A Problem Solving Experiment Created Together by Foreigners and Koreans, KOWORK Vibe Coding HACKATHON✨
Hello, this is KOWORK, a foreign talent recruitment platform.
The challenges foreigners face while living in Korea are not limited to simply finding a job.
Going to the hospital, finding a place to live, using banking apps, looking for visa information, and even sorting trash for recycling can all become major barriers for foreigners due to differences in language, information, systems, and culture.
On May 16, KOWORK With Us held the Vibe Coding HACKATHON at D.CAMP Seolleung, creating an opportunity to solve everyday problems faced by foreigners living in Korea through technology. At this hackathon, foreign planners and Korean developers formed teams and presented a total of 12 products.
Foreigners Defined the Problems, and Korean Developers Built the Solutions
This hackathon was more than just an idea competition.
Foreign participants defined problems based on their own experiences living in Korea, while Korean developers used AI coding tools to build working prototypes.
Although participants came from different languages and backgrounds, they were able to communicate and collaborate using real time AI voice translation. This made it possible for each team member to contribute their strengths beyond the limitations of language ability or coding experience.
Through this event, KOWORK aimed to explore how we can go beyond foreign recruitment and help create an environment where foreigners living in Korea can work and settle more securely.
12 Ideas for Solving Everyday Problems Faced by Foreigners
At this hackathon, recurring challenges in areas such as healthcare, housing, visas, language, finance, and administration were developed into service ideas. Here are some of the representative ideas!
1. A Recycling Guide Service That Uses Photos
The grand prize winning team, NAV/yeonseong, focused on trash sorting and recycling, a common challenge for foreigners living in Korea.
Their service allows users to take a photo of an item and then shows them how to dispose of it through animated guidance. The service was highly recognized for offering an intuitive user experience for foreigners who may struggle to understand Korean instructions or region specific disposal rules.
2. A Housing Information Search Service for Foreigners
The excellence award winning team, FaMi/Sergio, aimed to solve the information gap foreigners face when looking for housing in Korea.
They proposed a service that connects data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport with listings from Danggeun, helping foreigners better understand and compare neighborhoods and housing options. Finding a home in Korea involves many challenges, including contract types, deposits, neighborhood information, and language barriers, making this a problem with strong real life demand.
3. An AI Guide Service for Using Banking Apps
The Best Collaboration award winning team, Matthew/twoweekhee, focused on the difficulties foreigners experience when using Korean banking apps.
Their service analyzes a photo of an app screen and explains the necessary steps with examples. Korean financial apps often have limited foreign language support and complex authentication processes, making them a major barrier for foreign users.
4. A Healthcare Support Service for Foreigners
The Creative award winning team, Choi Aya/Comtea, proposed a service for foreigners who face healthcare related difficulties, including allergy related conditions.
Their service combines symptom input, nearby hospital search, KakaoMap connection, reservation support, and medication guidance based on photos of prescriptions or medical certificates. Since healthcare information requires both accuracy and accessibility, this is one of the key problems that must be addressed in the settlement journey of foreigners in Korea.
5. A Personalized Visa Navigator
The People’s Choice award winning team, Dineo/Yoon Yeeun, presented a personalized visa navigator and stay management service that simplifies complex government websites and visa information.
Foreigners often struggle to figure out which information actually applies to their own situation. This service focuses on helping users more easily access the information they need based on their individual visa status and personal conditions.
Foreign Recruitment Cannot Be Solved Through Job Matching Alone
KOWORK has connected foreign job seekers with Korean companies as a foreign talent recruitment platform. However, the challenges we see among foreign job seekers do not end with finding job postings.
When visa information is unclear, people hesitate to apply for jobs. When housing is unstable, it becomes difficult to work consistently. When accessing hospitals, banks, and administrative services is difficult, anxiety about life in Korea naturally grows.
In the end, foreign recruitment is not just a matter of matching people with jobs. It is about creating an environment where foreigners can live and work securely in Korea.
This hackathon was a meaningful opportunity to confirm that possibility. Foreign participants defined problems based on their own lived experiences, and Korean developers turned those problems into actual service prototypes. When different perspectives came together, the problems that Korean society had overlooked became much clearer.
KOWORK Is Expanding Beyond Foreign Recruitment to Support Settlement and Career Growth
KOWORK will continue to systematically collect and turn into services the problems that arise throughout foreign recruitment, visa processes, stay management, and settlement.
In particular, by using foreign job seeker data and corporate hiring demand within the KOWORK platform, we aim to build an environment where foreigners can develop their careers in Korea more securely.
Foreign recruitment is no longer an option for only a small number of companies. In the face of demographic change and labor shortages across industries, foreign talent is becoming an important part of Korean society and business. To help them truly take root, we must think beyond hiring and consider life and settlement after employment.
KOWORK will continue to define problems together with foreigners and Koreans, solve them through technology, and build a better foreign recruitment ecosystem🚀
