This essay will describe the experience of attending a Bridg3 Hackathon. As well as explain what is a hackathon. 

Bridg3 hackathon was the ultimate hackathon focusing on Web3 technology. It was an opportunity to create industry-shaping solutions, get mentoring from industry leads, and network with people interested in Web3 technology. It was around a month-long hackathon, where challenges were given out by five companies Tampere Finland, Valmet, Yle, UNICEF, and Tampere University x ECIU University. To participate in the hackathon people were creating teams of at least three people in it. These teams were then able to choose their challenge and participate. The prizes of the Hackathon were 1st prize being 5 K (+ 5 K for company development), 2nd prize of 2 K, and 3rd prize of 1 K. The hackathon culminated in Nokia Arena into a pitching competition, where the winning team was voted.  

What is a hackathon? 

A hackathon or other names known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon, or codefest, is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative work together in a relatively short time. Usually, these competitions are run for computer developers and others involved in software development to create functioning software or hardware in a set time period. This set time can be from a couple of hours to view days mostly. The most common is 24 hours or 48 hours, but lately, the challenges have become more complex, and therefor these hackathons can run for days to view weeks.  

Hackathons tempt to have a specific area or a theme they want their participants to focus on. For example, in Bridg3 it was about Web3 and the possibilities in it. Meaning teams solutions were supposed to work in Web3 surrounding.  

How hackathons got started? Hackathons were created to give out quick and innovative solutions in the programming and development field and opportunities to bring experts of the field together to solve industry problems. But in the mid-late 2000s companies and venture capitalists started to point interest on these events and saw an opportunity. They quickly understood that this was a way for them to develop quickly new software and locate new areas of innovation and funding. Some companies and start-ups started to raise from these events such as TechCrunch Disrupt.  

Hackathon in one sentence is “an event in which computer programmers collaborate intensively with one another and sometimes with people in other specialties over a relatively short period of time to create code usually for a new software product or service” (Merriam Webster). 

BRIDG3 hackathon experience 

As a first-time hackathon participant, the experience was interesting and exciting. The organizing team made sure in the beginning to provide a lot of support for the participants. They arranged many events at the start and did a good job with arranging the atmosphere and providing snacks and low-barrier networking in Platform 6. In the events during the hackathon, they provided information about the challenges, an opportunity to meet with mentors and challenge providers to ensure good progress for the teams, workshops for excellent team performances, and fun times. Our team chose to work on Yle’s provided challenge regarding the safetiness of the metaverse. 

My own knowledge of Web3 and metaverse was at times very low but increased a lot while working on our solution. Biggest help to learn about the topic was our teammate who is a programmer and a Netflix documentary called Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet by Torsten Hoffman. It helped myself to understand more about how blockchains work, how Bitcoin was created, and why. During the challenge our team faced some troubles and hard time working out our final product to match the challenge that was given to us. Since there were different philosophical aspects to be aware of and connect it with the coding. The closer we got to the end of the hackathon, the more pressure and work we needed to do. The hardest parts in my opinion were when the solution needed to be submitted with a pitch and live pitching to the audience. Because information about the submission was shared on many different platforms, it was hard to keep track of what was supposed to be submitted and in what format. After the submissions were done, all the solutions needed to be validated by other competitors to get the top ten solutions, that would compete for the prizes. Our team luckily got to the next round and was able to pitch our solution to a live audience in the Nokia Arena. There were many good pitches we heard. While doing ours, even though we had practice we ran out of time during the pitching. But luckily the main points got through to the audience and our solution won the most votes and we won. It felt good to win after all the work we had put into making it, and it was good to have some of our teammates from Proakatemia cheering us along from the audience.  

What to expect when joining a hackathon 

If you are joining a hackathon it is good to be prepared and work in a quick phase. Hackathons are usually made with a quick tempo, so when joining one you should arrange time for it in your calendar. Also, think about your team. It is important to succeed in a hackathon to have a good team with lots of different skill sets, but of all who you trust and who can work together as a team. Organizing and keeping updated on the process and what you are required to have for the hackathon, can make a difference if you are able to finish on time. If it is a bigger hackathon usually there is expert help offered, that helps teams to succeed on the challenge and gain learnings.  

In the end hackathon requires a process of innovation, understanding of a problem, and pitching.   

Conclusion 

This essay reflects my own experience with the Brig3 Hackathon, an event centered around Web3 technology. It provided lots of learning of new knowledge regarding Web3 but also on the concept of hackathons, as well as connections with people who are interested in Web3. Hackathons are an interesting concept to take part in. 

References:

Wikipedia. Hackathon. Hackathon – Wikipedia

Frederic Godart & Jacque Neatby. Leadership Team Alignment. 2023.