Builders
A Builder's Guide To Your First Hackathon On HackVillage
Find a hackathon, form a team, submit, and leave with real feedback and a verified portfolio. Here is how it all works, step by step.
By HackVillage Team · · 5 min read
Your first hackathon can feel like a lot: new people, a tight deadline, and a panel of judges at the end. This guide walks you through a hackathon on HackVillage from the moment you find one to the day your work shows up on your profile.
1. Find A Hackathon That Fits
Browse Hackathons and switch between Ongoing, Upcoming, and Past. Filter by category, such as AI, Fintech, or ClimateTech, to find problems you care about. Every hackathon listed already has its full prize pool locked in, so you are never building for a prize that might not exist.
Open a hackathon to read its problem statement and rules, the prize breakdown, and the key dates, including when registration closes.
2. Register Before The Deadline
Create your free account, then register from the hackathon page. Registration closes before hacking starts, so do it early. Once you're in, you get a team workspace for that hackathon.
3. Find Your Team
Teams hold up to five people. Start your own team and invite others, or join a team that needs your skills. A good mix matters more than a big team: a builder, someone who thinks about the user, and someone who can tell the story is a strong start.
4. Build, Then Submit
Build during the hackathon and submit your project before submissions close, with a link to your repository and a demo. When you submit, your team also declares how any prize would be split between members, so there are no awkward conversations later.
5. Get Real Feedback
Judges score every project against the same scorecard. Before their scores count, each judge must leave your team at least one strength, one thing to improve, and one next step. Win or not, you leave with feedback you can use.
6. Keep The Proof
Every submission, win, and judge endorsement builds your Proof of Work profile, a public record of what you have actually shipped. It is verified by platform activity, with no self reported stats, so it means something to the people who read it.
Ready? Create your account and pick your first hackathon.
