Hackathons aren’t just caffeine-fueled coding marathons anymore—they’ve become proving grounds for the next wave of enterprise tech. Talentica Software, an AI-native product engineering company, wrapped up its third remote hackathon earlier this month, drawing 303 participants across 38 teams for a 48-hour sprint to rethink how AI can supercharge the software development life cycle (SDLC).
This year’s theme: SDLC automation. The challenge? Build systems that improve speed, efficiency, and quality—without reinventing the wheel.
From Freshers to Architects: Everyone Builds
Unlike many corporate hackathons confined to engineers, Talentica’s event cast a wide net, bringing in software developers, QAs, DevOps specialists, UX designers, and even non-engineers. The cross-disciplinary format was intentional, according to Anindita Dey, Senior Manager – People Group:
“Hackathons are crucial for cross-team collaboration, staying ahead of trends, and building hands-on skills for AI-native initiatives.”
Judges evaluated projects based on relevance to SDLC, level of automation, innovation, technical completeness, and performance/observability.
The Winners: AI That Writes the Specs
The top prize went to Team TX, which built an AI agent capable of transforming vague or incomplete requirements into a detailed product requirements document (PRD). The tool factors in budget, target market, customer base, and time-to-market—effectively giving product teams a running start. For their efforts, the team earned ₹1 lakh in gift vouchers and the chance to evolve their prototype into a market-ready product.
Team QB secured runner-up with a solution blending search capabilities, NLP-driven personalized profiles, template modifications, and LangChain-based tools. Meanwhile, Team Virtual Vanguard snagged Best Idea, and Team AIncredibles won Best Presentation.
Bigger Picture: Why SDLC Automation Matters
While last February’s hackathon explored multi-agent systems, this edition underscored a growing industry focus: automating the software development pipeline itself. With AI now handling requirement generation, testing, and workflow optimization, companies are looking to cut cycle times without sacrificing quality.
“Impactful use cases always start with the user story,” said Aniket Shaligram, VP of Technology at Talentica. “Seeing brilliant minds align to that and build AI agents delivering cutting-edge solutions is inspiring.”
For Talentica, the hackathon doubles as internal R&D and culture-building. By refining AI-native processes in-house, the company positions itself to better serve clients already navigating AI-first transformations.
What’s Next
Talentica’s winning prototype—an AI that expands requirements into actionable PRDs—hints at a near future where product managers lean on intelligent copilots as much as developers now lean on GitHub Copilot. With hackathons like these, that future may arrive faster than expected.
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