Hackathon from a view of an attendee and organizer

“ Technology is best when it brings people together” — Matt Mullenweg ( Founder @Wordpress)

It is already my motto since I first entered a hackathon: great ideas stem from discussions and I believe by gathering talented individuals we can invent things that go beyond one’s imagination. I have been known as the hackathon organizing kind-of-girls and after almost 3 years participating, preparing and hosting several hackathons both internationally and domestically, in-person and virtual ones here are some tips I'm happy to share to those who are curious about these nerdy competitions and want to be a part of it — or maybe you are already too familiar with these concepts so you can find yourself screaming “ Yes it is me, count me in”

A. FOR ATTENDEES:

1. Hackathon is not just for technocrats: you don't have to be a coder or engineer to be a part of this world — in fact, business analysts and designers are equally important. I'm a business analyst and I didn't write a single code in my first hackathon (I dont write codes until now except for some basic HTML, CSS and JavaScript when I have free time for fun— so if someone asks me I would say no man I dont know how to code) and I still lead my team winning a hackathon
2. Teamwork is key: if you want to win a hackathon, find somebody who can corporate well with you — you only have 24 hours to 48 hours at maximum spending all of your energy into your product(s), so better find people who can improve your weaknesses and maximize your abilities: to me, an ideal consists of three types of people: two business analysts, one designer and two developers (front-end and back-end)
3. Focus on your slide and your pitch: you might develop an awesome product but if you dont show to judges how awesome it is with your pitch, how can people verify later on? Make it short, simple and sweet — no one makes a fully-equipped application or website in just 1 or 2 days; deliver to the audience its viability and potential, you only have few minutes to shine.
4. Networking is actually fun: maybe you dont want to win that much. Maybe your incentives are just free swags and red bulls — I got chu, I'm also the person who spent my night with my fellas just to follow a guy in the mentor team I had a crush on :) It doesn't matter why you are here but what your takeaways are: my most precious treasure from hackathons are a community of friends who still support me wherever I go — from Hanoi to Singapore, from competitions to scholarships, from going shopping to organizing other events,… I met my boss now in a hackathon and who knows, you might crash into the love of your life one day?

B. FOR ORGANIZERS:

1. Sleep is not for the weak and (it is also true with taking shower): hackathons have been an embodiment of killing one's health by encouraging people to stay up late drinking coffee and crashing code overnight as well as some venues dont provide a sleeping area or bathroom. To make your attendees' experience better, simply take care of their health like yours
2. Pairing team members is crucial: dont make your attendees feel like they are alone — ice-breaking game, pitching ideas session and introducing are things that make people come together more easily.
3. Planning, planning and planning: make your plan as concrete as possible: who will host this speaker's session? Who will be in charge of the food? Who will take care of sponsors? Hackathon is super hectic, you don’t know which kind of situation you would be dealing with
4. Remain supportive and encourage hackers all the time: some dont even want to showcase their products because they are afraid of trying new things or think they are not “good enough" and that is the last thing we want to happen — let them know they are always heard
5. Creating is hard, but maintaining a community/ ecosystem is even harder: hackathons are not just parties for ideas-we want people (even if they win or not) still can benefit from them so its better to have follow-ups like incubator programs, community monthly meet-ups or simply a coffee discussion every week

Last but not least, whether you are attendees or organizers, enjoy the ride :) I have made many friends, grown a hell lot through the time and actually found out my career path — what I want to do from 9 to 5- not a hackathon organizer, but I still feel happy and grateful immensely while I'm in hackathon, and I hope you will too! :)

Interested in joining a hackathon? AngelHack is hosting a virtual hackathon right now, check out our contest at hackcovy.com 😃

If you have anything questions, want to collaborate to host one or simply just want to share your thoughts about this topic, feel free to send me a message at dieulinh.ng99@gmail.com or linh.nguyen@angelhack.com