Today i want to pin down my experience with hackathons. I have been recently part of two close to close hackathons and the experience was very new to me. I mean i have done coding, quite a bit of it. I have written long programs, sometimes even before pinning down what i will be doing, i have dived into code. But to think of something, finding out what all you need to learn to accomplish your mission and the final execution to create a product, all within 24 to 48 hours. Its exhilarating
to say the least. Almost a adrenaline rush. Pushes you to think beyond, makes you feel you are meant for something bigger, better and you have so much more to contribute.

I have never been of the fast kind when it comes to creating something. I like to think about what i want to do, learn what i need for it, then plan it and yes, executing it should be fast. The best part about hackathons is that you have so many people around you to tell you that you are wrong. Correct you, help you and improve you.

Here is mostly what i used to think before i wrote any piece of code.

1) Why? 

2) How? - Select one from multiple solutions available

3) Learn what you found out in step 2.

4) Create a modular framework for whatever you wanna write.

5) Code.

Here is what usually happens in Hackathons

1) Why?

2) How? - Select the first or the quickest solution available.

3) Very less time to learn, google for existing code snippets and learn while you copy.

4) The quickest way goes, no time to think over modularization.

5) Keep coding, which btw you started somewhere around point 2. 

Its not ironic if you see that the events are named hackathons. But the best part is ahead of us. After the hackathon is complete, everyone is a winner.  You are always proud if you did something meant to take long times in 1-2 days by whatever means possible. Whatever you learned in the 1-2 days can never be taken away from you. And you get to meet and bond with people so passionate about what they are doing, that’s always a nice experience. 

I think everyone who is techie and wants to have a larger than life experience, should go for a hackathon. 

“You have so much potential, only if you had a platform to reveal them” : Me