Pandora Hackathon 2021: In review

04.11.21 by Ahmad Mansee, Madalena Vieira

Pandora Hackathon 2021: In review

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3 min read

Pandora, also known as Consumer Tech, is a global platform that services 4 international brands across 20 countries in 2 continents. Our team hosted their first fully-remote hackathon in April 2021, across Berlin, Singapore and our Japanese offices. We brought together a group of incredibly talented enthusiasts to innovate, brainstorm, hack, code, laugh, learn and ultimately forget all about the pandemic!

A “Hackathon committee” of 14 heros was formed to organise this cross-location event. The committee played an essential role in setting and communicating the objectives and agenda of the event, as well as ensuring everyone had an unforgettable time participating!

The registration was open to our platform colleagues a week before the event. We had 40 teams representing over 154 participants from a variety of disciplines, including Software Engineering, Data Science, Product Management, Design, and many more.

We Deliver Solutions

During the event, teams were given two days to develop solutions, and to work on their chosen topics. These topics included, but were not limited to, sustainability, enhancing user experience, and focusing on health and dietary requirements. The ideas would provide positive business impact, loveable user experience, and feasibility – which were the determining factors for the winning teams on presentation day (as scored by our judges!).

The teams focused on building a strong hypothesis, which was really demonstrated in their pitches, and they were also given the opportunity to consult with coaches (our Senior Directors and/or Managers from Product, Design and Engineering) who volunteered their time.  

Food brings people together…so does music!

During the hackathon week, our committees came up with different ideas to keep the excitement and energy going, especially because this was a remote event. 

The most significant idea was music sharing. We set up and shared playlists on Spotify and invited everyone to add their favourite music. This resulted in over 100 songs being shared in multiple languages,and many different genres. Even now, people are sharing music in our slack channels – signifying the diversity of our platform and how everyone embraces Delivery Hero’s value “We Are Hero Because We Care”.

Presentations & Our winning teams

On the final day, the teams came together to present their ideas to our judges and audience via Zoom. Our judging panel was complete with our Senior Executives, Directors and Senior Managers from Pandora across EU and APAC. We also encouraged the large audience that joined us on Zoom, as well as live on Workplace, to cheer on the incredible work the teams had done in those two days.  

To award the great work and ideas that the teams worked towards, a prize was given to our winners in first, second and third place. Our crowd’s favourite was also chosen and rewarded (The winners were announced a week later). 

Recognition awards were also given to the teams who have achieved the following with their presentation and ideas: 

  • Best Presentation
  • Best UX
  • Community Hero
  • Most innovative
  • Best Internal Improvement

We always aim higher

Our team was able to connect across continents, and our colleagues were able to collaborate and innovate with people who they do not normally work with. This strengthened the bond between cohorts and has ultimately created a stronger culture within our platform, despite this challenging nature of the pandemic. 

With the positive feedback we have received from everyone, this will now become a biannual event hosted on our platform, alongside many other exciting events. With the next hackathon fast approaching, we look forward to all the incredible ideas and solutions our talented colleagues will bring to our judges and audience very soon.

A snapshot from our demo day!


Thank you, Madalena & Ahmad, for sharing this great account of the last Pandora Hackathon! The Next Delivery Hero Pandora Hackathon is happening from the 15th to the 19th of November, and we can’t wait to fill you in on how it goes! 

As always, we are still hiring, so check out some of our latest openings, or join our Talent Community to stay up to date with what’s going on at Delivery Hero and receive customized job alerts!

Pandora Hackathon 2021: In review
Ahmad Mansee
Product Designer | Order tracking page
Pandora Hackathon 2021: In review
Madalena Vieira
Team Assistant | Pandora
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