The CFO Who Learned to Code by Shipping: How I Use Hackathons to Keep Up With AI Tools
Oh hey. I'm Shyam Desigan (most people call me Sam). I spent twenty-plus years in finance, mostly as a CFO. Now I'm a Director of Technology Consulting, and I learn the tech stack by building real things with AI tools, usually against a hackathon deadline.
1. What do you currently do and what's your favorite part about it?
I'm Director, Technology Consulting at Tiger Analytics in New York. I moved into the role in September 2026 after a long career in finance leadership. Outside the day job, I build. Since February 2026 I've submitted more than 35 projects to hackathons on Devpost, plus a steady stream on DoraHacks, lablab.ai and others. My favorite part is that these two halves feed each other. A business problem I understand from years of running finance becomes something I can actually prototype, and every build teaches me a tool or a layer of the...
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