A hackathon is an organized event for people who are interested in computer programming. It allows them to meet, collaborate in groups, and compete in coming up with solutions and projects from scratch to address specific problems in the tech sector. The winners gain recognition and impressive prizes from big-name sponsor companies. If you have never attended a hackathon before, let alone heard of it, here are a list of reasons to attend:
- Hiring
Were you aware some hackathons enable you to land lucrative positions at the sponsor company? The hackathon platform acts as a means to test your skills in real-life while under pressure from other competing teams of developers, to single out the best.
- Networking
Being made to interact with your peers at such events will expand your circle of contacts. This, in turn, will make finding a warm introduction for job opportunities, meeting future prospective clients, or even launching your own company drastically simpler.
- Collaboration
If you find it difficult to motivate yourself to sit and program for hours to develop your own project and need a quick fix – a weekend’s worth of collaborating on it with other programming junkies will kick its development into high gear.
- Interests
Why not attend a hackathon to just meet people with similar interests as you, and go from there? Who knows who you could make a genuine connection with, that might last a lifetime.
- Competition
Attending a hackathon will give you a chance to compete against some of the brightest minds out there and test your aptitude and skill at applying what you know to the real world. This competitive arena may draw out the best in you, but also test your ability to work in a team, and help you see your strengths and areas of weakness in direct comparison to others like you.
- Problems
You get to work with problems and on projects vastly different from what you are used to working on day in and day out. In doing so, beat the grind by learning new skills, familiarizing yourself with new technologies, and meeting minds with different ways of thinking.
- Recognition
Enjoy the moment you are called onto the stage with your team for having won the hackathon thanks to your contribution. Present your project to the crowd and take in the accolades.
- Community
If engaging with the developer community online seems to be a challenge, try meeting developers through hackathons and exchange information and knowledge in your areas of expertise and passion.
- Learn
You will learn in 24 hours what would otherwise have taken you six months to learn. The amount of information, technical knowledge, and hacks that are passed on in hackathons are insane.
- Excitement
The excitement of struggling to figure out a solution to a problem alongside a team, the time limit involved in coming up with a brilliant solution almost overnight, the challenge of balancing dynamic work styles, personalities and interpersonal skills, as well as the knowledge that other great minds are working just as hard to win the coveted prizes and recognition – all come together to form a hackathon.
Indulge in new experiences. For isn’t life just a collection of experiences worth having? Don’t be just another dreamer hoping to do it all someday. Go get it – land that job, make those friends, learn that language – all because you have the drive to succeed!
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