# 🎉 Winning my very first Hackathon 🎉

I recently participated in my very first hackathon (Online) **Hack You** hosted by **MLH season** and Organised by **Merge Intern**. And Although it was the first time for every team member(4 members including me) we ended up winning 2nd prize overall.
So In this blog, I am going to tell all the steps that my team took to grab the position in the top 3. Let's jump into it! :point_down:

_We participated in the online hackathon. All the below views are with context to it_

## 📌 Finding a good hackathon:
- This is an initial step for getting to the environment. Now, what do I mean by that? Many hackathons are topic-centric like **FinHack** (which focuses on financial hackathons) etc. So if you are not familiar with all the techs used in fintech I won't suggest topic-centric hackathons.

- Instead of that try to find the hackathon which accepts the ideas from diverse tech stack as well eg: **AR/VR/MR**, **AI/ML**, **BlockChain**, **Open Innovation**, etc. 
- Also, keep note of the side prizes like for eg: **Best use of Linode** or **Best domain name registered** or **Best octocat drawing** which run parallel to the main theme of the hackathon. 
- At least try to complete 1 challenge from this category as well.

## 📌 Finding a team:
- Finding a team is an important point. 
- You would like to have an open-minded and active team (Even if they have less knowledge) instead of having all the knowledgeable and inactive team. 
- You can easily find the team members via social media, communities, developer groups, etc. 
- While selecting a team make sure every team member is good at some of the other techs and will be able to devote the maximum time throughout the hackathon.

## 📌 Arranging a team meeting:
- Actually, this enhances the conversation between the team members and makes everyone feel like good friends of each other. 
- Try to introduce yourself to other team members and get to know about their background, knowledge, experience, etc. 
- The meet need not be too long it can be as short as 15 mins or 30 mins.

## 📌 Ideas:
- The hackathon portal shows all the accepted techs in advance to their portals so you can start brainstorming with your team members and start gathering the resources you might require. 
- Find an idea that helps the community out there. 
- Do something that spreads awareness or helps people instead of building a money-making or profit-making model. 
- Always think of an idea that can actually create a difference in society and can actually help the people out there.
- Take your time to finalize the ideas. Giving the time turns out with a lot of creative ideas.

## 📌 Team Work:
- After the hackathon starts officially you can get much information and doubts cleared in the opening ceremony of the event. 
- Remember every team member of yours has some unique qualities and try to use them all to their fullest and distribute the work accordingly. 
- If someone doesn't know something you are good at teaching them. This will increase your bonding and will boost their energy. 
- Always be in consistent touch with each other and take constant follow backs of the work they are doing.

## 📌 Build:
- Building the project comes with lots of difficulties. So it is always useful to distribute the work and maintain the isolation of the tasks. 
- Create milestones for your role and share those milestones will all of your team members. This helps in keeping the track of all the sections of the project. 
- Don't forget to document the project side by side eg: Maintaining a Readme with all the info, screenshots, demo video, etc. this surely gives an extra edge to your project while they get reviewed by the judges' panel.

## 📌 Pitch:
Pitching has two phases:
### 🚩 Submission : 
- Always submit a brief extract of the project. Describe the smallest detail while submitting.
- Create a prototyping video as well. (PPT with a voice-over)
- Add Screenshots and links to the deployed version, Prototype video, source code, etc.

### 🚩 Video Pitching :
This usually happens on zoom. 
- Try wrapping up the ppt presentation in ~1 min as they give restricted time to present.
- Give more time to present on the live deployed version or the project (Your work comes over the ppts)
- In 10 min divide the time wisely. 
  - 1 min for ppt presentation
  - 3 min for a live demo
  - 6 min for Q & A
More time to q&a because this creates the final impression on the judges.
- Stick to the point and cause of the project while presenting and in q & a.

## 📌 Results:
Wait for the results and enjoy your efforts. Winning or losing doesn't matter at all. If you made friends, connections, awesome projects, had fun then you have already won! :tada:
 
## 📌 Personal Tips
- Don't start the project before starting the hackathon. This will raise the red flag while reviewing and sometimes they may disqualify
- Try to maintain frequent commits on the project repo instead of the entire project in a single commit. Otherwise, this may look copied.
- Try to enjoy the process and do for gaining experience instead of the prizes
- Always keep buffer time and milestones. This helps reduce the stress and change the plannings if needed.
- Keep healthy conversations with the team members.
- Help each other in completing their tasks as well.
- Seek help from the mentors and volunteers if needed. Trust me they are super helpful.

## ❤️ Thank you for reading ❤️

#### **May you win lots of hackathons**

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*Above was my views entirely I would like to hear your view in the comments below*