Skipping the queue to victory

Congratulations: (from third left) Tan, Jordan, Goi, Tai and Gan posing with their mentors (from far left) Victor Khoo Shien Yang and Amad Arshad.

THE chaos and frustration of long queues could be a thing of the past, thanks to a group of software engineering students from Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU).

APQueue, an app created by Tan Wei Siang, Jordan Sahabudin, Goi Yi Shen, Gan Wei Jun and Jackson Tai of Team Techify, won first place at the recent 30-Hour No-Code Hackathon.

Organised by APU, Awantec Systems and Google Malaysia, the hackathon drew 166 participants from the varsity’s various schools.

Organising themselves into 36 teams, the students were given 30 hours to create software applications and other digital projects using no-code tools.

The projects were evaluated based on creativity, functionality and user experience.

APQueue, said Team Techify, is an all-in-one solution that can help clients eliminate long queues and high average wait time at crowded places like food outlets, parking bays and clinics.

The team added that they learnt valuable lessons from the hackathon, including teamwork, and the importance of motivating each other, managing time, and pitching ideas in a concise and easy to understand way.

Before working on APQueue, the students conducted surveys, case studies, observations and interviews with stakeholders to understand the reasons behind long queues before discussing possible solutions and validating their ideas.

“We want to continue improving APQueue and participating in many more competitions as we want to inspire other students,” said Techify team leader Tan.

The hackathon saw Team Lifehackers finishing second and Team IDK coming in third.

The top three winners took home a cash prize of RM2,000, RM1,000, and RM500, respectively. They also won the opportunity to visit the Google Malaysia office in Kuala Lumpur.

The event, held on Feb 16, also included workshops, mentoring sessions and networking opportunities to help participants develop their skills and connect with other like-minded individuals.