All About Hackathons - How to Find, Participate & Win? 🔥
Tags: hackathon, programming, career
Published: 2022-11-16 14:22:53

# Hackathon👩‍💻👨‍💻
![](https://media.tenor.com/gnmeMVgz3dgAAAAC/cat-kitty.gif)

What comes in our mind when we hear the words “hack” or “hacker" ?
Hackathon is a combination of two words: Hack + Marathon. 

> Goal of hackathon: Hackathons are exploratory programming events where people gathered around the same passion give their best to find unique solutions to technical problems.  

Hackathon has nothing to do with breaking/ breaking into things online, Or maybe that scene in The Social Network of college kids vying for a spot at Facebook.

Let's break the word 
hack: faster--> more streamlined ways of accomplishing daily tasks like working smarter and not harder.

The word hackathon is a term related to hackers, which means clever programmer, and marathon, an event marked by endurance.

hackathon projects are also excellent way for fostering professional creativity and self-expression.

# Types of hackathons📹
Hackathons vary in objectives and themes. Mostly are organized Virtually or offline event
* Corporate hackathons
* Competitive hackathons
* Sponsored hackathons
* Internal hackathons

# Why to participate in hackathon?👀
> Its not about ideas.
> Its about making ideas happen

* In its purest form, a hackathon establishes the ideal environment for creating and refining great ideas.
* The benefits of hackathons hardly end with cool products and nifty looking website features...
Many a career has been kickstarted by a hackathon: no talks, no fancy workshops: what you see is what you get.
* Hackathons inspire teamwork: Talking about building a team is major soft skills every developers must have
* Hackathons encourage diversity & affect positive change: Hackathons also drive change not just in what programmers do, but also who is represented in tech.
* Collaboration: 
* Innovation:  hackathons are events that boost inspiration, innovation, creativity, and productivity. On top of everything, hackathons are usually where ideas for entirely new products come to life. 

# How to find Hackathon?📄
Checkout these websites they host details of some of the amazing opportunities all over year:
1.[Hackerearth](https://www.hackerearth.com/)
2.[Devpost](https://devpost.com/hackathons)
3.Watch out for local communities announcement

# How to win a hackathon🏆:

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/IVIURhl9jZPwR-7msp2HDHhYnal5gnNxBWCtIlbYlqPHKjNEB7CetcMXkct48bocvGDde7BHs3jfPNzx81xXpPG7dBRB0CYoJimAwebn7A)

In my recent twitter space which I hosted interviewing couple of open source developers and undergrad student below are some of the suggestions and secret sauce dropped by them to win and outperform in any hackathon
* Plan and make MVP: I.e. a minimal viable product. An app that has enough functionality to meet at least one significant requirement for the project you're working and also be clear on the tech stack your will be working on prior to the event to begin.
* Distribution of task: Have proper plan on what and who will be working on particular tasks so when it comes to execution there will be no confusion or rush to finish.
* Taking responsibility
* Team work
* Use git and GitHub: Make use of git and GitHub to commit your code and commit every tasks finished.
* Time management: 
* Good presentation: Talking to one of the hacker, non code contributions such as documentation and presentation plays vital role, having good presentation of what is built is always a plus.
* Take care of your sleep and food be prepared before hackathon begins.

# Best practices🙌

1. Don't copy code:  
2. Code smart
3. Enjoy the process
4. Push your limits
5. Make you of apps like discord, GitHub, slack for presentation or engaging with team.
6. If possible, share a demo (video format is better) of your final project.
7. If possible, share login demo credentials.
8. Explain in your article why and how you used tech stack.
9. Don't be afraid to write a lengthier article! It's better to cover all the aspects of your project rather than leave some features outside!


# 5 Reasons to Participate 👊

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/CJJ-_62KTuczUjU-IFNuuR69WVP9wfMuds1pBktSqEM3At6yBidCTEox5EvgUlb42HHt9jRps3f3MtLrkVvJ9PsZg_oBWlTvEqgeJSLm8nFLQZJLvQ)

* Learn new skills and challenge yourself.
* Show the community what you're capable of.
* Bring your ideas into reality by powering your apps.
* Document your journey and struggles, and let others be inspired by you.
* It's on your hands to win up to prizes, credits, and swags.

# Challenges🔍
Below are some of the challenges faced by hackers 
* Team building 
* Communication 
* Time zones
* Time constrains

# Conclusion 🎁
Hackathons are also excellent hiring opportunities for both companies and those looking for a job. Plus, they are a good way to stay ahead of both the competitive and technological curves. If used strategically, your competition might become your allies on the path to success. 


Hi 🙋‍♀️ I'm Shubhangi, Thank you for reading :), To learn more, check out my other blogs.
If you liked this article, consider following me on [Dev.to](https://dev.to/shubhicodes) for my latest publications. You can reachout to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/heyShubhi).

Keep learning! Keep coding!! 💛