The concept of hackathons is well-established across the globe and has proven to be very popular among students, graduates, professionals, and other tech enthusiasts for a number of reasons.
Hackathons are two or more day-long events, during which people who are passionate about technology work on hardware or software-related challenges. Those challenges are often provided by sponsor companies or organizations, who hope to profit from transforming promising prototypes into finalized products, while at the same time recruiting talents for IT-related jobs.
- Learning Opportunity. You can use this time to learn/test a new skill or framework in a setting that keeps you focused and motivated. During the events, you will hear about new advancements in the field, and realize how this will help you in your career. Participate in hackathons for learning and not for competing or just for acquiring certificates.
- Spark in Innovation. When hackathon events are held, many people come from different fields/disciplines/areas of interest, and hence because of such diversity of participants many new and different ideas are born to solve a particular problem. Every single participant adds their input to solve the problem in a very effective manner. Hackathons can thus solve almost all problems be it regarding any software solutions or everyday workflow issues or even the formation of new products.
- Adopting disruptive technologies. Suppose there's a growth of a new cloud platform service (let's name it 'X') in the market. Now, the main objective of the X would be definitely to make many people and companies adopt its service. So the X will run an X service hackathon where participants particularly developers are required to build applications using the X platform. So, X runs its first hackathon event in India where thousands of developers participate in it. Now imagine what will be the outcome when the same hackathon is held in various countries across the globe. The product will certainly be adopted quickly. This will help individuals to learn the latest technologies by participating in the events.
- Builds Confidence. Expect to pitch your own idea for a project to complete strangers (who can be experts or non-experts) or explain why you are a good candidate for someone else’s team. Present your work in front of tens or hundreds of people. It will be intimidating but exciting, particularly if you are shy or introvert. Hackathons are an obvious career boost. They will make you more aware of your own capabilities and thus also bolster your confidence, something that is highly desirable for students who tend to undervalue their own skills or achievements more than men.
- Smart Management and Team Dynamics. Hackathons are great lessons in terms of execution and efficiency. There is no room for perfectionism - you need to judge where to invest time, how long to try, and when to switch to a new solution. You will be working under pressure, taking lead on some tasks, sharing your know-how, and dealing with different personalities. Hackathon can put you in a situation where you are required to work with new people for many continuous hours. You create a strong bond when everyone is working toward the same goal. You get to learn new things from others' strengths, you learn what working with a team is like, your communication skills will be developed, and most importantly hackathon will give you a totally new and different experience.
- Professional Networking. During these few days, you will have endless opportunities to get to know people on a professional level, be it during team-matching sessions, food breaks, or going for coffee together. And it could start already beforehand if a hackathon offers closed groups/messaging platforms to connect.
- Career Planning. Working on an exciting project may convince you to do better planning. It gives you a great space to understand yourself and your future. Besides learning while networking during or after the hackathon, you can approach the company representatives and learn about your potential workplace first-hand. Just like at a job fair, but in a much more natural setting, they are recruiting.
- Builds Entrepreneurship Skills. You can learn business ideas or real-world problems. Sometimes your idea/solution might be so amazing it could get bought, or you and your teammate(s) might resonate so well that you will continue working together beyond the hackathon (and maybe even form your own startup).
- Lessons from Mentors. You might have an internal mentor or external mentor, who might be experts in various domains, who will be available at the event to interact with the participants as they work on their projects. Mentors can help with technical issues or answer any career-specific questions you might have. Don’t forget to ask them about their companies and jobs!
- Awards, Rewards, Prizes, Certificates & Recognition. Always consider awards, rewards, prizes, certificates & recognition at the bottom of your requirement. There is no point in having a focus on awards if your focus is not about “continuous learning”. Winning and losing is part of the game but focus only on learning and the process, results will take care of themselves.
Conclusion: Organizations provide internships to selected participants (even if they are not the winners). Some companies organize hackathons as a candidate selection process, through mentor sessions, different management team heads can talk to participants directly and they may know the strength or the weakness of participants, so they can tell if that participant is a good fit for their team. Also, in some cases, participants find like-minded persons and launch a startup. So, make use of the opportunities to participate in the hackathons for learning, networking, growing, and career planning.
