What I learnt from my first hackathon

Feb 17, 2014 • {"login"=>"admin", "email"=>"admin@annaphilips.com", "display_name"=>"Anna", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""} • {"_aioseop_opengraph_settings"=>"a:6:{s:32:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_title\";s:0:\"\";s:31:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_desc\";s:0:\"\";s:36:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_customimg\";s:0:\"\";s:37:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_imagewidth\";s:0:\"\";s:38:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_imageheight\";s:0:\"\";s:35:\"aioseop_opengraph_settings_category\";s:0:\"\";}", "_edit_last"=>"1", "_aioseop_keywords"=>"firefox, mozilla, hackathon", "_aioseop_description"=>"Mozilla Firefox OS Hackathon at MIT", "_aioseop_title"=>"What I learnt from my first hackathon"}

Always have an offline version of the documentation
The Internet - don't leave home without it
Don't overthink things
Know your APIs inside out
Do not try juggling events
Learn to use git
Don't loose your head
Implement one feature at a time
Have a working prototype to demo.
Don't wait until your ready. JUST DO IT!

So I had a memorable "first" hackathon. 3 JS/HTML/CSS newbies. Power shutdown for the entire day. Snail slow net (no net for the most). Juggling two events. 6 hours. And we still managed to cook up a working prototype for the demo. 2nd place doesn't sound too bad :P

"If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives..."

- Lemony Snicket