The 8 Commandments for Winning a Hackathon
(Because 10 is overrated)
Hackathon (noun): a 1-to-3 day gathering of sleepless developers, fueled by Red Bull and junk food, challenging each other’s code crafting skills to their limits in a true coding marathon. That might not sound that great, but it’s actually quite fun. Really! And, after participating in many and winning several, I can say I have a formula. Here are my 8 commandments for winning a hackathon. (I’m going to spare you the “thou shalt” language, though.)
1. Have a Great Idea
Come up with something cool and fun. Forget how hard it might be to do; you’ll find a way. If you don’t think big, you won’t get big! “That’s a terrible idea! No one needs that, but it was so well implemented that it should win!” — said nobody, ever. If people want to steal your idea and get rich with it, then you know you have a good chance of winning!
2. Choose Your Team Wisely
Having developers is important — very important! But don’t forget all the other things you have to do besides coding. You’ll need people who can come up with the idea, devise the business plan and create the design and manage all tasks efficiently for the short period of time you have. Most importantly, you need someone to present your project to the judges. If you have to draw it, then it’s time to find someone with great presentation skills.
3. Presentation Is Key
The app is important, of course, but a great presentation will get you a top place.The presentation with the largest wow-factor drives the win, not the hardest problem solved or the best source code. If you don’t believe me, don’t complain when the team with the app full of bugs gets ahead of you just because their presentation was awesome. Save time (and heartache) and prepare a great presentation.
4. Validate Your Idea
This is one of the fun parts of a hackathon. Build a quick prototype of your idea and then leave to test it. That’s right: leave the building! If you are building an app for tourists, go to a touristy place and interview them. If you are building for the homeless, find one and interview him. Use that content to refine your idea, to prove to the judges there is a market for it and to make the presentation fun and engaging with photos. Your team’s morale will also get a boost from the field trip.
5. Know the Judging Criteria
Back to hackathon 101: read the judging criteria beforehand and adapt your project to it (you’d be surprised to know how many developers forget this one). Look at it this way: when the teacher tells you the topics that will be asked in the exam, do you study all, or only the ones you like? If there are 3 areas you are being evaluated on, try your best on all 3. The more you try to answer, the more points you’ll have for each criteria.
6. Make Sure You Have a Great user Experience and Design
You need to dress your UI and the UX to impress. Although you, as an engineer, understand the value of the functionality; your users (and judges) only see the front-end. Have a UI/UX person on your team to help you make that great first impression.
7. Do Your Homework
Simply put: avoid getting surprised during the hackathon. You don’t have time for that. If your app must integrate with a certain API, try it beforehand. If there is a theme to the hackathon, research it. If there are a lot of rules and regulations, read them and take notes of what’s important. Research who the judges are and what they are passionate about — you will need all judges to like your idea, not just the technical guy.
8. Use a Low-code Platform
Are you sweating and already thinking you don’t have enough time for all this? Then try using a low-code, rapid application delivery platform to speed up your development. This way, you have more time for the idea, the design and the presentation. And you might even get a couple hours of sleep.
Trust me. Follow these commandments in your next hackathon and you’ll be surprised at what happens.
