There are many things we wish to know before attending the first hackathon. We approached it with infectious gusto and sugar-loaded snacks to fuel us for the coming 24 hours. But our preparation stopped there. We were all pretty clueless about how to go about it-the presentation, the split-up of the work, etc. We have learned that different hackathons throw different challenges at you, so no amount of advice can wholly prepare you for what’s in store in your next hackathon.
What is a Hackathon?
Hackathon or Codefest is a coding event that brings other programmers and people interested in computers to one place where they work together in building new software. The first hackathon was launched in the year 1999 by OpenBSD which brought 10 software developers together who worked together in creating cryptographic software.
10 Steps to Learn Programming
But, it’s always better to arm yourself with some tips before entering the arena for the long, hard battle that’s about to ensue. Here are 5 tips for you if you’re confused about how to prepare for your next hackathon.
1. Go Team!
A good team always has a mixed group of a frontend developer, a backend developer, a graphic designer, a business developer, etc. Get to know your friend’s strengths and weaknesses and choose a diverse team accordingly. More importantly, it’s important to go with people you get along with (and can have fun with). Some people can’t count the number of times they have encountered a team consisting of people who are all insanely skilled but haven’t done well in hackathons purely because of a few unresolved scuffles and ego clashes during the hack.
Choosing a leader is the next most important thing. Bottlenecks are inevitable during a hackathon, and a leader is someone who’s decisive and has enough experience to guide the team toward progress when obstructions are encountered.
2. Look Elsewhere
While some hackathons have their problem statements released weeks in advance, some only release them during the hack. If your next hackathon is like the former, take time to sit with your team and look up the previous winners of the hackathon, projects that have won other hackathons, etc. Discussing existing ideas and how to improve them can prove to be a great mental exercise for you and your team, and help you come up with good ideas of your own.
Even if your team has already decided upon an idea, I would recommend going through with this exercise because you never know where you’re going to find a feature that you could add to your project or a component that serves a similar purpose to one in your project but is much cheaper. Below are some projects/products that I found interesting, and can get the wheels in your brains rolling:
- SweetBud
- Donate your website
- PancakeBot
- Subsync
- WasteShark
3. Communication is Key
An image that always popped up in my head when I thought of a hackathon participant is one of a college student with headphones on, smacking away at his keyboard continually for 24 hours, completely content in his own little world of linked lists and stacks. After attending a hackathon, I learned that this is not quite the reality. It’s very important to talk to those around you. Talk to potential end-users of the product and understand their pain points. Talk to the judges and mentors, and know what they’re looking for. Talk to other teams and learn about the problems they’re facing, cool APIs they’re using, etc.
Include the insights that you’ve gained from talking to all these people, in your product. Most importantly, talk to your team. Before the hackathon, define a place for communication, like Slack, and exchanging files, like Google Drive. During the hackathon, have short meetings every 3 hours or so, and share your progress.
4. Do a Proper Homework
Now another important step before moving further is that so proper homework that is to study APIs before the hackathon. Make sure that you go through examples and understand which libraries you are going to put together. Doing this will save you time and you will be able to focus on the functionalities that you will be building for your unique applications. Do not waste your time reading useless docs or 3rd party libraries for figuring out different concepts.
5. Tick Tock
Once your team has an idea that has been thoroughly discussed and chalked out on paper, take at least 10 minutes to evaluate the time it’ll take to execute your idea. While it may be tempting to add complicated but impressive features, spice up the interface, etc., it may unfortunately not be practical to implement these in just 24 hours. Pick only the features that can be built during the hackathon.
If possible, hold a mock hackathon with your team before the real one, just to get a grasp on the possible problems that you might encounter and the time that it takes to solve these issues. This is also when you can set up a boilerplate project (boilerplate refers to sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration) to save time during the actual hack.
6. Go Safe with Technologies
Technologies are an important part of hackathons and finding out or selecting the technology in advance will definitely help you to win the competition. Always go for technologies that you are yet to master or just started to learn. As doing so will give you a chance to learn something new. But yes make sure that you start learning it a few days before the hackathon in order to reduce the number of mistakes. Also, if you start working with the technology before the hackathon it will help you find where are you lacking behind and you can work in the same direction.
7. Set Attainable Goals
Setting a goal is important but aiming for something too high can be problematic. You should always set goals that you can achieve in a shorter period of time in order to make it completely functional by adding various features and making things interesting. Brainstorm ideas before the start of an event so that you can explore every aspect and bring out ideas that you can achieve without any hassle. Try to be realistic, and ensure that things are completed within the allotted time. Many times people get tired due to the large number of bugs that appear while coding, therefore becoming extra cautious is vital.
8. Take the Help of the GitHub
Create your product with the help of GitHub as it helps in fixing mistakes in your code. However, there are many people who go to hackathons without git but it is not recommended to do so because if you make a mistake in your code then you will have to rewrite the complete code. Hence, in order to save time you must use Git and it will also help you and your team to develop new features.
9. Take small breaks
In order to maintain positive energy it is important that you keep taking small breaks as it will help you to enjoy your work and increase your learning capacity. Also, taking short breaks releases the pressure from the complete team and saves them from burning out while sitting in one single place for a longer period of time. You must get up and stretch your wrist and shoulders, drink some water, and eat something light (do not eat a heavy meal, as it may make you feel lethargic). Sometimes taking a break also provides you with the solution to the problem that you might have been suffering.
10. Present to Impress
Your presentation can either make or break your hackathon experience. A good presentation explains what problem your product is solving, how it’s different from the competitors, and market statistics related to your product. Put yourself in the judges’ shoes and question yourself about what you would want to see in a pitch. I’m sure the answer would be – a clean, concise, and entertaining presentation.
Don’t talk too much about technical theory unless you’re asked to. You can make your pitch interactive by involving the judges and/or the audience. Remember-Practice makes perfect, so have a trial run before you make your way to the judges. Towards the end of the hackathon, you will probably find yourself tired, starving, and completely drained of the optimism that you walked in with.
Strangely enough, regardless of whether you win or lose, you will probably find yourself searching for another hackathon to attend in the near future and that is what we like to call the “Magic of Hacks“.
Conclusion
So these were a few tips and tricks which can help you to crack a hackathon! Only if you apply the right combination of strategies and the right approach will help you win the competition eventually.
Also Read
Tips and Tricks To Crack A Hackathon – FAQ’s
How do you win a hackathon easily?
These are the steps to win a hackathon easily:
- Choose a right team
- Set your goal
- Follow the guidelines properly
- Pitch your idea accurately
How do I get better at hackathons?
Here are a few tips for doing better at hackathons
- Do deep research on the topic and hackathon theme
- Get in touch with other attendees
- If you get a chance try to sign up as an individual
- Take note of the time and finish the project in the given time
What skills are required to win a hackathon?
Skill required to win a hackathon are:
- Make sure to form a good team
- Know your audience
- Work on your research skills
- Go with the right approach
- Execute ideas in the right direction
