No more excuses. It’s time to take part in a hackathon now!

You’ve heard the stories.

Hackathons are caffeine and junk food fueled excesses where the cool people get together and use technology to build something awesome within about 24 hours.

And you may think that you’re not good enough to be a part of this “in crowd”.

Or perhaps you may think that you can’t code for the full 24 hours.

Or even …

Anyone can participate in a hackathon.

And can do well.

Even you.

Don’t think so?

Do think so!

Here’s why.

What goes on in a hackathon anyway?

To remove some of the mystique surrounding hackathons, you need to know what goes on during one!

We’ll speak in generalities for now.

If you want an example of what happens in a specific hackathon, check out our post on What went down at Devengers Hacknight 1.0

A hackathon is usually a 24–36 hour event taking place in a physical venue. Hackathons usually take place over a weekend to engage the most number of participants.

Now, hackathons are team events. A bunch of people from varied backgrounds get together to form a diverse team with complementary skillsets.

Teams pick up a tech stack and work together to solve a particular problem at hand. Now, according to the organizers’ rules, the tech stack is either restricted to particular technologies, or completely open. And hackathons are either theme-based where you select a problem statement among different themed scenarios, or completely open, i.e., work on anything or any project you want!

During the hackathon itself, organizers usually give out goodies or run a series of mini-contests with small prizes. Coffee and snacks are available throughout. It all depends on the organizers of course!

Who attends hackathons?

Let’s first clear up a misconception.

People think that those who attend hackathons are uber genius geeks with tons of experience.

No way!

People who attend hackathons come from a variety of backgrounds.

Most are devs in their 20s and 30s.

Older people do take part! Siv Souvam, Content and Community Strategist at Skillenza, says that he’s noticed hackathon participants with over 15 years’ experience!

Many are college students.

Some are even high school kids.

And about one in ten are women. But this percentage is sure to increase as more women get comfortable attending.

But hackathons are not just for the pure tech people or pure coders.

Depending on the type of hackathon, you can find people with other skill sets.

Graphic designers. Frontend people. Backend humans. Data scientists. Data analysts.

IT services.

And if one’s experience was limited to working on legacy systems and product maintenance, they could also contribute in hackathons! Not only that, they gain experience of working on building an entire project from start to finish. It also gives them a chance to work very closely with the product people. And perhaps even try their hand at product creation!

Even non-coders can contribute. In fact, in a game development hackathon, where the objective was to build a game, there were writers taking part who provided story outlines!

All this goes to show that the more diverse the skillset, the better.

This makes sense.

After all, you are building an entire product from scratch!

What do people do during the hackathon?

This is where the true spirit of the hackathon shines through.

You can hear the collaborative process in action: the sound of pounding keyboards, whiteboard markers frantically marking out strategies, the occasional stifled yawn, raucous laughter as people win goodies in mini-contests, and above all the constant buzz of team chatter.

Some say you can even hear the high stakes pressure — whatever that’s supposed to mean!

Some people stay up all night to build their creations.

Some take short catnaps in their chairs or bean bags.

Some may go home for the night and come back in the morning.

Some teams work in shifts with rotating sleep schedules.

Some take the opportunity to build and grow their network.

It’s up to you and your team.

But most people tend to just plow through … they feel that 24 hours isn’t a lot of time!

There’s also a bit of ego involved. It’s like people are saying, “Look at me. I don’t need sleep; I can code all night!” But in reality, based on hackathons we’ve seen at Skillenza, short breaks among teammates and catnaps seem to be the way to go. And also, you should seize every opportunity to build your professional network. Where else can you find such a diverse group of people working together?

How does Judging Happen?

Well, judging takes place in various forms.

But, typically it goes something like this:

During a hackathon, while products are being ideated and created, judges walk around asking Questions. Questions about what participants are building, why they are building it, and how they are building it. Questions about the tech stacks used.

The judges, like the participants, come from varied backgrounds: sponsors, engineering leaders from start-ups or even big companies. The judges judge the creations on a set of pre-defined judging criteria. These criteria are made clear to the participants beforehand. So, even if a team creates a beautiful product, if it’s not relevant or solves the problem in question, they may not win.

After the teams have built their solution, it’s time for judging. Based on the judges’ feedback, several teams are shortlisted for presentations. Shortlisted teams get 5–10 minutes to summarize their creation, the problems it solves, and a little bit about the technologies used in building it.

Following this, there’s a short prize ceremony where winners are announced and awarded with prizes.

What can you win?

Now there are a variety of prizes to win:

• Cash prizes for the top teams
• Job offers for selected participants or teams
• Peer recognition

But the biggest prize of all is the amazing learning experience these provide. And the chance to interact with amazing people in the wild, as it were.

Who wins hackathons?

Based on what we talked about so far, who do you think are the kind of people who win hackathons? We’ll assume for the purpose of this discussion that all concerned have understood the problem well and worked on a solution.

All other things being equal, is a hackathon winner the lone genius?

Or the very experienced people?

College students?

Or people who build up a solution working collaboratively in a team?

Perhaps the choices are unfair. It’s clearly the lone genius.

Just kidding.

Yes, it’s those who work together as a team collaboratively who tend to do well.

The keyword is collaboration. And you should have a team of diverse skillsets. For example, a good team composition for a hackathon could be a frontend person, backend person, and perhaps a product manager or the like. The point is team diversity goes a long way. And of course, every person on the team should be able to work with others with minimal clashes.

Note that a good team composition depends on the type of hackathons. For hackathons that involve a lot of data analysis and manipulation, perhaps getting a data analyst or data scientist on board may be a good choice.

So, should you take part in a hackathon?

Of course!

As we said, you don’t have to have a super-duper background to attend.

You don’t have to be a super genius to win.

You don’t need to have a lot of work experience; after all, students win hackathons too!

But you do need to be dedicated, have a willingness to learn and work with a variety of people.

And, what’s the worst that can happen?

At worst, you get to interact with smart and knowledgeable people. And in the best-case scenario, you win the hackathon! It’s learning at scale for everyone.

Alright. You’re convinced that you should attend hackathons. But where to find them? Why don’t you try registering on Skillenza’s platform for more information about hackathons, tech meetups, and other cool activities in your city?