Deblina Chattopadhyay is a seasoned hackathon veteran and a prolific hacker who describes herself as an embedded electronics and hardware enthusiast. Currently an Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering student at Netaji Subhash Engineering College, she is also a regular in the Major League Hacking (MLH) community, competing in numerous hackathons and winning several. Her projects have included everything from a firefighting robot control unit to a modulated laser trip wire that prevents trespassing to automated street lights that save on energy consumption. For having attended her first MLH hackathon, Bitcamp 2021, just over a year ago, she’s already amassed an impressive reputation as an active community member.

Deblina grew up with a passion for hardware electronics, which drove her to pursue a career in technology. While she has always had a passion for creating, she says “my love for technology increased as my confidence in working with different hardware components kept increasing.” Growing up in Kolkata, West Bengal in India, Deblina says she knows well the art of Jugaad: being crafty and innovating an often out-of-the-box solution to the problem at hand. For many of her hardware hacks, she says “we mostly made do with the items we had with us already.” This skill certainly came in handy during the COVID-19 pandemic. To Deblina, “building hardware projects from scratch has a very unique sense of delight and satisfaction when completed.”

Hackathons have been an important part of Deblina’s continued growth as a hacker. “Hackathons gave me the platform where I could showcase my creations,” Deblina says, adding “hackathons are a great place for gaining experience and getting exposure.” One critical moment for Deblina was joining the MLH Community Discord, which helped her continue to grow in her career as an electronics and hardware enthusiast. She says that, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, it was “because of MLH that…unlike many others, I actually had something to look forward to every week.” Deblina has made meaningful relationships with other hackers through MLH and over Discord, such as her friends in BLAHAJGang, where she says “it feels like a family.”

She has also participated in a number of Local Hack Days (now Global Hack Week), which she likens to a “breeze of fresh air on a hot sunny day.” Deblina says her favorite part of Global Hack Weeks is getting to focus on learning and experimenting during those weeks instead of competing. To her, the experiences with Global Hack Weeks have functioned as a “much-needed break for competitive hackers like myself who don’t really understand their own limits and tend to overwork themselves.” Deblina has worked on several projects addressing issues she is passionate about and is very proud of “working towards things that help the Earth along with humankind.” She plans to stay involved in the hacker community by becoming a mentor and eventually organizing hackathons. And, of course, she plans to continue “contributing to open source and inspiring others to gain hands-on experience by building projects.”