Junction 2025: 48 hours awake

Junction is Europe’s biggest hackathon, and my first one in Finland. Forty-eight hours, a team assembled at the snack table, and a project that worked right up until the demo.

What we built: a route planner that scores walks by daylight exposure — very relevant when the sun sets at 3:47 pm.

What broke: the map tiles, at minute -10. We demoed on screenshots and honesty. The judges appreciated at least one of those.

Why I’d do it again: nowhere else do you compress a semester of teamwork lessons into one weekend — scoping ruthlessly, cutting features without ceremony, and the strange 4 am clarity when the sauna break turns into an architecture discussion.