r/hackathon • u/BerryLow7993 • 1d ago

Need Mentor Help Hackathon guide?

I’ve been accepted of the waitlist to participate in the nasa in person hackathon and I have no idea what this kind of event look like.

It does tell that theres no need to have any experience in coding but at the same time it’s a hackathon so I’m not really sure. I do have some knowledge in python, html and css but then again I’m not sure if it’ll be useful. Should I prepare for it? How do you even prepare?

Also for the team, how should I choose it? Should they be in person too? There is barely teams in my area but also I know nothing to create one I guess.

I’d be so grateful if someone could tell me about all of that!

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u/Little_Total9000 2h ago

Congrats on getting in off the waitlist! If it's a Space Apps event, it's one of the friendliest ones for a first hackathon, and they mean it about no coding experience needed. Plenty of teams have someone doing the research, the data, the design or the pitch, and a clear explanation of the problem counts for a lot.

Prep that actually helps:

  • Read the challenge list as soon as it's out and shortlist 2 or 3. Open the datasets each one links to. Knowing the data before the clock starts is the biggest head start you can get.
  • Your Python + HTML/CSS is genuinely useful. A simple page that shows a chart or map from NASA data, plus a clear story about what it means, is a perfectly good project. If you want to practise once: grab any NASA open dataset, load it in Python, make one chart, put it on a page.
  • Set up your laptop beforehand (editor, GitHub account, Python packages) so you don't lose the first hour installing things.

Teams: for an in-person event, yes, your teammates should be at the same venue. Most local events have a team formation session at the start, or a Discord/WhatsApp group before it where solo people find each other, so ask the organisers. When you introduce yourself just say what you can do ("I know some Python and can build the front end") and join people whose challenge you like. A mix of skills beats four people who all do the same thing.

On the day: pick a small idea you can actually finish, get something working early, and keep the last couple of hours for the demo and the submission. Small and working usually beats ambitious and half done.

And talk to people, honestly the best part. Have fun!