10 reasons to attend a hackathon

Are you a software developer? Did you ever think about attending a hackathon but you couldn’t make the final decision and actually register? Keep reading and let’s find out together why attending a hackathon brings a series of benefits for you and your career development.

1.Connect with other passionate developers and grow as a developer

This is the perfect context where you can meet other talented and motivated developers who like building things just as much as you do. Don’t miss the chance to connect with them and get the best out of your interactions. This way you can learn new things regarding the technologies you use or, why not, learn a new programming language. It’s all about expanding your knowledge and absorbing all the information you can get.

2.Make friends and have fun

A hackathon it is not all work and no play. A hackathon it’s also a social event. You meet new people with whom you have to work on creating something in a given amount of time. During this time-sentitive and intense experience, teams go through a brainstorming process to find the best idea to implement and then through the entire development stage. This makes for great bonding experiences, lots of fun and laughter, which can lead to a lifetime friendship and to future career opportunities.

3.Demonstrate your skills

You could be a talented developer, but you also need recognition. Taking part in a coding competition can give you the satisfaction you crave for. Showing people what you are truly capable of by creating amazing apps, games or websites can lead to winning the big prize and to get props from the community.

4.Push yourself

Hackathons are great opportunities to test your capacity of working under pressure, learning to solve problems fast and focus on what’s really important. Even if time is not really on your side, at the end  you will be amazed at what you’ve managed to build in such a short period of time. You will now be aware of your capacity and you can objectively rank your coding skills.

5.The chance to build a project you’ve had in your back pocket for a long time

You’ve always had a great idea on how to build the most impactful and useful application, but you never actually set a date to start working on it. A hackathon can help you to keep focused on the end goal and turn your ideas into a prototype.

6.You’ll build something by the end of the weekend

More often than not, you won’t be able to finish your prototype, but we can guarantee that in the end you will have something visual to demo, which is all that matters.

7.Meet potential employers at the sponsors’ booths

Attending a hackathon gives you the opportunity to interact with the companies that are supporting the event and find out more about their career opportunities.

8.Become part of the community

By participating at hackathons you become part of the developers’ community, which can bring you benefits in the future. Make new friends and connections with whom you can share your backgrounds and establish great friendships. Furthermore, the organizers will keep you in touch with the upcoming IT events which could be of interest to you and keep you informed regarding the latest trends in IT&C.

9.The prizes

If none of the reasons above are stimulating enough to convince you to sign up for a coding competition, we’re pretty sure that the perspective of winning a big prize will do it. And let’s not forget that, besides the big prize, sponsors are known to offer other prizes (awesome gadgets) to the teams that manage to get noticed and make a good impression with their demos.

10.You’ll have a great time

A hackathon is a challenge that comes with a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, the opportunity to network with other participants and make new friends, the chance to win not only a prize, but also a a experience of a lifetime.  

References :
http://www.kcitp.com/2014/07/01/hack-midwest-kansas-city-hackathon/
http://thecodingdiaries.com/why-you-should-go-to-a-hackathon/
https://www.sinch.com/opinion/10-reasons-attend-hackathon/