It’s Coming Home, Hackathon Win at Mastercard

Our team name was literally 'It’s Coming Home', and it did!

Last week, we wrapped up the final stage of the Mastercard Intern Hackathon, and I’m buzzing to share that our team, Grzegorz Maniak, Fiza Jamil, James O’Connell, and myself, came in first place!

We pitched our project to a panel of judges after weeks of work, and it was amazing to see our efforts pay off. Our concept? A next-gen advertising system for retail spaces like shopping malls, using opt-in, privacy-conscious tracking to deliver personalized, real-time ads on large digital displays capable of serving up to 100 unique viewers at once. Think holograms-meet-smart-billboards, all powered by smart data and designed for consent-first personalization. All without the need for VR / AR headsets.

Fun tidbits from the hackathon

• The friendly competition between interns lit up the office in the best way.
• We got to dig into semi real-world problems and experiment with future-facing tech.
• It was a masterclass in collaboration, creative problem-solving, and public speaking.

Thanks to the Intern Committee and Judges

Huge thanks to the Intern Committee, Ailbhe Bennett, Jade Brennan-Keane, Ryan Leger, Adam T., Oisin Donegan Davis, Donal Rafferty, Amy Rowe, Rebeca M., and Vanessa Pawleta, for organizing such a fun event. And a big shoutout to the judges: Grace Hayes, Ann Marie Clyne, Simon Goldsmith, and Uzair Qureshi for their time and thoughtful feedback.

This event was a lot of fun and felt almost like a capstone for my time at Mastercard.