This document provides tips and guidelines for participating in a hackathon event. It explains that a hackathon is a timed event where participants work in teams to build working prototypes of software or digital products. The goals are to learn new skills, solve problems creatively, and have fun. Key advice includes scoping your project idea narrowly, planning your work in sprints or chunks, prioritizing functionality over polish, and taking breaks to stay productive throughout the event.

1. Hackathon @ Kelltontech
16th
September'16

2. What is Hackathon ?
● Time limited coding event. You've got X hours to
produce something that works, is impressive and
useful.
● You bring nothing but a machine and an idea,
Build team and hopefully leave with working
code (prototype of future product/feature).

3. Why would we do hackathon ?
● It's fun!
● It gives you an excuse to learn something new
and challenge yourself.
● Prove your NerdFu to the world. What can you
do in 12 or 24 hours?
● Meet with likeminded people, share ideas and
build something useful.

4. Where do i start?
● Find a small problem to solve, that you think you
can solve with what you know now + few new
things.
● Find a toolset to use – either one you know or
want to explore.
● Keep your scope limited!

5. Scoping
● Start by defining exaclty one feature to tackle.
● What do you need to write for that?
● How many new things are you going to have to
learn to make it happen?
● Lets try to keep it to three new things and one or
two features.

6. Hit the ground running
● Plunder as much open source as you can!
● Use open APIs to get you started quickly, but
only ones that automatically provision (you don't
have time to wait around).
● Do exaclty one thing at a time.

7. The fiddling
● Remember, I only gave myself X hours. I was
running out of time and eventually had to give up
getting everything I wanted.
● I moved a lot of things around and messed
around trying to get the popover stuff working.
● It's not pretty, but I solved the basic problem!

8. Things To Remember
● Working > Pretty
● You can always add pretty later if you have time.
● Rough is fine as long as it works (or looks like it
works).
● Take breaks.

9. Hammering it home
● One feature at a time.
● Don't start on feature 2 until #1 is finished and
working in a demo-able way!
● Keep you goals limited and well-defined. If you
have time, you can dd more, but at least get the
very basics working.

10. Plan Ahead
● Know what problem you want to solve.
● Have a basic plan for what toolset you're going
to use.
● Install pre-requisites (but don't start coding,
seriously)
● Get your API keys!

11. Do Mini-Sprints!
● Break up your 12 hours into 3 – 4 hour chunks,
with check-ins every hour.
● Everyone has deliverables that have to be done
in that timeframe.
● You can come up with this plan ahead of time... it
will save organizing time later.

12. Feature drop!
● If things slip, do't be afraid to drop them and re-
evaluate. Remember, the goal is to have
somethig working to show at the end!
● If you need to, jump in and help with a specific
feature to get it working.

13. Staying Sane
● Take breaks, get up and walk around.
● Sleep if you have to, but if you start sleeping,
you might not be able to stop.
● Pace youself- don't load up on caffine too early!
A slow steady supply will keep you up and alert.
● Don't eat too much. It'll make you sleepy.

14. ThanksSwapnil