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"text": "Over the past two years, I've been to quite a few hackathons\n([MHacks](http://www.mhacks.org/), [Penn Apps](http://2014s.pennapps.com/),\n[Kent Hack Enough](http://hacksu.cs.kent.edu/khe2013/) to name a few) and\nthought I should scribble down some reflections from these experiences from\nthese events so that I can remember them.\n\n## Planning Makes Perfect\n\nI've gone to a few of these hackathons without any plans as to what I want to\nmake and have failed miserably. In these cases, I've gotten bogged down in\ncoming up with an idea, trying to quickly learn a new technology, or just losing\nhope cause I fall too far behind. That last one becomes quite intimidating when\nyou look around at the people around you: The smartest of the smart working on\ngroundbreaking, amazing stuff that you could only dream to make. And they are\ndoing it with such ease.\n\n<figure className=\"pull-right\">\n \n <figcaption>\n They fired this bad boy at judges. It was a sight to behold.\n </figcaption>\n</figure>\n\nThis lead me to an amazing discovery: **planning leads to success at\nhackathons**. I realized this while watching the Virgina Tech team at MHacks\n2014 make their [Nerf Gun\nTurret](http://mhackswinter2014.challengepost.com/submissions/20138-enough-said).\nThey could not have made this thing in the time constraints without having\na solid plan of what to make before showing up. They figured out what they\nwanted to make, found the parts they needed, and showed up and coded all weekend\nto make their dreams a reality.\n\nEven though the Nerf Gun Turret is a hardware hack, I think the concept extends\nto all hacks. Sit down with your teammates, plan out what you want to make, look\nfor libraries that will make development easier, divide tasks to members and go\nwith that. The hackathon is a puzzle: Show up with all the pieces.\n\n## Do What You Love\n\nI hate business planning \"hackathons\" (I'm looking at you, [Startup\nWeekend](http://startupweekend.org/)). These \"hackathons\" are all about:\n\n- Creating a viable business plan\n- Making charts about target markets\n- Preparing a pitch deck to woo potential investors\n\nNote how none of these sound like fun (at least not to me). Code isn't\na part of it and it really pares down the ideas that you're free to implement\nand attempt to win with. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I don't see\na viable business plan in a Nerf Gun Turret.\n\nGoing to MHacks two years ago made me realize their are two types of hackathons:\n**fun hackathons and poser hackathons**. The poser hackathons are like the ones\nmentioned above. The fun ones allow you to put the **hack** in **hackathon**.\n\nI showed up to MHacks 2012 telling my teammates that we need to come up with\na commercially viable idea. That we'd need a pitch deck and an idea of target\nmarkets. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone around us was making\nmind blowing software that, alone, couldn't make any money, but, on it's own,\nmade your jaw drop.\n\nPoint is this: Go to a hackathon and make something **you'd** use and enjoy.\nNo one else.\n\n## Enjoy The Community\n\nDuring the 36-48 hours you're at the hackathon, get to know as many people as\nyou can. Walk the floor and check out what other teams are making. If you dig\nit, ask them about it. Don't be shy, they don't bite.\n\nThese people can become long distance friends, Twitter followers you chat with,\nand possible professional contacts in the future.\n\n## Talk Up The Sponsors\n\nThese hackathons are impossible without the sponsors giving money to them. This\nmoney pays for everything from food to the travel for the individual schools to\nget there. And chances are that these sponsors have a pretty cool API they want\npeople to do something cool with.\n\nAlso they have some pretty sweet swag and are looking to hire hackers from these\ncompetitions. Talk them up and if you think you can do something with their API,\ngo for it. If you run into trouble, tweet them and one of their reps will come\nand help you.\n\n## Just Go To One, Already!!!\n\nIf anything I've described here makes you want to go to one of these fantastic\nevents, go to one. I'll probably be attending [Hack PSU](http://www.hackpsu.com/)\nin a few weeks. Hopefully, I'll see you there.\n\n<figure className=\"center\">\n \n <figcaption>HacKSU at Penn Apps 2014</figcaption>\n</figure>",
