How often do you not sleep for 48 hours? Wash down pizza with a cocktail of coffee with energy drinks? Look at the monitor without interruption and tap the keys with trembling fingers? This is often what hackathon participants look like. Of course, a two-day online hackathon, and even in a βboostedβ state, is hard. Therefore, we have prepared for you some tips that will help you to do coding and brainstorming more effectively within 48 hours. You will be able to check these tips in practice very soon - until May 12, registration for the contest is underway. , which will be held in the summer in 40 cities of Russia in the format of hackathons.
Avoid unrealistic goals
Your main opponent is not other participants, but time. The hackathon has a clear time frame, so don't waste precious hours working through unnecessary project details. In addition, excessive stress will interfere with clarity of thought. A minimum viable product that works flawlessly can already secure a winning position at a hackathon.
Choose your team wisely
Any, even the most excellent idea, can be overwhelmed if there are people in your team who do not understand / do not share your vision or approaches. For the duration of the hackathon, the team should become (no matter how trite it may sound) a single mechanism.
Who to invite to the hackathon team? All participants must be passionate about coding, otherwise how to survive 48 hours in a closed space? Let the composition be varied, do not be afraid to "dilute" your group of technical specialists with a designer or even a marketer - while you are inspired to code, they will help you to correctly place accents and "highlight" the merits of the product to defend before the jury. All team members must be able to work under time pressure and stress, because the breakdown of one of you can derail the entire project - just miss the deadline.
Get inspired by the work of your colleagues
Analyze the experience of colleagues: remember your last hackathon, think about which of the participants you remember and why (other people's mistakes are also useful). What tactics did they use? How did you allocate time and tasks? Their experience, successes and failures will help you plan your action.
Use a version control tool
Imagine: you have been in a state of flow for a long time, working on a prototype, then you suddenly discover a bug and cannot understand how many minutes or hours ago and where exactly you made a mistake. Obviously, you donβt have time to βstart overβ: in the worst case, you simply wonβt have time to go through all the stages again, and even if you do, you can only show the jury something very raw. To avoid this situation, it is logical to use a version control system such as git.
Use existing libraries and frameworks
Don't reinvent the wheel! No need to spend extra time writing functions that can be implemented using libraries and frameworks. Instead, focus on the features that make your product special.
Use Rapid Deployment Solutions
The main idea of ββa hackathon is to create a working prototype for your idea. Don't spend too much time deploying the application. Find out in advance how you can quickly deploy it in the cloud, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. For deployment and hosting, you can use PaaS solutions such as Heroku, Openshift, or IBM Bluemix. You can be a great sysadmin, but as part of a hackathon, itβs best to keep things as simple as possible for yourself so that the entire team can focus on coding, deployment, and testing.
Select a person for the presentation in advance
The presentation is very important! It doesn't matter how good your prototype is if you can't represent it correctly. And vice versa - a well-thought-out presentation can save a raw idea (and we are not only talking about slides now). Make sure you don't forget all the important aspects: what problem your concept solves, where it should be applied, and how it differs from existing solutions. Decide in advance how much time you will need to prepare the presentation and who will be the face of your project. Choose the most experienced team member who has public speaking experience. Nobody canceled charisma.
Find out the nominations and topic in advance
Hackathons are often hosted by companies from a particular industry. Find out if your hackathon partner companies have their own nominations, for example, for using their services in your work.
Don't neglect the theme of the hackathon! Think ahead and sketch out a list of ideas that can be implemented in the competition.
Think about what your team needs to work comfortably?
Prepare in advance all the technical equipment for your team: laptops, extension cords, cables, and more. It's not just the technique that's important: make architecture blueprints, pick up libraries and other tools that you might need. You will have to work with your head, take care of your brain too: dark chocolate, nuts, and fruits contribute to an intense thought process. Energy drinks help someone, but just donβt mix them with coffee, it wonβt benefit your health.
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Lastly, don't be afraid and don't doubt. Tune in to the working wave and achieve results. Hackathons are not only about competition, but also about networking and inspiration. The main thing is to enjoy what is happening around. After all, victory is not the only thing you can take with you.
Source: habr.com