Workshop with partners / Bondora

Last week, our partner company Bondora provided a unique opportunity for 25 kood/Jõhvi students to participate in a workshop focused on Open Banking API. The six-hour workshop was not only informative but also engaging, as students worked in teams and were mentored by Bondora’s experts. At the end of the workshop, the best team was awarded a prize of 1000€ for their best solution.

Bondora is an innovative online investment platform that has been revolutionizing personal finance since its establishment in 2008. With a strong focus on data and engineering, over 40% of their workforce is dedicated to these areas, making them a leader in the field.

The company aims to enable more people to regain control of their finances and access financial services that traditional financial institutions would not provide. Pärtel Tomberg, the CEO and founder of Bondora, has been leading this mission to empower millions of people to attain financial freedom, and the company is determined to make it a reality.

The Open Banking API workshop

The workshop, fondly referred to as a “small hackathon” by the participants, was focused on equipping the students with practical skills, and the result was an opportunity for students to showcase their acquired knowledge. It was a unique chance to learn how to use AISP APIs to fetch paged data, categorise and understand its semantics, and extract real value from an unstructured set of abstract data. 

Every team worked tirelessly to come up with the best solution, and to be the winner of a 1000€ prize. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement and creativity as the students worked with determination and focus. And with Bondora’s experts on their side, it became even more exciting.

Student’s feedback

Workshop with Bondora left a significant impact on many of the students who participated. They expressed their inspiration and motivation to enhance their skills further. As an example 1st batch student Märten Puust shared his thoughts after the event: “The workshop was super cool, seeing everyone solve the same problem with different tools was a great learning experience. Some used Golang, while others used Javascript or Python, and it was really fascinating to see how everyone approached the task differently. Personally, this workshop really motivated me to study more and expand my skill set even further.”

The highlight of the day was the announcement of the winning team, Terminal. Laura-Eliise Marrandi, a 1st batch student who led the winning team, shared her excitement, stating that: “The emotions are literally through the roof! What made the experience even more special for the students was the opportunity to collaborate across different batches.”

Jaagup Tomingas, team leader of another group, shared his thoughts: “This workshop definitely added some pressure, which is like stepping out of the comfort zone and we were forced to think outside the box. But working as a team, meeting new people and getting to know them was definitely worth it!”

Bandora’s view on the workshop

In the words of Stefan Sarbu, VP of engineering at Bondora: “I’ve mentored quite a few hackathons both professionally and for students, and this one was probably one of the easiest I’ve ever done. My colleagues and I didn’t need to provide much coaching, as the students knew what they were doing and kept themselves very focused. I was genuinely impressed with the level of skill demonstrated by the participants here, and it definitely exceeded my expectations for only students in the IT field.”

Tanel Laud, engineering manager at Bondora, also shared his thoughts on the event: “I found today’s event to be intriguing because the students were attempting to solve a problem that has not been solved in the world yet. I must say, they performed very well.” Tanel was also particularly impressed by the first batch of kood/Jõhvi students who are set to finish their studies in September, noting that they are already well-equipped to enter the job market.

The workshop proved to be a valuable learning experience for all involved, as it pushed students to think outside the box and make quick decisions. It was an excellent example of collaboration between academia and industry, providing a perfect platform for students to apply what they have learned in a real-world context.

Want to see other workshops we’ve done with our partners? Head over here!