Alumni Spotlight Interview: Varun Patel
The Alumni Spotlight Interview Series highlights the talented Alumni of the Congressional App Challenge, delving into their journeys, projects, and lasting impact of their participation in the App Challenge. These stories are an inspiration for future App developers who wish to use technology to make a difference in their communities.
Varun Patel is a student at Georgia Tech and a two-time Congressional App Challenge winner. Having competed in 2020 and 2021, Varun developed two impactful applications: Crime Watch, a centralized platform for crime statistics, and Py-iMessenger, a solution to help small businesses navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since competing in the Congressional App Challenge, Varun has used his passion for coding and community impact as the drive to create Blue Hand Coding, an initiative where he shares his inventive projects through content creation on platforms such as TikTok. From dorm automations to screaming plant sensors, his creations have inspired others to embrace technology.
We sat down with Varun to interview him about his journey and the lessons he has learned since competing in the Congressional App Challenge:
CAC: When did you compete in the Congressional App Challenge and what inspired you to compete in the Congressional App Challenge?
VP: Yeah, so I competed in 2020, and 2021. The Congressional App Challenge was not something I’d heard of before, but a friend who I have, like, a really distant connection with, who I met a long time ago. He reached out to me sometime early 2019 and he just sort of brought it onto my radar. Was like, “Hey, I’m competing in this. This would be cool, after what we talked about. You like coding too.” So I checked it out like, wow, this seems pretty interesting. And I really liked all of the projects that came out of my Congressional District before. So I felt like I could, you know, sort of provide a meaningful contribution with my own sort of take on an idea.
CAC: You said you competed for two separate years. What were your ideas for these years?
VP: So 2020, I created an app called Crime Watch, and basically it was just a desktop application where you would go in, you would just type in your address, or type in a set of coordinates or whatever you wanted to do, and it would just show a map with the most recent crime statistics in your area. So it was pulling from multiple databases, multiple API endpoints, and it was just sort of a way to aggregate that data into a common interface that was really easy to use. The idea for that was just to, like I said, bring all that information into one centralized hub. I feel like, if I expanded on that idea, it would be really nice to, say I had all that data in one spot, I could use it to build an app where you could build safe routes to go from point A to point B. So that was Crime Watch.
2021, I created Py-iMessenger. So Py-iMessenger was something that came about because of COVID. Actually, I was familiar with a lot of local businesses where I lived, and COVID had hurt them really badly because they didn’t have like, the necessary infrastructure to take online orders, or, you know, deal with stuff like that over the internet, which is what everything was being done over during that time. So Py-iMessenger was basically like, if you’ve used discord before, it’s like a discord bot, but something that operates on iMessage. So the businesses that I was using, they had like, old MacBooks and stuff like that. So we’re able to set up these, like iMessenger servers on them where you could type, or a customer, rather, could type in like a command, and the computer would be able to, like, read, like their order, or whatever they wanted to do, itemize that, or, you know, categorize it how it needed to, and then send that back to the business. They’d be able to process that and then send, you know, information back to the customer. So it was just, like, a simple way of creating, like, these really robust lines of communication during the pandemic.
CAC: What do you think was the most memorable part of your experience either from one year or both years?
VP: I would say 2020 was probably from between the two of them the most memorable, because it was one of those times where you take a huge leap in terms of what you’re doing, and then you take this big step forward now you start doing something completely different. Crime Watch was and still is in my, sort of, list of projects, one of a kind. I had taken a huge jump in terms of the skills I had to learn, the way I was processing my data, the way I marketed it. I had to create videos for it, for like, for the Congressional App Challenge. So that was just a lot of just new things that I got to try because of CAC.
CAC: How do you think that experience inspired you to continue with STEM?
VP: So, yeah, so, like I said, like, being able to take that first step and just seeing the payoff was huge, and I guess it just made me more confident and empowered me to take more, you know, leaps of faith and just try new things, take bigger steps and be okay with, you know, failing and getting back up and trying again. So what that contributes to, in terms of my progression with STEM and school and whatnot, is, after the Congressional App Challenge, I jumped into a lot of hardware programming. So think microcontrollers, you know, like LEDs, lights, motors, servos and whatnot. So that was a huge step. And after I started making projects in that space, I took another huge step, and I started doing content creation where I featured those projects.
CAC: Can you just tell me a little bit about Blue Hand Coding and just what it was when you started it?
VP: Yeah, so Blue Hand Coding was an initiative, rather, project. I don’t know what to call it at this point. But it’s something I started back in July of 2021, when I was 16 years old. And the whole reasoning behind it was, I’ve never been really good about writing stuff like READMEs or documentation. I’ve always hated that. I felt like, if someone makes a project just typing up a, you know, a Word doc about it doesn’t really do that project justice. You don’t get to see the passion behind that project. You don’t get to see the whole progress of that project. So I felt like the best way to, you know, preserve that was through video. So my first video, I just made this remote where I used it to control YouTube. So I used an old TV remote to control my computer, and I made a silly little video about it. It did well. People responded really positively to it. So after then, I started preserving all of my projects through these videos where I would tell, like, a story behind, like the reasoning of why I created the project, a little bit about the process, and then the final project itself.
Blue Hand Coding is an initiative that combines technology, storytelling and content creation. Through engaging videos, usually posted on TikTok, Blue Hand Coding captures the narrative behind each invention, giving viewers a glance into the “why” and “how” of each creation.
The platform has become especially popular on TikTok, where Varun shares short, compelling videos that break down each of his complex projects into accessible content. The account has garnered over 1.9 million likes on TIk Toks, with several of his projects receiving upwards of 3.2 million views, showing a larger impact on the community.
CAC: What are those projects that you’ve created?
