The first takeaway I wanted to set for my first hackathon was to learn how others owned their experiences and spoke of them in their personal story. I want to diversify and be more comfortable in conversing and advocating about their career and skills.
My second takeaway I wanted focus absorbing is how presenters shaped their lessons for beginners. Context, timing, examples, github setups, prompting, comfort phrases, step-by-step narrations, etc. Eventually, I want to present and teach so I think observing others is a great way to learn. I don’t know what topic I would want to present yet. The main goal in life is to inspire and I feel like that’s a healthy goal to shoot for… Maybe give a presentation about sextech… How ballsy would that be haha.
My third and final main personal takeaway I wanted to get out of this hackathon is feeling safe as a beginner in a new coding environment. It’s been a while since I coded and a friend of mine told me about TechTogether Seattle’s virtual hackathon. I immediately dismissed the actual hackathon project part but I was super interested in coding and learning along with my friend as a beginner— no pressure whatsoever! I’ve always avoided attending hackathons because of the baggage involved… Socializing with engineers to learn collaboratively, pressure to meet your own and other’s expectations, etc. It never seemed enjoyable enough to invest my weekend time in. But this opportunity where participants and presenters were more relatable for me seemed like the perfect time to re-familiarize myself without kicking up any imposter syndrome.
Top 3 favorite aspects of the hackathon:
Recorded workshops- I’m looking forward to going back and following other videos to create more small projects!
Discord community- Joining immediately to such a lively feed helped me feel more excited about something I usually dread and don’t find as much interest in. Super thankful to feed off of other women’s excitement virtually!
Swag; mailed to participants even when its a virtual event… how thoughtful! 💛
Top 3 favorite workshop recordings:
Python with an interactive Women in STEM personality quiz
Additional resource from workshop: Learn Python basics with Wonder Woman
I’m grateful I spent the weekend with other women and non-binary individuals in this hackathon; I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Even though I’ve moved away from coding into product-related tasks, I am still a nerd and enjoy the granularities of building technology! 🤓 Stepping alongside other women to build interesting small projects was super refreshing and something I didn’t expect I would enjoy that much… Everyone’s learning attitude was super inspirational to feel. I feel like participating in the hackathon workshops was more energizing and grounding than having my therapist session. Before this weekend, I had a hard time shaking off the burnout at work but now I feel like there’s fresh wind in my sails. Looking forward to more virtual hackathons until covid goes away!