Learnings From my first offline hackathon.

Learnings From my first offline hackathon.

I attended my first ever offline Hackathon: Redbrickhacks on June 18-19 2022. This was my first hackathon. I had no clue what a hackathon was or what it truly consists of. As I continued to network via tech communities on discord and LinkedIn, I really had the urge to meet people offline and participate in a hackathon, and when I got the form for Redbrickhacks on our college Whatsapp coding group, I texted my friends and we quickly formed a team because we all were waiting for an offline hackathon to happen, I was all set!

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According to Google, “ A hackathon is a gathering where programmers collaboratively code extremely over a short period.” Hackathons are at least a few days – or over a weekend –This one was for 2 days ( 18th and 19th June 24 Hours more or less). While working on a particular project, the idea is for each developer to have the ability and freedom to work on whatever he/she wants.

Although it’s probably a common definition, it’s not always all about coding. Throughout the weekend, I learned a lot about myself. While working in groups with new people, learning a new way to implement code, learning how to work in a team, and much more. I grew exponentially. Here are my key takeaways from my first hackathon:

1) Hackathons are not all about coding!

Some folks were very seasoned developers, but a lot of folks were also into designing, and video editing as well. Everyone seemed to find their strength and showcase it.

2) Don’t underestimate your ideas.

It’s just an idea. You might as well share it. Out of the many ideas pitched, They were all very exciting concepts. Our idea came after having a lot of discussion within our team and after having a variety of ideas from each member, after which we came up with a problem that we’d like to solve, we also discussed the ideas with other teams to gain more insight and then finalized the idea. ( our project was called We Together )

3) Ask lots of questions about anything.

The one thing about asking questions is that it helps the person asking as well as the person answering. Clear all your doubts about judging, the documentation, and do seek help from the mentors, and ask questions to other people as well, this was my way to get to know more people who came in the hackathon, pick their brains, and discuss the ideas they had. I also asked questions to the organizer team and got to know their story as well. Don’t shy away from asking questions, it’s the best way to get to know someone. Just ask away.

4) Celebrate your small victories

This is Huge. Many times you are Googling, trying new code, or trying to learn GIT commands but when that one line of code just magically works it’s important to celebrate that victory. The rush you feel is just amazing.

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5) Building something within 24 hours is an achievement.

When I got to hear that there will be unlimited snacks, a place to sleep, and super cool mini-events I thought how will we chill and build something within 24 hours at the same time, it all went so smoothly and sleep was nowhere to be found. The food was amazing, and the folks were amazing. The point being, don’t overthink too much and just enjoy the moment, The weekend’s experience was refreshing.

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6) Hackathons are a great way to experience unexpected events coming at you.

What was so great about this experience was that our code was breaking in between and we were fixing it, collaborating on GitHub had different issues altogether for which we got a Git sheet as well after the event. But all the challenges proved to be great learning at all points, the last moment of the stress of uploading our project on Devpost while making a demo video and doing documentation simultaneously was a thrill in itself. It provided us great learning that unexpected stuff can happen at any moment and you gotta face it and move forward.

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7) Stretch, eat, take breaks, sing, talk with other people whatever you need to do to make the best out of this experience.

Remember that hackathon is a 24-hour event, it will be tiring, and stressful, my teammates and I took breaks in between, we went on walks and just moved away from our table from time to time to take a break from all the stuff happening. It made us work more efficiently and helped us not burn out.

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It was a great experience and it was a highlight for this month. I also want to thank Redbrickhacks Team and Ashoka University for putting together an outstanding event. It was my first offline hackathon but now I am more than ready for my next one!

Here's the link to our project - We-Togther

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