Index - Pre-Hackathon - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Post-Hackathon

I wrote about my entire hackathon experience with daily blog posts. Each post about a specific day was written before about midnight the day it happened, an the post-hackathon recap was posted 2 days after it happened.

Here’s an index to help you check the contents of each post in case you were more interested in specific aspects.

(Hint: Pre-Hackathon thru day 2 were about the process, day 3 was about the project, and post-hackathon was about lessons learned overall.)

My Original Posts

Pre-Hackathon - Written before I attended the hackathon, contains first thoughts when I had next to no pre-conceptions about what would happen.

  • Expectations
  • What I hope to do
  • Why I want to do this

Hackathon Day 1 - This day didn’t consist of any coding, rather a first look at the sponsors and a first look at the other participants.

  • Criteria for choosing projects
  • Other notes (regarding project ideas generated and how people were divided in skill set)

Hackathon Day 2 - The day where the most activity happened at the hackathon and people ‘hacked’ the most. I briefly went over some ideas that were brought up again in the post-hackathon recap here.

  • Lessons in handling hackathons
  • Lessons in personal skill
  • Lessons in the industry

Hackathon Day 3 - This post addresses our project idea itself, what work we did (most of our team work was on the last day), and my reflections on why I think we ended up placing 1st in a category.

  • Settling on an idea
  • Last minute scrambles (yay, technical details)
  • Presenting the projects
  • Post-win reflections
  • Project links

Post-Hackathon - Written after I attended the hackathon and had time to process the ‘big ideas’ that I learned.

  • Personal background
  • Hackathons are win-win
  • Play with cool toys and learn new things
  • Networking and social atmosphere
  • Ideas win
  • Stick through to the end
  • A community event

Other Sources

ZBRELLA’s article summarizes the other projects.

I’ve been told that video content will be available soon, too.

Special Thanks

Nick and Kara - For working with me and making our mutual first hackathon an awesomely seized opportunity.

The Stamford Innovation Center - For hosting the hackathon and providing an awesome and cool venue.

Flowthings.io - For providing excellent support for us so we could finish our project.

Hugh Seaton and his team - For organizing the hackathon and allowing everything to run smoothly.

Damon Hernandez - For hosting the student meet-up and letting everyone play with the VR equipment he brought.