What hackathons taught me about building side projects
It was August 2020, when one of my friends, Dijo called me to team up with him for an ideathon. I had no idea what was this competition but it was covid lockdown, so I had plenty of free time. So we registered as a team. The following days were filled with excitement of finding and building an idea into reality. We ended up winning that ideathon. We went on to win some hackathons, designathons and much more, both individually and collectively as a team. Win or lose, each hackathon taught me a bit more about product building.
Start with the problem
The best way to come up with an idea for a project is to look for problems you are already facing. We built Sessions solely because we were facing a major problem of managing google chrome tabs while studying for exams. If you look around, you will find problems that you are facing and can build a product around it.
Be user first
Always keep user in your mind before implementing each feature. What will the user do? What is goal here? Is this feature even needed? These are some good questions to ask yourself while you’re building your project.
Optimise for learning without compromising quality
While I was participating in my first hackathon, I didn’t care about winning, or even building a cool project. All I cared was to learn even if I failed. This can lead to compromising product quality. You can learn a lot while building a cool product, be it as a side project or as a serious product.
Ship fast
Hackathons are fast paced and time restricted. It’s important to ideate fast and execute faster. In real world also, this can lead to better customer feedback and refined products. Focusing on implementing the core functionality is the key to building a product faster. We built Easy-Fill in a few hours by only focusing on the core functionality and picking a bare minimum stack, which ended being one of the top 5 projects. Details can come later. Avoid perfectionism and ship faster.
Importance of design
Good design is critical. Even if your product is technically sound, poor design can lead to a frustrating user experience. Tools like tailwindcss and shadcn makes it easier to create good user interfaces.
Steal like an artist
Most of the ideas are not original. But that does not mean completely copying someone else’s work online. Trying to combine two products or fixing already existing issues of a product, and building a better version, will enhance your creativity. ( You can read more about this idea in this book)
Collaboration and Teamwork
Working in a team is integral to hackathons and product building. It is important to communicate, delegate tasks, and incorporate everyone’s strengths into the project. This not only speeds up the process, but also generates diverse ideas and perspectives.
Enjoying the process
The journey of creating a product is as important as the end result. Embrace the challenges, learn from failures, and celebrate small victories. This will keep you motivated and make the process enjoyable.
Overall, hackathons are a great way to hone your skills, learn collaboration and time management. If done right, hackathons can cultivate product thinking.