No experience of Hackathons? Here are 7 reasons why you should participate in one
Hackathon today has become an event to showcase the most efficient programmers across the globe. It is typically a high intensity project that goes on for 24 hours to highlight quality, aptitude and the ability to do team work. One can think of it as a battle in a war. You have to consistently strategise, analyse and implement ideas till the final execution. Remember, battles win wars.
Now, you might be the average coder, happy with the 9 to 5 job, thinking to yourself that you prepared yourself to be a better coder than just testing data! Hackathon gives you a chance to prove that. For a newbie who has no experience at Hackathon, this might seem like a daunting task. After all, you know of people talking about it as if it’s some rocket science. It’s not! Here are a few reasons why a person without experience should participate in a Hackathon.
- Competition and Team Work: The fact remains that Hackathons are generally attended by college students who don’t have much knowledge of the real world yet. If you are someone who realises how things work in general, this is for you. Even if you have no background in programming, you can implement your skills in ideation, or the various other aspects like, project designing, sound editing, content etc. This helps you develop your interdisciplinary communication which is the need of the hour in any job these days.
- Knowledge: One major problems with the education system and a corporate job is the learning curve; it is almost always flat. You work on a new language, method, a new project for months. A Hackathon provides you a steep unparalleled learning experience in just 24 hours! Typically you’ll be able to see variety of approaches for a particular problem statement. This would definitely widen your horizon of thinking. Moreover, there are so many aspects of the project that you’re bound to pick a thing or two.
- Networking: You’d meet so many likeminded people which facilitates a great opportunity for networking. As the main objective is to learn and have fun, everyone around you would be easily accessible and helpful. You’d know about what different people are working on in their lives and can gauge the diverse possibility of your domain.
- Time-Line: You might have worked with deadlines before, but a Hackathon is nothing like you’d have experienced before. It’s ironically named to resemble a Marathon. Given, that you go on relentlessly for 24 hours, it is surely a sprint compared to typical project timelines. This gives you an opportunity to make sense of chaos and structure your thoughts in a jiffy.
- Price: Most Hackathons are free. The food is free and the organisers even arrange for accommodation. It is like adult camping which is fun and informative.
- Thrill: 24 hours. 1 project. Need we say anything else? The fact that you’d see something immense take shape in front of your eyes in a day is incredible beyond imagination. It would be rare that you’d become a part of something like this anywhere else.
- Price: The achievement of even participating in a Hackathon is of credible value. Winning the competition not only gives you the bragging rights, but also fits aptly in your Job application.
A Hackathon is not about Hackers and Coders like you see in the movies; it is for anyone who has the aptitude to solve problems… It is for the beast in you ready to be unleashed.