knowledge building. The team members got Rasberry Pies with SD cards and power banks.

Discover Your Call in IT

The program was nominated in top 3 in the “Private-Academic Cooperation of the year award” category at the ANIS Annual Gala. ANIS is the most representative association for the software industry in Romania. Read more about the concept, its cumulative results and how a successful private-academic partnership established a successful relationship based on cooperation in an environment dominated by competition.