VP: So I’ve built, I’ve done a lot of things over the last three year-, four years. But I do have a couple of few that are very memorable in the back of my mind. I think the most popular one I ever created was something called a screaming plant. And essentially was a tiny little box that you clip onto the side of, like a pot, and it would have this, like a sensor. You plug the sensor into the soil, and every time the plant needs to be watered, so like the moisture level was below a certain threshold, the box would just start screaming. So I had my friends record themselves screaming, and it was, it was a great video. It was really funny. Didn’t keep my plants alive because I just still neglected that. But it was worth a shot. So that was one that was really memorable. I think another really big one was I automated my dorm my freshman year of college. So I built things like a curtain turner, so like it would rotate and like the curtains would, like, open and close. I created a door handle turner. So I would lose my key pretty often, so this would allow me to just open my dorm room door from my phone. And I think the other thing I created was like a light switch turner, so I can just turn my light switches on and off from my phone as well.
CAC: How do you think the apps that you created for the Congressional App Challenge, and the technology you’ve developed since has made an impact on the community?
VP: So that’s actually a really good question. I feel like, because I’ve done content creation, it’s allowed me to reach out to millions of people across the world, and I have received many, many messages about people who have become inspired to learn how to code, or I’ve received, I’ve actually, I’ve received a lot of correspondence from people who liked my projects because it made things more accessible to them. Earlier this year, actually, I had a, he’s a college freshman now. He reached out to me about the dorm automations I spoke to you guys about, and he was talking about how he really wanted to replicate it, because I think he was wheelchair bound, and having those automations would just make living in a dorm much easier, much more accessible. So I shared my footage with him. I shared the code with him, I shared all the parts with them, so he went and replicated that. So stuff like that has allowed me to reach and have an outreach beyond just people watching these videos and just enjoying them.
CAC: How do you think the Congressional App Challenge has kind of shaped your academic and career goals since competing in it?
VP: So I think career wise, the Congressional App Challenge really cemented the fact that software engineering and just stuff with computers in general, was stuff that comes to me naturally, and stuff that I really, really enjoy working with. So I’d say in the academic sense, it sort of just helped me understand where I want to go in life really early on, which I think is awesome, because a lot of people go through college still not really knowing what they want to do with themselves in a professional sense. Like I said, it’s made me really willing to take on new projects and really willing to sort of just dive in. So on my confidence level, it’s done a lot for me.
CAC: What’s next for you and next for Blue Hand Coding?
VP: Honestly, I’ve always been, you know, go with the wind type of guy. So right now, Blue Hand Coding is like my baby, so I’m just taking care of that, just working on ideas, whatever comes to me. I guess right now, I’m working on a pair of camera glasses, just to open source technology like that and being more accessible to people so you don’t have to pay 200 bucks to get something like that. I’m also working on another set of apartment automations, because I don’t live in a dorm now, so stuff like that. Just whatever comes to my mind is open to be worked on.
CAC: Where do you see yourself in five years or 10 years?
VP: I think looking into my future, it’s a lot of just keeping up with what I’ve set for myself in terms of a foundation. You know, I have an app on the App Store. I’d love to see where that goes. It’s got like, 9,000, 10,000 ish downloads right now. So projects that are long term are things that I want to keep working on. Blue Hand Coding is again, something that I want to keep working on in the long term. So, you know, I’m always open to full time content creation. I’m always open to, you know, working on a startup, I’m always open to work, you know, at a company, I’m really open to anything. So I guess it’s hard for me to nail down what the next 10 years of my life looks like, but I feel like where I am right now, I would be really happy just continuing that path.
Varun’s app on the IOS App Store, Speechy – Supercharge Speaking, analyzes its user’s speech patterns and provides them with suggestions on how to improve. The app has also had a positive impact on the community it aims to help, with reviews praising Speechy for “changing the way” they do speech.
CAC: What do you think has changed the most for you since you competed in the Congressional App Challenge?
VP: Well, I’m five years older, so I think that’s lended me, like a decent amount of just a bigger understanding of the world and the problems that need to get solved in this world. And, you know how we can use technology to make those problems go away. So that’s always something I’ve been thinking about is, how can I use the skill set, which I’ve developed the last five, six years, to do something outside of just these silly little projects? So it’s always something that I keep in the back of my mind when I’m thinking of a new idea or working on something.
CAC: What advice would you give to future Congressional App Challenge participants who want to make a positive impact on their community with their app or just want to pursue continuing to create projects like you have?
VP: I would say, Just be willing to try something new. Be willing to fail. Because I think the ideas that never made it onto Blue Hand Coding, the ideas where I got 99% through and then it died out at the last second, those are the ideas that I learned a lot from. Because in success, you don’t really learn a lot, but when you fail, you’ve learned so much because you have the failure itself, and then you have the whole journey leading up to that point. So I’d say just be willing to try something new, a new technology, a new idea, something crazy. Just try it.
Thank you, Varun!
Beginning with his participation in the Congressional App Challenge to build a global audience through Blue Hand Coding, Varun has demonstrated how creativity, persistence, and a passion for problem-solving can lead to meaningful impact. Through his Congressional App Challenge projects, Crime Watch and Py-iMessenger, he’s addressed real-world challenges. His continued projects, like dorm automations and open-source solutions, showcase his commitment to making technology accessible and practical.
His journey reflects the importance of embracing new ideas, learning from failure, and using technology as a source for learning and change. As he continues to explore the boundaries of what’s possible—whether through content creation, app development, or new inventions—his story serves as a powerful inspiration for anyone looking to make a difference through STEM.
We look forward to seeing what he creates next and how his work will continue to inspire and empower others to turn their ideas into reality.