In the Carinthia Apprentice Hackathon, a joint initiative from the Austrian Economic Chamber and DaVinciLab, second-year apprentices Patrick Scharf and Leo Pachatz impressed the jury and claimed first prize in the ROOKIES category (for those without programming experience).

The Hackathon is a software development event which currently takes place online, where competitors are challenged to come up with software products or solutions for given problems within a specified time limit. In the Apprentice Hackathon, apprentices between the ages of 15 and 30 work together in teams on projects and are assessed in three different categories: ROOKIES (those without prior knowledge), PROFESSIONALS (with prior knowledge) and EXPERTS (IT apprentices). The aim behind the event is to transform conventional apprenticeships into digital, forward-thinking programmes and to inspire young people to embrace digital skills, in order to address the skills shortage in Austria and ensure apprenticeships are fit for the future of industry.

Our successful team of apprentices was tasked with programming the prototype for an app which would benefit our business. It had to be developed within one day, and the idea had to come from the apprentices themselves. “Lunch4you”, the winning app, was developed to make it easier and more efficient for our staff to register for lunch in our canteen.

Second and third place in the ROOKIES category went to LAM Research and the apprentices of Mondi Frantschach respectively. Christof Voltan and Sebastian Sterling, our fourth-year apprentices, also took part in the Hackathon, developing an “Apprentice Manager” app.

We’re very proud of our apprentices and of the hard work and dedication they demonstrated in this competition. All prizewinners will represent Carinthia in the National Hackathon 2021.

“I think the challenge in the Apprentice Hackathon wasn’t actually in creating the app itself – because they used a very intuitive platform – but in getting to grips with the new media. In a very short space of time, the apprentices had to familiarise themselves with multiple programs, use them effectively, register in various portals and communicate via digital media – that is, the kinds of challenges we’ll face more and more as the future becomes increasingly digital. I’m proud of our apprentices who took part and rose to the challenge so successfully”, said a delighted Marco Woschank, PMS Apprentice Instructor. “We can’t wait for the National Hackathon on 27 and 28 October 2021, where Leo and Patrick will be representing us.”

Good luck to our team!