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Hackathon 101

What is a Hackathon?

Unfortunately, the word hackathon is a bit of a misnomer. Contrary to what most people would assume, hackathons have absolutely nothing to do with hacking. Rather, it's an event where people come together to either approach a problem or create an idea in order to build a unique solution from scratch. It usually comes in the form of a web app or mobile app, but you can take this any direction that you want.

What does the schedule for the event look like?

There are many kinds of hackathons but the typical one involves a 24 hour window to ideate, solve, and build a solution. We have free meals, snacks, drinks, and a plethora of swag. Keep an eye on the schedule for extra activities such as fun-events and workshops.

What makes HackUTD special?

HackUTD is the hackathon that is hosted annually at the University of Texas at Dallas and is ran by a branch of ACM. We are officially the largest hackathon in North America with over 1100 participants that come from unique backgrounds such as various schools from freshman to graduate students. And of course we have to talk about the prize money. For HackUTD 2024, we had a prize pool of over $100,000!

What does it take to win?

There's no perfect formula to win a hackathon, but there are definitely a few standout characteristics that elevate a project.

  • Helpful to a marginalized group of people
    • Ex: Underserved minorities, some form of disability, victims of abuse, sa, etc.
  • Unique features
    • Ex: Last year, our grand winner was TalkTuah which involved an AI help agent that was accessed via phone call
  • Finished product
    • Try to avoid overcooking and pumping out a project with a bunch of features that barely work. Instead, try to hone in on the defining purpose of the app and ensure that it performs that one thing proficiently.
  • Comprehensive pitch
    • When you present your project to the judges, you're not just demoing the project and explaining what it does. You need to create a story. It's helpful to discuss your inspiration, the problem at hand, the target audience, and the obstacles that you overcame.

What should I know to do well in a hackathon?

To successfully develop a full stack application, you would need to have knowledge in the following topics:

  • Frontend Web Development
    • React, Streamlit, Svelte
  • Frontend Mobile App Development
    • React Native, Flutter, Kotlin
  • Backend
    • Flask, Google Firebase, Supabase, FastAPI
  • Free APIs to pull information from
    • Spotify, WeatherAPI, Google Maps, etc.

How can I learn those topics?

On this site, you will find many resources to help you such as our Guided Project which will take you to an elaborate step by step guide in creating your very own full stack app. Furthermore, we have various workshop guides and blog posts that may assist you on your journey. If you don't know where to start, visit this link to dip your feet and don't be afraid to use Google or AI when you face any major confusions. And of course don't forget that we have this entire workshop series too.

Final remarks

Thanks for making it to the end! If you have any questions, shoot us an email at [email protected] or better yet, come out to the future workshops.