Ideas start with you
In this article I will tell you how to prepare for a hackathon, and how participation in it will help you in life!
If, living in a century of progress and technology, you still haven’t learned what this “scary” word means, let us right now once and for all eliminate this gap from your head.
Hackathon is a marathon during which specialists from different areas (programmers, designers, managers, analysts, productologists, economists, etc.) work together to solve a problem (case study). Some hackathons are designed for educational or social purposes, but more often the task of the hackathon is to create full-fledged software. Usually, hackathons last 48 hours and are organized by a group of sponsors who are interested in getting a dozen commercial and technical ideas in a certain business direction. For me, hackathon is a good opportunity to get together with friends and work on creating a project.
Hackathon VKontakte 2017
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Like any other event, participation in the hackathon has its pros and cons. We will understand everything in order.
Think carefully about whether it is worth it. After all, most likely, for the sake of participation in the hackathon, you will have to sacrifice your weekends (as hackathons usually take place at the weekend) and sleep, work at such events boils 24 to 7!
Such forums scare away, because even scientifically proven that long-term mental work takes a lot more power than physical. But, personally, for a couple of days I am ready to sacrifice this for the sake of an incredible competitive drive, team spirit, inspiration and emotions that overwhelm and charge you all along the “path of the hackathon”.
Do not forget that this is a great opportunity to express yourself and show others what you are capable of, test your knowledge and gain new experience. Participation in the hackathon is a huge boost in knowledge that you are unlikely to gain independently over the weekend. And also this is a large number of new friends who in the future may become your sponsors and investors. And, of course, a sea of ​​food and merchandise.
Registration for Breakpoint 2018 hackathon - 1 place, case from MegaFon
The first thing you understand when visiting a hackathon is: teamwork is paramount! Therefore, I recommend to gather like-minded people in advance and agree on roles. It is best to form the “backbone” of 4 people. If there are more people, it may be difficult to separate tasks. You can find a team on the hackathon itself, however, it will become for you a “cat in a bag”.
Gathering a team should start with yourself. I advise all beginners to write out their skills and competencies on a piece of paper. For example, I know Photoshop, I analyze well, I develop for iOS, etc. Even the most banal things, like “brewing 50 sorts of tea”, can be useful to you (but this is not certain).
The leader of the team (CEO project) plays a big role. He needs to develop a strategy and bring it to the team members. Collect all the accumulated material into a single unit and speak on the protection of the project, the presentation of which should be concise, but at the same time structured, containing theses, conclusions and infographics.
Teamwork is more productive if it consists of a CEO project, two designers (one of whom is responsible for the presentation), Frontend and Backend masters.
Teamwork comes first!
Fear is the main problem of many guys. Do not be afraid that you will not be able to assemble a team or formulate thoughts when submitting a project. In this world, nothing is impossible! But do not overestimate your strength: work through every little thing, and most importantly, learn to speak beautifully. Before my eyes, teams were pouring in with a ready-made solution of the problem and a prototype, whose representatives simply could not answer the questions. Answers to questions is an art!
The workflow at Mendeleev Hackathon - 2nd place, a case from the MUCTR them. DI. Mendeleev
“Idea-design-product” - the case on the hackathon should be implemented in this sequence!
Strangely enough, but the majority of participants I encountered simply did not understand the essence of the task and did not represent the algorithm for solving the problem or its final result. Because of these errors, teams can not assemble a project into a finished product! The main condition that a hackathon participant must follow is to do for people. Only in this way you will get something really high quality.
Preparation for the hackathon should start from the moment when you learned about it! Be sure to study the hackathon theme and immediately sketch out ideas that you can try to implement during the event. The main thing is not to forget to charge the laptop and phone. Also, the HDMI cable and Thunderbolt 3 (for your MacBook) will not be superfluous.
Do not forget that the time on the hackathon plays against you. Personally, I always wanted to do more and better. New ideas that needed to be integrated into the project flew constantly.
Idea generation is 30% of the time. To make the final product successful, it is important to monitor startups and observe how the world lives. You must travel and not get hung up on one thing, be open and offer yourself to society!
From concept through forms to content!
At the end of any hackathon, you need to be ready to voice the goals and objectives of the project being implemented, to describe the target audience and market prospects, as well as to demonstrate the working MVP or source code.
Often, participants do not always have time to do everything 100% - this is normal! Try not to go into the implementation if you are not sure that you will have time to finish everything by the end. The main thing is the concept of the idea! Do not repeat ready-made solutions, try to invent something new and take part in the hackathon as a starting point for creativity! Before defending a project, each team member must answer the question “Why?” For himself, he makes this product and what awaits him (the product) further!
After the end of the hackathon for 2-3 weeks, the idea is incubated. The success of the prototype developed during the hackathon largely depends on the follow-up activities: organizing a startup, attracting investments, filling out patent applications, but that's another story ...
Hackathon is a weird word or a crazy networking?