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},
"description": "My memories of hackathons I've been to thus far.",
"path": "/blog/hackathons-all-the-time/",
"publishedAt": "2014-02-22T05:00:00.000Z",
"site": "https://eligundry.com",
"tags": [
"code"
],
"textContent": "Over the past two years, I've been to quite a few hackathons\n(MHacks, Penn Apps,\nKent Hack Enough to name a few) and\nthought I should scribble down some reflections from these experiences from\nthese events so that I can remember them.\n\nPlanning Makes Perfect\n\nI've gone to a few of these hackathons without any plans as to what I want to\nmake and have failed miserably. In these cases, I've gotten bogged down in\ncoming up with an idea, trying to quickly learn a new technology, or just losing\nhope cause I fall too far behind. That last one becomes quite intimidating when\nyou look around at the people around you: The smartest of the smart working on\ngroundbreaking, amazing stuff that you could only dream to make. And they are\ndoing it with such ease.\n\n \n \n They fired this bad boy at judges. It was a sight to behold.\n \n\nThis lead me to an amazing discovery: planning leads to success at\nhackathons. I realized this while watching the Virgina Tech team at MHacks\n2014 make their Nerf Gun\nTurret.\nThey could not have made this thing in the time constraints without having\na solid plan of what to make before showing up. They figured out what they\nwanted to make, found the parts they needed, and showed up and coded all weekend\nto make their dreams a reality.\n\nEven though the Nerf Gun Turret is a hardware hack, I think the concept extends\nto all hacks. Sit down with your teammates, plan out what you want to make, look\nfor libraries that will make development easier, divide tasks to members and go\nwith that. The hackathon is a puzzle: Show up with all the pieces.\n\nDo What You Love\n\nI hate business planning \"hackathons\" (I'm looking at you, Startup\nWeekend). These \"hackathons\" are all about:\nCreating a viable business plan\nMaking charts about target markets\nPreparing a pitch deck to woo potential investors\n\nNote how none of these sound like fun (at least not to me). Code isn't\na part of it and it really pares down the ideas that you're free to implement\nand attempt to win with. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I don't see\na viable business plan in a Nerf Gun Turret.\n\nGoing to MHacks two years ago made me realize their are two types of hackathons:\nfun hackathons and poser hackathons. The poser hackathons are like the ones\nmentioned above. The fun ones allow you to put the hack in hackathon.\n\nI showed up to MHacks 2012 telling my teammates that we need to come up with\na commercially viable idea. That we'd need a pitch deck and an idea of target\nmarkets. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone around us was making\nmind blowing software that, alone, couldn't make any money, but, on it's own,\nmade your jaw drop.\n\nPoint is this: Go to a hackathon and make something you'd use and enjoy.\nNo one else.\n\nEnjoy The Community\n\nDuring the 36-48 hours you're at the hackathon, get to know as many people as\nyou can. Walk the floor and check out what other teams are making. If you dig\nit, ask them about it. Don't be shy, they don't bite.\n\nThese people can become long distance friends, Twitter followers you chat with,\nand possible professional contacts in the future.\n\nTalk Up The Sponsors\n\nThese hackathons are impossible without the sponsors giving money to them. This\nmoney pays for everything from food to the travel for the individual schools to\nget there. And chances are that these sponsors have a pretty cool API they want\npeople to do something cool with.\n\nAlso they have some pretty sweet swag and are looking to hire hackers from these\ncompetitions. Talk them up and if you think you can do something with their API,\ngo for it. If you run into trouble, tweet them and one of their reps will come\nand help you.\n\nJust Go To One, Already!!!\n\nIf anything I've described here makes you want to go to one of these fantastic\nevents, go to one. I'll probably be attending Hack PSU\nin a few weeks. Hopefully, I'll see you there.\n\n \n HacKSU at Penn Apps 2014",
"title": "Hackathons All The Time",
"updatedAt": "2025-02-12T02:34:47.000Z"
}