Success @ Hackathons
Kamilla Khabibrakhmanova
Software Engineer, GlamSquad
What is a hackathon?
Hacking = exploratory programming, finding creative solutions to a problem (no connection to criminal hacking)
Hack
Marathon
Why?
Job opportunities
Add a project to your portfolio
Make new friends and connections
Learn a new technology
Prizes
Preparing for Success
- Have an idea of what you're going to build before you come into the hackathon
- Make sure it fits into one of the stated tracks on the event website
- Research the best APIs and technologies to use for your idea
- Ask Fullstack instructors for advice
- Try to get a team together with your classmates
- Get plenty of sleep the night before
- Bring everything you will need with you: laptop, charger, phone charger, and toiletries you might need
Getting busy
- Don't build from scratch!
- Create a minimum viable presentable product
- Talk to the organizers
- Delegate tasks and check in with your team regularly
- Ask someone to pair with you whenever you get stuck
- Don't feel pressured to pull an all nighter
- Most importantly.....
take regular breaks and have fun!
Getting busy
- Don't build from scratch!
- Create a minimum viable presentable product
- Talk to the organizers
- Delegate tasks and check in with your team regularly
- Ask someone to pair with you whenever you get stuck
- Don't feel pressured to pull an all nighter
- Most importantly.....
take regular breaks and have fun!
Best practices to forget
- Test driven development
- Considering all possible edge cases
- Faking data
- Pull requests and code reviews
The finish line: Design and Presentation
- Have a team reassessment a few hours before
- Don't quit or go home!
- Delegate design to one or two people
- Make sure that you have ample time to create a slideshow and talk about the presentation
- Don't be modest!
Go forth and hack!
....and follow me on Twitter!
@kabibster
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