Where did Team Timezones come?

This was it. It was 4.30pm and we were about to find out where the judges had ranked us. I was sure of a top 3 position. Others were betting on a win. But we all agreed that no matter what Sarah was about to announce, we had all enjoyed the weekend and appreciated each of the other members of the team.

I dial into the zoom call. Except wait there’s an issue. Sarah warns us that there will be a five minute delay to the start. They’re doing a recount because it is so close. In fact, they’re doing several recounts.

On the team Slack channel we’re all chatting nervously while we wait.

There’s just one point in it.

Finally Sarah is back. The results are confirmed. But she keeps us all in suspense for a bit longer to make sure the TH.0 team and keynote speakers get a round of applause for their help hosting this event.

They were fantastic.

And now it is time for the top three teams to be announced…

Yes that’s right. We came second. Amazing! This is actually the second time I’ve come second in a hackathon but this one feels real (the first the whole team had only been coding for a month so they took that into consideration, now I felt I was a real developer).

We all jumped on another team call and excitedly chatted about our achievement. From being thrown together as strangers on Friday to creating a viable app to solve a widespread problem. We had done it!

From there we set up a group chat on Linkedin to keep in touch. Then all the notifications started pouring in as we posted about our achievements on social media.

What did I learn?

• Several exercises to get a project defined and started
• Team management – it really felt like everyone in the team were able to take control when needed. Even though we had an elected Project Manager it never felt like any of us couldn’t speak up.
• How to create a MongoDB collection – though I don’t think I’ll be completely turning my back on SQL just yet
• Working with different timezones
• Communication skills when working with people in other countries.
• Time management – how do you get anything created in two days when you don’t plan your time properly?
• Confidence to celebrate my wins and that will encourage others to jump in!

So my advice for anyone considering if doing a hackathon for them? Just sign up and jump in. It’s not as scary as you might think and the time whizzes by!