The Ultimate Guide to Preparing for a 24-Hour Hackathon

 Arya College of Engineering & I.T. says The 24-hour hackathon is an awesome opportunity since the prototype can be made in one day; thus, this is a great opportunity for you to showcase your creativity, programming skills, ability to work as a team, and critical thinking skills, which you should prepare for.

Theme and Rules Understanding

At the very beginning of the hackathon, analyze the theme, problem statements, criteria for the judges, submission rules, and sometimes there may be some technologies and/or social/business problems that need to be used. The understanding of the rules will allow you to choose an idea appropriately and not to be disqualified.

Research the projects, challenges, and potential solutions that match the theme. Nevertheless, do not spend time finding the perfect idea since sometimes the simplest and most effective one might be even better.

Building an Appropriate Team

It is essential to make up the team consisting of people with different abilities. There should be at least one person who is engaged in frontend/backend development, design, research, presentation, or project management. It does not mean that everyone should know everything in these spheres. Everyone in the team should have his or her own responsibility.

State in advance what you can do and how much time you have, and find out who will have the right opinion in case of a disagreement. Since it is crucial to maintain effective communication to be able to cooperate, it is important to use the following software: GitHub, Google Drive, Slack, or whatever else.

Choose a Practical Idea

As an example, there is no need to create a whole educational site, and the best way to start is to create a prototype where you can create quizzes for a specific subject and It is important to focus on one issue and not make your idea too complicated; first, implement the required functions, and then the unnecessary ones.

Prep Your Tools

Ensure you have installed all the tools you will require before the event, and Such tools include a code editor, programming language, framework, database, design tools, and deployment tools. Register as soon as possible and ensure that all your credentials, API, and authentication work properly.

Ensure you have prepped all the reusable templates, documentation, and sample code, and also ensure your laptop is charged, you have headphones, a long extension cord, a water bottle, notebooks, and all necessary IDs and backups. Store your files in the cloud or in GitHub.

Plan 24 Hours

The first couple of hours should be devoted to idea choice, feature listing, task assignment, and user flow design. Use the next few hours to build core functionalities and ensure that you allocate enough time for testing, debugging, deployment, and presentation preparation.

Do not devote the last hour to presentation making. Though your project might perform efficiently, insufficient explanation about your product can affect your grades adversely. It is crucial for you to prepare a brief demo of your problem, the solution to the problem, and what the effect of your product has been.

Look After Yourself

Avoid stressing yourself through the entire duration of the hackathon. You need to take care of your needs, such as breaks, eating, drinking water, and sleeping when necessary, since tired people make mistakes and cannot interact properly. You should be optimistic and motivate your fellow teammates without fearing failure.