7 Tips on How to Win Hackathons

Jul 27, 2020 · 3 mins read

In 2018, I attended several hackathons. In all of those hackathons, our team managed to make it to the top 3 every time. We even managed to be a champion once. In this article, I’ll share some tips from my experience that I think can help you gain an edge in your next hackathon.

1. Understand what the Hackathon is All About

Each hackathon is different. Before brainstorming or building prototypes, try to understand-

What do the contest arrangers actually want to see from participants?
What is the goal of the hackathon?
What rules do you have to abide by?

Thinking thoroughly about the hackathon prospects/purpose should help you make better decisions on what type of project you should develop and what functionality should be added.

2. Plan to Win

If you think participation is more important than winning, you may stop reading now and go watch Netflix. If you intend to win, plan to win. Prepare for war, prepare for victory.

3. Good Team Combination

A great team has the following two qualities.

The teammates have a good understanding between them. They can reason between themselves logically instead of emotionally.
Each teammate has a specific skill that others don’t have.

Just to emphasize the first point, most hackathons will want to see something new. To create something new, you will have to talk amongst yourselves and make decisions on what to do and what not to do. If your team is arguing pointlessly instead of making logical decisions, it will cost valuable time and energy. Sometimes such quarrels can even turn down the mood for the hackathon.

I’ll emphasize this further, a lesser skilled understanding person is better than a highly skilled idiot.

4. Brainstorming and Validating Ideas

Since a hackathon is mostly about being innovative, you need creative ideas. One brain, storming for ideas is good. But ten brains are better. So talk to people about your ideas. Talk with your parents, teachers, friends, the guy in the park, next-door neighbors. You will be surprised by the valuable fresh perspectives they provide. Different perspectives will help you make the right decisions and validate your intended design.

5. Building the Product

Selecting the right technologies for a hackathon requires tradeoffs. Using cutting edge technologies may provide you with bonus points. But then again, you may be more productive using a technology that you are more familiar with. This goes back again to point number 1. Try to understand what the judges really want from you. Make your decisions based on that.

If the hackathon is an on-site competition, make sure you have ready to use reusable code snippets. Reusable code snippets can be, for example:

Project starter templates
Authentication/email/notification modules
REST APIs
Front end boilerplates

6. Make your Deliverable Interactive

When showcasing your project, allow the audience/judges to interact with your developed software. Don’t just explain “what this does” or “what that does”. Allow the judge to immerse himself, do things by himself and experience it by himself. Being able to engage a judge with your product will truly give you the highest edge you can achieve in the competition.

7. Prepare an Awesome Presentation

Your presentation is equally as important as your product. Actually, maybe even more. If you are not able to beautifully highlight your product, no one is going to be interested. Even average products can leave get attention and praise through a proper presentation. So, allot time to prepare the presentation. I repeat, set time aside to prepare your presentation.

I hope you find the above tips helpful. Comment down below if you have other suggestions on how to win hackathons.