Bechir’s story
How a 100 millimes coin made Hexamaps win 30,000 TND…
I am Bechir Nemlaghi and I will tell you the story of a 100 millimes coin that made me earn 30 000 dinars. But know that behind this small amount is a large investment, the investment of a team that has created, campaigned and succeeded in its project. I am talking about MEDIA LOVES TECH.
It was last year and Mohamed and I were immersed in a monotony and a steady pace of work. Mohamed is my partner at Hexamaps: we are specialists in web development, among other technologies, a job that can be quite repetitive.
Birth of the idea to participate
In the middle of a routine crisis, Mohamed tells me about a competition between innovative projects linking the two worlds of technology and media, MEDIA LOVES TECH. The idea attracted us and we thought about these pages of web articles, filled with raw numbers, how to improve the reader’s experience by producing interactive maps. Maps that journalists can use to accompany their articles and visualize the data.
Routine makes you forget about development
In the meantime we had a number of projects to deliver, time was running out and we almost forgot. It was on the last day of application that I realized that we only had two hours left to submit our project and I didn’t know where to start. A feeling of confusion and indecision overwhelmed me.
Mohamed saw me turning around and handed me a hundred millimeter coin and said to me: “Let’s let chance decide for us, let’s flip a coin”. Tails to participate and heads to leave. And the verdict is in!
A hundred millimeter coin turns fate upside down
Who would have thought at the time that the pile side of a hundred millimeter piece would win us a project, 30,000 dinars, coaching, opportunities and interesting knowledge!
The race against the clock has begun. We shared the tasks. Mohamed was following up with clients for our regular projects and I was preparing our application for MEDIA LOVES TECH. The submission was confirmed just one minute before the end of the call up!
MEDIA LOVES TECH – more than just a competition
To be honest, I never thought we’d win. Especially since the competition was fierce. The teams and projects were very interesting. I myself was impressed by three candidates during the different phases of the project, and especially during the hackathon where we all worked together. To the point of thinking that, even if I didn’t win anything, I would be very happy to see them win the prize. Imagine that these candidates won, just like us, and that our team has since been enriched with a new member thanks to the competition. Namely our friend Soraya.
I smile as I remember our anecdotes. We became friends and we still meet over coffee to discuss our work and exchange ideas.
Support, a network of contacts – new friends
Indeed, MEDIA LOVES TECH is not a simple competition. The experience was great and very rewarding on all levels! The training, coaching sessions, hackathon, exchange sessions with mentors and other teams were always dynamic and productive. I have very fond memories of it!
I am Bechir, one of the winners of the first edition of MEDIA LOVES TECH and I would like to tell you at the end that, like me, you can win the competition!
Good luck to all of you!
