Hey all,
Last weekend I attended HSHacks, my first ever hackathon.
A hackathon is an interesting invention that is kind of hard to explain. It is basically and event where many "hackers" gather together and "hack" some idea that they have. A "hack" can include anything from a hardware project to a mobile application. Some hackathons have themes, where competitors need to create a product that solves a specific problem or falls into a specific category etc. Hackathons usually take place over a weekend and have many fun workshops and events that you can go to to learn new things and use new products. HSHacks was a 24 hour event and was truly the best first time experience I could have asked for.
I really enjoyed HSHacks for a variety of reasons, but I truly loved the atmosphere. I loved how excited and lively everyone was. Though, I usually program in quiet spaces I found coding in such a noisy and crowded place quite therapeutic. Unfortunately, after 2 am a dance party ensued in my work area and I had to uproot my setup in search of quieter terrain. There were a few individuals who were not very supportive of the other hackers and were a bit aggressive for my taste, but at the end of the day everyone's hacks were great and I learned so much. I got to test out an oculus and meet many people who have started businesses like myself.
I programmed an iOS app, called WingIt, that analyzes the strokes you drew on the screen while drawing and recognizes the curves and lines, providing feedback as you draw. The link to my challengepost submission is here. I wrote the entire app in swift and ran into many bugs, but as always I worked through them. For me, if a bug gives me a lot of grief I just get more and more determined to fix it. So when it finally works I am ecstatic.
A few of my friends from school where there and we were all working on our own projects and helping each other. The energy and passion around me was infectious and when I returned home I was fired up to keep going.
The challenge for me during Hackathons is mental endurance. Just like running a marathon, one must train diligently to hack for such extended amounts of time with so little sleep. Especially at the collegiate level, where hackathons can extend for 36 hours. By the time I reach the collegiate level I want to be able to create involved hacks without getting too tired or mentally exhausted.
I can't wait to go to more of these events and create more involved hacks. I am going to the blueprint hackathon at MIT this weekend, I will keep you posted on my experience :)
Bye for now,
Ashwini
Last weekend I attended HSHacks, my first ever hackathon.
A hackathon is an interesting invention that is kind of hard to explain. It is basically and event where many "hackers" gather together and "hack" some idea that they have. A "hack" can include anything from a hardware project to a mobile application. Some hackathons have themes, where competitors need to create a product that solves a specific problem or falls into a specific category etc. Hackathons usually take place over a weekend and have many fun workshops and events that you can go to to learn new things and use new products. HSHacks was a 24 hour event and was truly the best first time experience I could have asked for.
I really enjoyed HSHacks for a variety of reasons, but I truly loved the atmosphere. I loved how excited and lively everyone was. Though, I usually program in quiet spaces I found coding in such a noisy and crowded place quite therapeutic. Unfortunately, after 2 am a dance party ensued in my work area and I had to uproot my setup in search of quieter terrain. There were a few individuals who were not very supportive of the other hackers and were a bit aggressive for my taste, but at the end of the day everyone's hacks were great and I learned so much. I got to test out an oculus and meet many people who have started businesses like myself.
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| Taking selfies with the crowd and t-shirt cannon antics during the opening ceremony. |
I programmed an iOS app, called WingIt, that analyzes the strokes you drew on the screen while drawing and recognizes the curves and lines, providing feedback as you draw. The link to my challengepost submission is here. I wrote the entire app in swift and ran into many bugs, but as always I worked through them. For me, if a bug gives me a lot of grief I just get more and more determined to fix it. So when it finally works I am ecstatic.
 |
| Celebrating the little victories that made up the weekend. |
A few of my friends from school where there and we were all working on our own projects and helping each other. The energy and passion around me was infectious and when I returned home I was fired up to keep going.
 |
| My friends Nikhil, Zabin, Sriram and myself running on a whopping two hours of sleep. |
The challenge for me during Hackathons is mental endurance. Just like running a marathon, one must train diligently to hack for such extended amounts of time with so little sleep. Especially at the collegiate level, where hackathons can extend for 36 hours. By the time I reach the collegiate level I want to be able to create involved hacks without getting too tired or mentally exhausted.
I can't wait to go to more of these events and create more involved hacks. I am going to the blueprint hackathon at MIT this weekend, I will keep you posted on my experience :)
Bye for now,
Ashwini
I have never heard of a hackathon but it sounds so interesting! All of that is way over my head, but I love the concept of it. I think it’s great that you created an app and didn’t let any bugs or glitches get you down. Keep up the good work, and you will go far!
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