If, living in a century of progress and technology, you still haven’t learned what this “scary” word means, let us right now once and for all eliminate this gap from your head.
Hackathon is a marathon during which specialists from different areas (programmers, designers, managers, analysts, productologists, economists, etc.) work together to solve a problem (case study). Some hackathons are designed for educational or social purposes, but more often the task of the hackathon is to create full-fledged software. Usually, hackathons last 48 hours and are organized by a group of sponsors who are interested in getting a dozen commercial and technical ideas in a certain business direction. For me, hackathon is a good opportunity to get together with friends and work on creating a project.
Hackathon VKontakte 2017
')
Two negatives make an affirmative!
Like any other event, participation in the hackathon has its pros and cons. We will understand everything in order.
Think carefully about whether it is worth it. After all, most likely, for the sake of participation in the hackathon, you will have to sacrifice your weekends (as hackathons usually take place at the weekend) and sleep, work at such events boils 24 to 7!
Such forums scare away, because even scientifically proven that long-term mental work takes a lot more power than physical. But, personally, for a couple of days I am ready to sacrifice this for the sake of an incredible competitive drive, team spirit, inspiration and emotions that overwhelm and charge you all along the “path of the hackathon”.
Do not forget that this is a great opportunity to express yourself and show others what you are capable of, test your knowledge and gain new experience. Participation in the hackathon is a huge boost in knowledge that you are unlikely to gain independently over the weekend. And also this is a large number of new friends who in the future may become your sponsors and investors. And, of course, a sea of ​​food and merchandise.
Registration for Breakpoint 2018 hackathon - 1 place, case from MegaFon
Success begins with you!
The first thing you understand when visiting a hackathon is: teamwork is paramount! Therefore, I recommend to gather like-minded people in advance and agree on roles. It is best to form the “backbone” of 4 people. If there are more people, it may be difficult to separate tasks. You can find a team on the hackathon itself, however, it will become for you a “cat in a bag”.
Gathering a team should start with yourself. I advise all beginners to write out their skills and competencies on a piece of paper. For example, I know Photoshop, I analyze well, I develop for iOS, etc. Even the most banal things, like “brewing 50 sorts of tea”, can be useful to you (but this is not certain).
The leader of the team (CEO project) plays a big role. He needs to develop a strategy and bring it to the team members. Collect all the accumulated material into a single unit and speak on the protection of the project, the presentation of which should be concise, but at the same time structured, containing theses, conclusions and infographics.
Teamwork is more productive if it consists of a CEO project, two designers (one of whom is responsible for the presentation), Frontend and Backend masters.
Teamwork comes first!
Fear has big eyes!
Fear is the main problem of many guys. Do not be afraid that you will not be able to assemble a team or formulate thoughts when submitting a project. In this world, nothing is impossible! But do not overestimate your strength: work through every little thing, and most importantly, learn to speak beautifully. Before my eyes, teams were pouring in with a ready-made solution of the problem and a prototype, whose representatives simply could not answer the questions. Answers to questions is an art!
The workflow at Mendeleev Hackathon - 2nd place, a case from the MUCTR them. DI. Mendeleev
From concept through forms to content!
“Idea-design-product” - the case on the hackathon should be implemented in this sequence!
Strangely enough, but the majority of participants I encountered simply did not understand the essence of the task and did not represent the algorithm for solving the problem or its final result. Because of these errors, teams can not assemble a project into a finished product! The main condition that a hackathon participant must follow is to do for people. Only in this way you will get something really high quality.
Preparation for the hackathon should start from the moment when you learned about it! Be sure to study the hackathon theme and immediately sketch out ideas that you can try to implement during the event. The main thing is not to forget to charge the laptop and phone. Also, the HDMI cable and Thunderbolt 3 (for your MacBook) will not be superfluous.
Do not forget that the time on the hackathon plays against you. Personally, I always wanted to do more and better. New ideas that needed to be integrated into the project flew constantly.
Idea generation is 30% of the time. To make the final product successful, it is important to monitor startups and observe how the world lives. You must travel and not get hung up on one thing, be open and offer yourself to society!
From concept through forms to content!
Raw product is not a problem!
At the end of any hackathon, you need to be ready to voice the goals and objectives of the project being implemented, to describe the target audience and market prospects, as well as to demonstrate the working MVP or source code.
Often, participants do not always have time to do everything 100% - this is normal! Try not to go into the implementation if you are not sure that you will have time to finish everything by the end. The main thing is the concept of the idea! Do not repeat ready-made solutions, try to invent something new and take part in the hackathon as a starting point for creativity! Before defending a project, each team member must answer the question “Why?” For himself, he makes this product and what awaits him (the product) further!
After the end of the hackathon for 2-3 weeks, the idea is incubated. The success of the prototype developed during the hackathon largely depends on the follow-up activities: organizing a startup, attracting investments, filling out patent applications, but that's another story ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/354178/
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