I took part in some hackathons. I won third prize at an event like this (something in this field, not necessarily a hackathon, but a school project with teams). Likewise, I also took part in college Olympiads and contests. In my first college, out of 2 contests, I took a prize at one. On a Master’s, I just participated once. I participated in 8 Olympiads/business plans contests in the second college. I won a local event (first place), and I took a mention in a national one, but I’m most proud that out of 8 events I took part in (local and national level), I got at least a mention at 6 of them.
What’s a tip I’d give? Focus much more on finding a new idea grounded in reality rather than on the implementation. While the implementation matters in some hackathons, in most contests, it’s the idea and presentation that sell the project.
Many times, people focus on “how should I document a project idea?” rather than finding an idea that is very interesting, novel, and practical.
