021: Rock Your First Hackathon

What you'll learn

  • What are hackathons, really?
  • Breaking the stereotypes; why web developers are actually social creatures.
  • Preparing for a hackathon and why it has nothing to do with actual programming.
  • Why sometimes it is better to learn on the fly, pushed outside your comfort zone.
  • Reasons why women’s hackathons are preferable for woman developers right now.
  • How to leave a hackathon as an overall better developer.
  • The importance of setting goals before attending a hackathon.
  • Learning to network and forgetting about the imposter syndrome.
  • Identify your personal strengths before attending a hackathon.
  • Why uncertainty of the outcome can prevent you from doing something fun.
  • How reaching out to others can better help you prepare for your first hackathon.

Hackathons can be a scary prospect for new web developers—but they don’t have to be. Nicole tells the story of her first hackathon (which her team won!), and debunks a lot of the myths surrounding hackathons. She highlights women’s hackathons, and why they’re so important to helping women gain confidence in their skills. Finally, she sends listeners off with actionable advice to bring to their first or hackathon.

Today we are going to be switching it up a little bit and talking about hackathons. A lot of folks probably imagine hackathons to be some competitive, brutal weekend of elite hacking. But generally speaking, more hackathons are aimed at helping people who are new to the industry to gain confidence. We do this by brainstorming solutions and coding collaboratively.

During this episode I am going to share my experience with my first hackathon as part of the team of women at the We Code: Women’s Hackathon back in 2015. I am going to extract what I learned from the process that has helped me in my career, even two years later. I will also give you some tips for how you can do a bit of preparation for your first hackathon so that you are not completely unprepared.

Spoiler alert; like a lot of things that I tend to talk about on the podcast, it has nothing to do with actual programming!

Will you be participating in an upcoming hackathon? I’d love to hear from you:

On Twitter as @lavie_encode

On the La Vie en Code Facebook page

Or, via my Contact page

What you'll learn

  • What are hackathons, really?
  • Breaking the stereotypes; why web developers are actually social creatures.
  • Preparing for a hackathon and why it has nothing to do with actual programming.
  • Why sometimes it is better to learn on the fly, pushed outside your comfort zone.
  • Reasons why women’s hackathons are preferable for woman developers right now.
  • How to leave a hackathon as an overall better developer.
  • The importance of setting goals before attending a hackathon.
  • Learning to network and forgetting about the imposter syndrome.
  • Identify your personal strengths before attending a hackathon.
  • Why uncertainty of the outcome can prevent you from doing something fun.
  • How reaching out to others can better help you prepare for your first hackathon.

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