Inter IIT Tech Meet 11.0
What do you get when you put the best of tech across top engineering colleges in India together in a high performance environment to compete in solving problems. One word - "legends".
Stories of nights being long, innovations being born and friendships being forged. Something similar went down at Kanpur at the Inter IIT Tech Meet 11.0 and this blog is from the amazing team that made it possible.
Ankit, contingent lead of IIT Madras : God, it was the most stressful set of weeks I've personally been through. It was a lot of work but gave the golden opportunity to have bonded with the most passionate tech pioneers at insti and beyond.
Having attended it offline at IIT Kanpur, had its own charm actually. The other IITs being there made the competition real and more cut-throat. Another IIT is another environment - the culture shift was strong and so much to learn from. It just seems obvious to point out how much we've enjoyed the eateries there. Our team's drone ascending the skies, the business pitch going strong and projects shining out felt 10x stronger on the ground of the IITK campus. We met just so many great people in tech overall at the networking dinner and learnt a lot about how different tech enthusiasts across India, were changing the face of tech, 1 dream at a time. What shined most is how this all bonded our own IITM team so powerfully.
We've been stranded at a railway station, clueless in metros, stuffed into small spaces, pulled long sleepless nights and taken a lot of hits together. And yet we've shared pained epiphanies, roaring celebrations, stupid memories, real conversations, countless laughs and a united fire to climb all the way to the top. I'm not sure any insti experience comes close to this one.
Archish, Team Lead, DevRev : Inter IIT 11.0 was truly an unforgettable experience, one that left a lasting impression on all my teammates. The atmosphere at the meet was one of a kind, with the greatest minds all together. It was one of a kind experience - from the adrenaline filled night before departure, the long sleepless night before our presentation, the late night tech board meeting and finally the moment when we got podium! The Kanpur trip played a key role in expanding my network and in meeting talented people in insti. All in all, it was a trip to cherish and remember for years to come.
Jayanth, Team Lead, Grow Simplee : it was a great experience for me since I grew and learnt a lot during this phase, both technically and managerially. The Kanpur trip was so amazing - one that I would cherish forever!
Ayush Tiwari, Grow Simplee, Software Engineer : What a great experience to participate in the Inter IIT Tech Meet. Almost after 3 years, each IIT got a chance to showcase their skills in all ways... Technically, Strategically, and what not... trying to get their name on top with the cup!
Each team worked day in day out to get things in place before the final showdown. Two months of work put into one presentation. Prototype you tested a thousand times may fail on their given test case. The thrill of hard deadlines, which you know missing by a second get's you kicked out...
And much more to make you feel the heat of this high-intensity game!
In spite of all the competition, we got to network with so many participants, made friends, attended concerts (...invaded backstage to meet the lineup), had great food, and a memorable trip back to insti. Apart from the results, the journey and thrill made it one of the best moments of our insti life ...
Shreepoorna, Entrepreneurship : The entire experience was a journey where we bonded, brainstormed, made memories and learnt a lot, The entire experience was a rollercoater from the beginning when we boarded the train to making submissions in the midnight while deboarding the train as well as making decisions on the fly. The fact that the contingent bonded and was able to help each other during the last stretch in Kanpur and putting sleepless nights was all worth it. The entire experience was a story of personal growth as well as making new friends, learning all the time about new domains and management. The people we met there and the different kinds of environment we were exposed to and the hurdles we faced literally every hour was something was quite a challenging but a lot of fun in solving.
Shrey Shah, Quantinsti, Algo trader : It was a great experience to work it out on a platform that hadn't been our best friend and pulling off sessions from 9 PM to 6 AM in the same room without a break.
A great learning experience and an honour to bring a silver medal for IIT Madras
Bhargavi, Paradime, Product Management : I must say that Inter IIT Tech Meet was the best thing that happened to me in my final semester !
We were a team of 5 for our PS, the 8 days and nights went in fruitful brainstorming, gaining insights on many tech terms through user interviews and the best of it all was the fun we had together as a team while solving the PS.
Going to IIT Kanpur took the feels of Inter IIT Tech Meet to another level !
I've made really amazing memories with my seniors, batchmates and juniors because of this ! Going around the IITK campus, IITK's eateries and culture made me fall in love with IITK !
At first, 36 Hour Train journey felt almost impossible but then the fun we had during the train journey will always be remembered
Results and Performance
IIT Madras ended up finishing 8th overall, having clinched 1 gold and 1 silver at High Prep events, 2 bronzes in Mid-Preps and 1 silver in Low-Prep events.
The events included a wide plethora of tech events ranging from delivery tracking, drone swarms, analytic trading to game development, cybersecurity, robotics, astronomy,
The trophy cabinet currently looks like
Gold : DevRev
Silver : GradCap, QuantInsti
Bronze : CloudPhysician, ISRO
It's a performance that we would definitely like to improve next year and move up the leaderboard. We should have a stronger contingent management team to ensure that our problem solvers have more breathing space.
Also, we'd obviously want to thank everyone from teams at IITM and IITK who made this possible. Special shoutouts to Swamy Sir and Dhanuprakash from DoSt office at IIT Madras; and Parth, Tarun, Akshat, Sankalp, Shantanu and Abhinav from the Organizing Committee at IIT Kanpur. It was their constant support and empathy that made this journey possible.
This tech meet has been a rollercoaster and I can't wait to see how the culture evolves over the years. All things said and done, there's actually no powerful way to understand the ride apart from having lived it. Guess we'll see you in the team next year?