3 More Things I Learned From My First Hackathon

I was recently given the opportunity to participate in JPMorgan Chase’s Social Good Hackathon, and as this was my first hackathon I wanted to write down some further thoughts about what I learned from the experience.

1. Trust your team

If you are like me, you will be heading into your first hackathon having recently only been working and learning by yourself, so you’ll need to make sure you have the right mindset during the event. You will need to accept that you can’t do everything by yourself and you need to trust the knowledge and expertise of your team. Not only is this necessary for time, but it also makes sure you are not stepping on the work of anyone else. Doing this would not only complicate the project but also fail to utilize the group’s full skill set.

2. Be flexible

Along with trusting your team, you must also remember to be flexible about how your team will solve the prompt. When you are working with multiple people you will not always be on the same page in terms of ideas and solutions, so do your best to have an open mind. The rest of the team might decide to go in a direction you were not expecting, but you must remain a team player as the project will likely not get completed otherwise.

3. Talk to your team leaders

For the hackathon I attended, we were lucky enough to be assigned team mentors who were already members of JPMorgan’s technology team to provide guidance. It is extremely important that you follow the advice given by these individuals as they have experience with events like the one you are participating in. Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask questions as they are there to help you and make sure your team is headed in the right direction.