5 Things To Do Before a Hackathon
Throughout my time at college, I took part in a number of hackathons. These are five things you can do to get ready for a hackathon.
Tip #1. Build a good team
This might be the most significant factor that determines your level of success. You must need a strong team. If you’re allowed to pick your own team, put together the strongest squad you can. That doesn’t imply your team has to be filled with geniuses. Find team members who are competent in their roles and willing to work with you. It can be frustrating to have a super-talented team member who doesn’t know how to contribute to the group’s success. Finding folks whose abilities complement your own is preferable. I don’t see the value in having a team of four individuals if they’re all back-end developers. To show off your system and help the judges grasp what you’ve built, you’ll need a frontend. Get the crew together early on to chat and loosen up before the big event. You’ll be able to learn about each other’s expertise and areas for improvement, as well as identify a shared technological stack.
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.
— Phil Jackson
Tip #2. Get ready to pick up new technology in a hurry.
When your team is formed in advance, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss and settle on a single, unified technological stack. It’s possible, though, that you’ll settle on a web development technology stack, only to realise that the problem statement calls for an app. Now is the moment to study app dev fundamentals and get started on putting together your first app rather than debating with the organising crew about refining the problem description. If you want to learn something new rapidly, hackathons are the best way to do it. The pressure to accomplish the assignment on time causes one to devote all of their attention to developing an acceptable solution.
Forget Perfect. Be Quick. Quickness Kills.
— Ehab Atalla
Tip #3. Research on the theme of hackathon and organizing body
Learn as much as possible about the hackathon’s theme and the hosting company in the days leading up to the event. It offers you a good notion of what kind of problem statement to expect. You can prepare for a hackathon with a focus on blockchain by studying solidity, for instance. You can anticipate problem statements from non-profit organisations (NPOs) and be ready to build fundraising systems if the hackathon has a social good focus. As a result, doing a little research before attending the event is always a smart idea.
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Tip #4. Find a handful of templates that you can use
You’d have to devise an entire solution from scratch, and you won’t have much time to do so. You can save time by using free to use pre-built templates. You have the option to import code from other personal projects. Login and signup code is widely available because it is typically required in most applications. You may avoid wasting a lot of time by using these. This will allow you to concentrate on the essential logic of the system you are developing, while still adjusting templates to fit the problem description.
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
— Hans Hofmann
Tip #5. Practise conveying your ideas effectively.
All of your efforts will be in vain if you cannot clearly communicate your idea. If you have a fantastic proposal but can’t convince the judges of its merit, you won’t have a very good chance of winning. So, present your individual work to a group of friends or coworkers and see how you do fielding their queries. This will boost your self-assurance, and the comments of others will allow you to fine-tune the way you present.
The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.
— Lilly Walters
