Frequently Asked Questions 

If you have a question not answered here, please ask additional questions on Parthean.

We really enjoyed going through all of your creative solutions from 40+ countries around the world. Check out the 2020 Solution Challenge winners here.

Thank you to all the Developer Student Clubs that participated and helped make this such an awesome experience. Also, a big shout out to all the Google Developers Experts (GDEs) who supported a number of teams with mentorship.

We will be hosting a Virtual Demo Day end of August to showcase these solutions to everyone around the world! Thanks again for sharing your inspiring projects with us!

The Terms and Conditions state “LIMIT ONE (1) ENTRY PER PERSON,” so each student can only be a part of one submission.

The demonstration video is your time to show us the most important part of your application. When evaluating, our judges will use the demonstration video to understand how a user will interact with the application.

As stated in the Terms and Conditions, “[The Video] cannot be longer than 120 seconds. If it is longer than this, only the first 120 seconds will be evaluated.”

In short, we recommend focusing on what’s important.

From the video, we want to understand how the user interacts with the solutions and it's features. We don’t need to know about every little feature, we care far more about the core value your solution is adding. So focus on the most important features and functionalities for the user. 

The Terms and Conditions states:

Link should direct the judges to a repository containing your code, which can be hosted on a Version Control System, such as Github or Bitbucket. In that repository, you should include a README.txt or README.md file in the root directory. This file should contain directions on how to software development version control and run the code in your repository.

So, if you’re running a public repository on Github, Bitbucket, or similar version control system, you can simply give us the link. But, if you want to keep your repo private, you have two options:

  1. You can host your code in a private google drive folder and submit a share link.
  2. In your Version Control System, you can give read access to the following email address: solutionchallengesubmissions@google.com

Yes. As per the Terms and Conditions, we require that your submissions “Use of one or more Google products or platforms including.” In addition to that, however, you can also use developer tools that Google did not develop.

No, it does not have to be deployed. If the project is deployed, this will help our judges get a better understanding of what you’ve built, but it is not required.

Our judges will surely be mindful of the limitations that have been added by Covid-19. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Ability to meet as a team
  • Ability to have users test the solution
  • Lack of internet access or proper developer environments due to displacement from your college campus. 

In short, we recommend getting creative within your means. To test your solution with users, it is always best to meet them face-to-face. This allows you to ask for real-time feedback, see upfront how they use your application, and pick up on subtle reactions. However, that is not possible, so we recommend getting creative in finding solutions as close to that as possible. Here are some potential solutions:

  • Conduct the interview over a video call.
  • Conduct the interview over a phone call, asking the potential user to constantly speak their thoughts out loud, so you can pick up on all of their feedback.
  • Write up a series of questions and ask your potential user to record themselves as they answer the questions and use your solution.
  • Simply ask for written feedback from your users. 

No -- as per the Terms and Conditions, your solution must be built between January 30, 2019 and the submission date.