I’m serious when I’m making that statement. As a nerd myself (and very proudly so), I’d like to say that hackathons are not these super exclusive events for the “techy” types. Sure, some of them have their merit/skill requirements. However, for the majority of them, all you need is your interest in attending, and maybe a laptop.
The majority of them include a competition of some sort that happens over the course of the event. For example, a certain problem or challenge is given, and the task is to create a program or application responding to that problem. Teams are assembled, and people have a certain amount of time to design, test, and create their solution. Then, the projects are presented in front of a panel of judges, and a winner is declared.
Now that might turn off some people. Wouldn’t you need coding experience to even create a program? Yes, but who says you have to code?
If you’re not knowledgeable on the programming side of things, there’s still room for you to participate. If you’re the artsy type, creating eye-popping graphics for your team can be your main task. And, after all, presentation is the most important!
If you don’t believe yourself to be talented in anything, then speak up when an idea comes to mind. Communication is key, and you might just be the start of a great idea!
At the end of the day, whatever talent you might have (or don’t have) will be a valuable asset to your team. Hackathons are social events at its core, and they bring strangers together to make something great. And also, it isn’t the Olympics, everyone wins something, like t-shirts or other cool stuff.
I’m just saying, give it a try at least once!
