Placing in an academic competition: 6-8 points - Niya Neblett

 

I had the opportunity to participate in an app-building competition alongside Morehouse students, where the goal was to address a real problem within our communities through a mobile or web application.  One of our team’s strengths was our dedication and eagerness to develop a solution that was both thoughtful and realistic. We divided responsibilities effectively and each invested significant time and effort to ensure the project was executed to the highest standard. A challenge we encountered, however, was the amount of time it took to agree on the problem we wanted to solve and our ability to pivot quickly enough to fully develop a new idea. Our original concept addressed what developers often refer to as a “tarpit” idea, and although we had already designed the front end and created a slide deck, we ultimately recognized that the solution was not feasible. This experience reinforced the importance of adaptability and critical evaluation in the product development process. The activity connected closely to my prior experiences by activating my communication, collaboration, and project management skills, while also allowing me to apply my technical and design abilities using JavaScript and Figma. This experience further solidified my aspiration to pursue product management, as I enjoy working closely with developers to solve complex problems, and our team ultimately placed first out of six teams.