First Hackathon
Tags: javascript, react, beginners, python
Published: 2022-09-21 19:23:01

Last month I participated in my first hackathon! This was the third part of my interview for JP Morgan Chase Emerging Talent Software Engineer. While I didn't end up getting a position from this, I learned a lot along the way.

Let's start at the beginning of the interview. The first step of the interview was recorded video responses, which was so bizarre to me. The entire way through this interview, I didn't get to talk to a human one on one. I am so used to speaking to someone else that it was hard for me to really bring my full personality to the recorded interview responses. 

Second was the technical interview. I am still learning more about data structures and algorithms so I struggled a bit with this section and psyched myself out during it. I am currently working on Colt Steele's Udemy JS algorithms and data structures masterclass so I will be more prepared in the future. 

The final piece was the hackathon. It was a 12 hour block with about 2 hours of introductions, and presenting. I had no idea that you would be able to meet with your time the night before and wish I would have known so I could have taken the time off so I could have been more present during the meeting. Since I was working, I was only able to listen into the meeting but really couldn't add much to the discussion. We decided to do Python for the backend and React for the frontend. We divided our team in half and I was part of the React frontend team. Before we started coding, we discussed the given problem, our goals, and our data types. Our first mentor really just left us alone and seemed really busy so we thought we were on the right track. I was in charge of taking notes, assigning tasks, and keeping track of progress. After everything was discussed, we broke off into frontend and backend and started coding. I was in charge of create account and logging in. I was feeling good but we were already 4 hours into our time and our second mentor came in. I really appreciate our second mentor but he definitely changed everything. I wish he would have been there at the beginning to start us done the right path. He said our scope was too big, and it was. We were trying to do too many things at once and there was no way we were going to get done. He said that the first thing to scrap was the log in and create account because every project has that and it isn't unique or innovative. With this, all my code was tossed out. I then decided to help the other two people in the frontend team with their pages instead. Time flew by after this. We kept checking in with the backend and they were struggling getting the database in place. With only an hour left in our coding time, the database was finally ready to call however none of us on the frontend were used to calling a database in Python and realized we didn't have enough time to figure it out. We decided to hard code in our data so we had something to show during our presentation. We quickly figured out our presentation and were the first to present. I am pleased with what we accomplished and definitely learned a lot during the hackathon.

My advice for anyone doing a hackathon is to focus on one feature at a time. Start with the simplest data and the most unique feature and work off of that. Set aside time the night before to talk to your team. Make sure to keep notes and keep organized. They are definitely looking for people who aren't afraid to talk up and take control of a situation. Two people got job offers from my group and it was pretty clear why they got those offers. They did the most coding and they were not afraid to speak up. Another thing I wish I would have known was how many people would be participating in the hackathon. In my group it was 400 people! I wasn't expecting that many people to make it to that point. I am not sure if people get eliminated along the way or if everyone gets to participate in the hackathon. Also make sure you prepare food and have water close by. You are going to need the energy. I will definitely be reapplying and doing more hackathons in the future. If you are reading this and about to go into a hackathon, I am wishing you the best of luck!