Hackathons are competitive coding events that allow participants to work on projects for educational, social, or commercial purposes in areas like software development, gaming, and more. They are important for gaining industry exposure, networking, and developing technical and soft skills, with opportunities for cash prizes. To succeed at a hackathon, teams need to form with a range of skills, identify a problem to solve, develop an innovative solution, and effectively pitch their idea to judges.

1. HACKATHONS
KEET SUGATHADASA
TRAINEE SOFTWARE ENGINEER
WSO2

2. HACK + MARATHON
• Coding Competitions
• Educational Competitions
• Social Purposes
• Company Startups
• Create Games
• Internal Hackathons

3. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
• Competitive Industry
• Out of the Box thinking
• Industry Exposure
• Networking
• Brand yourself
• Gain technical knowledge and Soft Skills
• Gifts and Cash Prizes

4. BASIC INTERVIEW QUESTION
What are the projects you
have done, outside of your
university curriculum?

5. HOW TO START HACKING

6. TEAM FORMATION
• Leadership Skills
• Good Technical Skills
• Presentation Skills
• Negotiation Skills
• Finance Knowledge
• Great Designers
• Domain Experts

7. FIND HACKATHONS
• Google Search
• Ask Seniors and Lecturers
• Follow Blogs and Websites
• Keep Track of Dates

9. IDENTIFY A PROBLEM
• A Burning Problem
• Validate the Problem
• How big is the Problem (Target Market)

10. PERFECT SOLUTION
• Technologies that will be used
• A solution you have never heard of
• A solution that will affect a mass market
• A product that will WOW!!!! The audience

11. IDENTIFY COMPETITORS
• Who are the competitors
• How is our product different from others
• How the competitors will react?

12. FIGURE OUT FINANCES
• Cost of the product
• Selling Price
• Marketing Plan
• Key Partners
• Potential Investors

13. THE JUDGE PANEL WILL
ASK YOU QUESTIONS

15. SUMMARY
• Find Hackathons
• Submit a proposal
• Go for the Hackathon
• Build the product
• Pitch the Idea
• Win the Competition