CodeKada: 7 Days of Building "Iwas Scam" — A Hackathon Story

This isn't a polished case study. This is a raw, honest account of what it feels like to register for something you're not sure you deserve, build something you've never built before, and come out the other side a different developer.

This is my CodeKada Online Hackathon story — and the birth of Iwas Scam.

Day 0: The Spark (and the Self-Doubt)

It started with a single question that wouldn't leave my head:

"Kaya ko kaya 'to?"

The hackathon poster was staring at me. CodeKada: The Online Hackathon, hosted by DevKada — May 3 to 9, 2026, via Discord. A full week of building. Real prizes. Real community partners.

The self-doubt hit in waves:

• "May bayad na 100 for individual?... Baka masayang."
• "Baka may pasok pa ako that week."
• "Baka hindi ako qualified. Baka puro malakas dyan."
• "Wala naman akong kakilala dyan."

Every excuse my brain could manufacture, it did. But somewhere between the third time I closed the registration form and the fourth time I opened it again — I clicked submit.

I registered.

Not because the doubt disappeared. But because I decided that I'd rather lose 100 pesos than spend the rest of May wondering "what if."

CodeKada Online Hackathon Announcement — the poster that started it all

Day 1: Kick-Off — From Strangers to a Trio

The day finally came.

I almost missed it. I had to travel from our municipality that morning to attend to some personal matters, and by the time I decided to head to my dorm, the clock was ticking. I needed two things: a stable internet connection and a proper workspace. My dorm had both. So I packed up, commuted back, set up my station, and made it just in time.

The kick-off was exciting — 293 people in the audience, the founder of DevKada and the organizers hyping everyone up, and the Q&A session that made the whole thing feel real. This wasn't a tutorial. This was a battlefield, and the clock had started.

DevKada Q&A Session — 293 in the audience, the energy was real

After the warm greetings and introductions, my team and I — three people who barely knew each other — decided to do something that would save us from chaos later: we sat down and talked first.

No code. No Figma. Just a brainstorming session where every idea was welcome, every concern was heard, and every assumption was challenged. We aligned on one mission: build a tool that protects Filipinos from online scams. SMS phishing, suspicious URLs, screenshot-based fraud — we wanted to catch it all.

That session gave us clarity.

Team Trio-Force — our first brainstorming session, aligning our mission

Day 3: Integration Day — Where the Real Work Begins

Day 3 was when the product had to start working, not just looking good on a wireframe.

This was integration day — connecting the frontend and backend so we could test the full user flow end-to-end. SMS scanning, URL analysis, image upload, verdict display — every feature had to talk to every other feature through the API layer.

And here's the thing nobody tells you about hackathons: the product doesn't stop just because your life doesn't. I had afternoon classes that week. Actual lectures. Actual attendance.

But you know what? I grinded anyway. Between classes, after classes, during breaks. I'd have my IDE open on one monitor and my class Google Meet on the side. Was it ideal? No. Did it work? Somehow, yes.

That self-doubt from Day 0 — "baka may pasok" — turned out to be irrelevant. Because when you care about what you're building, you find the hours. You make the schedule bend.

The grind — emulator running Iwas Scam dashboard, code editor in the background, Figma and class on the side

Days 5 and 6: The Final Push — Everything We Had

If Day 3 was when the real work began, Days 5 and 6 were when we left everything on the table.

This was the most exhausting stretch of the entire hackathon. Sleep became optional.

Here's what makes this story worth telling: two of my teammates — Sir Werald and Sir Kevin — had full-time jobs. They showed up, did their part, and were genuinely kind about it. They never made me feel like I was holding the team back, even when I was the least experienced one in the room.

Kudos to them. Truly.

And here's the part that still amazes me: none of us had ever built a mobile application before. Not one. We had zero experience with mobile development frameworks, zero experience with device-specific testing. We figured it out in two days of pure development, and we were genuinely proud of what came out the other side.

Day 6 was feature-complete day.

• Authentication system — secure user login and session management
• Image scan testing — the AI-powered screenshot analysis for phishing detection
• Mascot configuration — our "Iwas Scam" identity and branding across the app
• Multiple UI/UX iterations — testing different layouts, color schemes, and interaction patterns
• Verdict testing — the AI judgment engine that classifies threats with confidence scoring

Adding authentication — the security layer that ties it all together

Image scanner feature — testing screenshot-based scam detection

Mascot configuration — giving Iwas Scam its identity

UI/UX redesign — pushing the visual polish to the limit

Another iteration of the UI/UX

Verdict testing with the AI judgment engine — the moment it actually worked & a support of someone especial to me, she made me feel better after a long day

Day 7: It's Over. We Made It.

Day 7 hit different.

The code was committed. The presentation was done. The week was finally, mercifully, beautifully over.

And when I sat back and looked at what we built — a working mobile application that scans SMS messages, URLs, and screenshots for scam indicators, powered by AI, localized in Filipino, and built from absolute zero — I couldn't help but smile.

Was it perfect? Not even close. Were there bugs? Absolutely. Did we have merge conflicts that made us question our life choices? Daily.

But that's exactly the point.

This week was a collection of failures, bugs, sleepless nights, merge conflicts, incremental improvements, and back pain — HAHAHA — and I wouldn't trade a single moment of it.

A Note to Myself

After the submission, I did something I rarely do.

I sat down with some food, opened my notebook, and just... wrote. No code. No commit messages. Just a moment with myself.

I wrote down the name of the project — "Iwas Scam" — and I let the week wash over me.

And I want to say this to anyone who's reading, and to my future self when I inevitably doubt myself again:

Don't forget to celebrate your wins — small or big.

You showed up when nobody was watching. You registered when you weren't sure you belonged. You built something real when you had every reason to quit. You found the time when there was no time to find.

That matters. You matter.

Token of appreciation to myself — a quiet moment after a loud week

The Product: Iwas Scam

Iwas Scam is a mobile scam detection application designed to protect every Filipino from phishing, smishing, and digital fraud. Built during the CodeKada Online Hackathon by Team Trio-Force.

Core Features:

• SMS Scan — analyzes text messages for phishing indicators
• URL Scan — checks links against known threat patterns
• Image Scan — AI-powered screenshot analysis for visual spoofing detection
• Scam-O-Meter — real-time threat level indicator for the user's region
• Kasaysayan (History) — logs all previous scans for reference
• Knowledge Base — educational content about common scam tactics

Tech Stack:

• React Native (Expo) for cross-platform mobile development
• Node.js with Express.js for backend with AI-powered analysis
• Supabase for authentication and data persistence
• OpenAI for intelligent threat classification

Thank You

To DevKada — for creating a space where students like me can compete, learn, and grow. The organization, the community, the energy — it was all world-class.

To Sir Werald and Sir Kevin — for being the best teammates a nervous first-timer could ask for. Your professionalism, patience, and dedication carried this team.

Discord stage early birds

To everyone who participated — 535 of us participated.

And to myself — for clicking that register button.

NEXUS REGISTRY: IWAS SCAM HACKATHON

Iwas Scam is a mobile scam detection application designed to protect every Filipino from phishing, smishing, and digital fraud. Built during the CodeKada Online Hackathon by Team Trio-Force.

Core Outcomes:

• AI-Powered Phishing Detection — analyzing SMS, URLs, and screenshots for visual spoofing.
• Cross-Platform Delivery — React Native (Expo) architecture for rapid mobile deployment.
• Real-time Threat Scoring — dynamic classification using OpenAI and localized datasets.

Primary Identity: Mobile Security / AI / Full-Stack

Keep building, keep learning. See you on the cloud.

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