First Hackathon Experience and Some Tips for Beginners
“The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” ― Roy T. Bennett
I recently took part in the Brain Station 23 Hackathon at the Orbitax SUST SWE Technovent 2023, powered by DSi. Throughout the event, I went through a range of emotions, including excitement, anxiety, tiredness, inspiration, passion, and enlightenment. Without a doubt, this was a wonderful experience. I have never come across so many passionate, committed, and motivated individuals before in my life.
I became interested in hackathons during the 4th semester in university. I had always wanted to bring my own idea to a hackathon. On 23rd December 2022, I discovered that the Department of Software Engineering, SUST was going to host a national hackathon for Bangladeshi universities from January 26–28, 2023. I was so eager to participate in that hackathon. However, there were certain constraints and rules.
A team must submit an idea and respond to these questions.
What sort of problem are you trying to solve?
Why is solving that problem important, and how are you going to solve it?
Who will benefit from the solution and how?
What is your initial business model?
The team has to present the idea in a 3-minute video.
A preliminary round will be held, and the judges will choose the top 36 teams for the on-site hackathon competition based on their ideas and presentations.
The Hackathon will be continued for 36 hours.
The team has to build an application or website based on an idea onsite within 36 hours.
I was extremely excited about taking part in the hackathon competition. I was working on new with the idea of developing a rental app where people could rent their goods, such as clothing, furniture, electronics, etc. The concept of sustainability supports it. As I had an idea, I needed a team to take part in the hackathon because I couldn’t do it on my own. The following day, I asked a few of my good friends if they’d be willing to join me. Three of my friends genuinely responded to me and said they’d like to join me. Finally, I had both a team and an idea. I took charge of the team and submitted the idea. However, after submitting my idea I discovered that only 36 teams would be given the opportunity to participate in the final round out of nearly 90 teams that had submitted their ideas. I gave up on going to my first-ever hackathon.
7.05 pm, 11 January 2023
I was preparing to take my final examination. Suddenly, one of my teammates called me to inform me that we had made it to the final round of the Hackathon. I was unable to express how surprised and delighted I was at the time. It seemed as though one of my dreams was coming true. Immediately I stopped studying for my upcoming final because I was so excited. This hackathon meant everything to me because it was a dream of mine.
25 January 2023
I was extremely nervous and excited the day before the hackathon since I don’t have much experience. We must remain on-site for the entire 36-hour duration of the hackathon. Therefore, I prepared everything I would need for the competition, including my laptop, all necessary wires, a power bank, some papers, and extra clothing. Snacks and meals would be provided for 36 hours by the organizing committee.
26–28 January 2023 (Hackathon Days)
The hackathon would begin on January 26 at 9 p.m. and end on 28 January at 8 a.m. All teams had been instructed to report to the location at 7:00 p.m. to confirm registration, pick up their participation kits for the hackathon, along with some coffee tokens. I arrived at the location at 6:00 pm and waited for my teammates because I was so excited. We took all of the need kits at 8:00 p.m. I entered the room and could immediately feel the energy and excitement of everyone there. Then the judges gave us a general overview of the 36-hour period and some basic instructions. They divided the 36 hours into 4 checkpoints, and at the conclusion of each checkpoint, they evaluated each team. Additionally, they pointed out that each team must maintain their own git repository. Judges would check the repository to see what each team member contributed, and each team is required to make a presentation following each checkpoint.
Checkpoint - 1: (Duration: 10 hours)
System Design, Planning and Idea Assessment
Draw System Design Diagrams
Use Case, Swimlane, State Diagram
Application Architecture Diagram, Data Flow and Entity Relationship Diagram
Checkpoint – 2: (Duration: 18 hours)
Task implementation and Coding
Convert your idea into an app or web application.
Checkpoint – 3: (Duration: 6 hours)
Testing, Debugging and Improvements
Judges will provide some suggestion to implement.
Checkpoint – 4: (Duration: 2 hours)
Final Presentation Preparation
Slide, Project and Task Demonstration
Final Round: (Duration: 5 minute)
Top 9 team will be selected for final presentation.
Selected teams have to present their idea in front of all the judges.
We initially began drawing diagrams in accordance with the plan. We had some advantages in creating this diagram because we had already studied the Software Requirement Engineering course at university. Then we started converting our concept into code.
Our application was based on:
Application: Android App
Language: Java
Environment: Android Studio
Database: Firebase
On January 27, at 2:00 pm, we realized that we hadn’t slept in the previous 24 hours. The most interesting part is that we couldn’t even realize it as we were so motivated and focused. However, after a refreshing nap, we started working again on different portions of the project with a new spirit. After several hours of work, we kept pushing the codes into GitHub. At the same time, we were creating a presentation slide for the final presentation round.
The judges kept coming to check everyone’s tasks in succession of few hours, and we had to give presentations as well. After watching our presentation, they gave us suggestions about where we can improve more and what steps we should take to make the app industrially more effective.
On January 28, before the final few hours, we really gave up and decided to stop working after realizing that we could not complete the entire project in such a short time. It was challenging for us to compete against the more qualified. We became frustrated and eventually gave up. We realized that we couldn’t make the final top 9, we simply submitted the final presentation and made the decision to give up and leave.
All on a sudden at 11pm, we got a call about the confirmation that we got selected for top 9 teams. At that very moment, we felt a sudden burst of excitement and nervousness at the same time. However, we started preparing ourselves for the final presentation in new enthusiasm again. We eventually had to demonstrate our Android app, which focuses on online renting-based buying and selling of various products. As complete novices, we did our best to contribute. We left the place after exploring many disciplines of hackathon and with a mixed experience.
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better” Samuel Beckett
Some Tips for Beginner’s:
1. No matter how little experience you have, you should always make an effort to participate this competition. By watching others, you can acquire an extensive amount of knowledge.
2. Try to have some knowledge about GitHub, Figma for designing UI and MS PowerPoint for making presentation slides.
3. Pick a simple idea which you can implement in reality.
4. Before entering the competition on-site, do some research. The hard truth is that an entire app or website cannot be created during an onsite competition. Therefore, it would be wise to work beforehand or attempt to create something similar before trying to compete.
5. A key factor is presentation. Make your presentation as effective as you can. Give the role of presentation to the teammate who communicates well.
6. Hackathons are collaboration games. You can’t win it by yourself. As a result, divide your work properly, giving each task a deadline. Time is a crucial factor. Use it appropriate manner.
7. The presentation of business plans is the key component of the hackathon. The judges are looking for proposals or projects that benefit society and have a sound business model.
8. Interact with and learn stuff from other teams. Your network will grow, and your communication skills will improve.
9. Make sure you have everything you need, including a computer, software, any required equipment and backup internet connection.
“No matter if you win or lose, the most important thing in life is to enjoy what you have and what you are doing 😊.” — Lyndon B. Johnson
Conclusion
I’m very happy to be part of the hackathon and the team, we’ll continue on our developing journey. SWE SUST Technovent was one of best event I witness in my life.
Special thanks Promi Mojumder for always holding my back and motivate me for everything . And my fellow team members Ridwan Siam and Jisan Ahmed
