Executive Summary
Nexathon 2026 was a high-intensity, 24-hour National Level Hackathon organized by Shree Devi Institute of Technology (SDIT), Kenjar, Mangaluru, held from October 23 (11:30 AM) to October 24 (11:30 AM), 2026. Marking my very first offline hackathon experience, the competition gathered innovators, student developers, and problem-solvers across institutions to build resilient, production-grade solutions addressing real-world challenges.
Representing NMAM Institute of Technology (NMAMIT), Nitte, I teamed up as Team Neural Forge (Team ID: NX-ZV4Y2L) to tackle an acute structural challenge in collegiate education: the lack of verifiable proof in campus recruitment ecosystems. In 24 hours of non-stop engineering, we built YojanaSethu (योजनासेतु) — Proof-Based Student Career Readiness & Placement Transparency Platform.
"Resumes show what students claim. YojanaSethu proves what they can do."
24-Hour Hackathon Journey & Event Highlights
Walking into the hackathon arena at Shree Devi Institute of Technology on the morning of October 23rd, the atmosphere was electric. Nexathon 2026 was my very first offline hackathon, and stepping onto an in-person competitive coding floor alongside passionate developer teams from across institutions made the experience truly exhilarating. Following the inauguration ceremony, the 24-hour hackathon timer officially kicked off at 11:30 AM on October 23rd, running non-stop until 11:30 AM on October 24th. Representing NMAM Institute of Technology (NMAMIT), Nitte, our squad—Team Neural Forge—was determined to build something tangible, resilient, and solving a true structural issue in campus recruitment.
1. Zeroing In on the Problem (Hours 0 – 3 | 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM)
During our initial team ideation, we analyzed the reality of campus placements. Students build generic resumes loaded with buzzwords, while recruiters spend days sifting through unverifiable claims. Meanwhile, college ERPs hold the true academic grades but remain closed off from hiring workflows.
We asked ourselves:
"Why should students merely claim skills on a piece of paper when a platform can mathematically and cryptographically prove their competence with institutional ERP synchronization and faculty-verified project proof?"
From that single question, YojanaSethu was born.
2. Laying the Architecture Under Pressure (Hours 3 – 8 | 2:30 PM – 7:30 PM)
As Lead Full-Stack Architect, my immediate responsibility was setting up an architectural foundation that wouldn't crumble as four developers pushed code simultaneously. I chose Next.js 14 App Router paired with TypeScript 5 and Supabase (PostgreSQL, Auth, Storage).
Setting up a 4-role Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system in the first few hours was critical:
- Students, Faculty Mentors, Corporate Recruiters and Placement Cell (TPO) each needed strictly isolated views and route guards.
- I implemented cookie-based session validation using @supabase/ssr and built Next.js middleware.ts to ensure that unauthorized role traversal was blocked at the edge.
- I created a unified responsive layout shell (AppShell.tsx and Sidebar.tsx) so my teammates could immediately begin plugging their specific role dashboards into clean, reliable routes.
3. The Midnight Engineering Sprint (Hours 8 – 13.5 | 7:30 PM – 1:00 AM)
Heading past midnight, fatigue was setting in across the venue, but our workspace was running on pure adrenaline, chai, and camaraderie. This was the most demanding phase of the sprint:
- Deterministic CGPA Simulation: I engineered the CGPA simulation calculator with weighted credit formulas, allowing students to simulate prospective grade scenarios to hit company cutoff thresholds without rounding discrepancies.
- AI Career Guidance Engine: I integrated Google Gemini API to parse student target roles (AI Engineer, Full-Stack, DevOps) and generate dynamic placement readiness radars and 30-day milestone roadmaps.
- AI Resume Builder: Built an interactive ATS-friendly resume canvas with real-time editing and client-side PDF export.
- Resilient Supabase Storage: Wrote an automated bucket provisioning layer that creates the documents storage bucket on demand and verifies multipart uploads for student evidence certificates.
4. Sprint to the Finish & Hardening (Hours 13.5 – 22 | 1:00 AM – 9:30 AM)
Kicking off from 1:00 AM and running through dawn over Mangaluru on October 24th, we shifted from feature development into rigorous testing and polish:
- Handling Next.js dynamic routing edge-cases and TypeScript strict checks.
- Sanitizing database migrations and synchronizing PR merges across our feature branches.
- Ensuring smooth light/dark mode class toggles and responsive layout adjustments for tablet and mobile devices.
5. Pitching Live to the Judges & Finale (Hours 22 – 24 | 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM)
When the judges arrived at our booth, we didn't just show slides—we demonstrated a live, multi-persona lifecycle:
- We logged in as a Student, uploaded project proof, and calculated target CGPA cutoffs.
- We switched immediately to the Faculty Mentor Desk, audited the evidence, inspected GitHub code, and cryptographically endorsed the skill.
- We switched to the Recruiter Pipeline, where the candidate instantly appeared ranked with verified Contineo grades and endorsed competencies.
The judges immediately recognized the real-world viability of bridging institutional ERP truth with transparent campus hiring.
Team Neural Forge & Synergy
Building a production-grade 5-role platform in 24 hours would have been impossible without the relentless synergy of Team Neural Forge. Each member owned their domain with complete accountability:
Pranav R
Lead Full-Stack Architect- Next.js 14 App Router architecture & unified responsive shell
- 5-Role RBAC & Supabase SSR cookie authentication
- Google Gemini API integration for AI Career Coach
- ATS Resume Builder with live preview & instant PDF export
Preethika Poojary
Team Leader & Placement Transparency Architect- Project leadership, sprint planning & release management
- Placement Transparency Hub (live drive calendars & announcements)
- Certificate verification & automated assessment pipeline
- Academic cutoff filtering & student eligibility verification
Prajwala Gouda
Recruiter Talent Portal Lead- Recruiter talent discovery portal & job posting workflow
- Candidate profile inspection modal with verified credentials
- Database schema design & departmental cutoff filtering
- Recruiter-to-student candidate application pipeline
Prathwik Shetty
Student Intelligence & Conversational AI Lead- AI Voice Mock Interview Assistant with real-time speech evaluation
- Multi-metric candidate evaluation scorecard
- Student portal dashboard layouts & component UI
- Cross-branch merge conflict resolution & build stabilization
- --
Key Reflections & Takeaways
Participating in Nexathon 2026 was a defining milestone in my college journey — it was my very first offline hackathon, and building a production-grade platform under 24 hours of non-stop in-person sprint constraints demonstrated: It demonstrated:
- The Power of Solid Architecture Early On: Spending the first two hours establishing strict TypeScript interfaces, Supabase SSR auth, and unified layouts allowed the four of us to build independently at breakneck speed without blocking each other.
- Solving Authentic Problems Over Gimmicks: The judges valued that YojanaSethu targeted an urgent, systemic challenge in Indian higher education rather than presenting a generic demo.
- Team Trust Under Constraints: Extreme deadlines require deep trust. Everyone on Team Neural Forge owned their module with pride.
Explore the Full Project Documentation
Looking for the complete technical breakdown, database architecture, and system flowcharts?
Explore the detailed technical project showcase at YojanaSethu College Project.
- College Project Showcase: /projects/college-projects/yojanasethu
- Official Hackathon Certificate: /certificates/nexathon-2026-national-hackathon
- GitHub Repository: github.com/Pranavr06/yojanasethu
