Hackathon 2016 at kelltontech.

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