I participated in my first crypto hackathon in September 2022, and since then, I have joined several others. I enjoy sharing my positive experiences with those who are new to the crypto world.

Unfortunately, I found that there are some misunderstandings about crypto hackathons. One of the most common misconceptions is that you need to have some level of technical knowledge about blockchain to participate. However, the truth is that any developer can join, regardless of their knowledge about blockchain, and moreover, have all the chances to win prizes!

In this post, I want to clear up this misconception, provide some examples of what you can build without blockchain knowledge, and encourage all developers to participate in crypto hackathons.

What is a Crypto Hackathon?

A crypto hackathon is an event where people collaborate to build innovative projects around blockchain technology. If you know what a hackathon event is, there isn't much difference with a crypto hackathon (except that crypto hackathons are much cooler, but I'll elaborate on that later).

Similar to regular hackathons, you will have a limited time to create and showcase your project, usually 48 hours for in-person events or weeks for virtual ones. There is often a competition with generous prize money for the winners. You can choose to work on a general track or align with sponsors who provide specific technology and award criteria. Hackathons are usually free to join, and food and drinks are often provided.

You can participate in the hackathon by yourself or team up with others. If you don't have a team, you can either find teammates online before the event in the chats or attend the team formation workshop at the beginning of the hackathon.

Do you need to be an expert in blockchain and smart contracts to successfully participate in a crypto hackathon?

No! This misconception often discourages developers from participating, but it's far from the truth.

In reality, hackathons are designed to be beginner-friendly, welcoming developers of all skill levels. You don't need to have in-depth knowledge of blockchain or know how to write smart contracts to get involved. The beauty of hackathons is that they don't limit your ideas or technologies. Although your project should be related to blockchain, there is still a vast and diverse range of possibilities for what you can build.

What you can build at the crypto hackathon with your Web2 dev skills

• Various data projects: Blockchain is essentially a large, distributed database, and managing, understanding, and extracting insights from such vast amounts of data still presents many challenges. At the hackathon, you can come up with innovative solutions to harness blockchain data. This could involve creating analytics, AI/ML models, or new ways of data storage. There might also be challenges from sponsors who are API providers, offering indexing or storage solutions that you can use to source data.
• New integrations: Integrate the sponsor's service into other systems where it would make sense. For example, these could be some Web2 tools with which you are familiar.
• New use cases: The sponsors are often infrastructure, SDK, or API providers who are looking for new use cases for their products. There are usually no limitations on creativity. You can brainstorm unique ideas and consider which sponsors could be involved.
• Developer tools: You can create wrappers or utilities around sponsor products to simplify the development process or anything else that could make developers' lives easier and sponsors' tools more user-friendly. Sponsors often explicitly mention their need for such solutions in their challenge descriptions.
• UX/UI ideas: Onboarding users to crypto services is a well-known challenge, with many companies still seeking solutions and improvements. If you're a front-end developer, you'll likely have no trouble finding a team at a hackathon. Almost every project requires a frontend, often of high quality, to participate in specific challenges. Moreover, frontend development for Web3 applications is almost no different from Web2.

These are simply my thoughts and observations on what could be built without using smart contracts. There might be more ideas out there. Sponsors usually share problems and ideas they are looking for, and these don't always involve dApps, smart contracts, or decentralized networks. Therefore, challenge descriptions are worth exploring for inspiration.

My experience

I participated in my first crypto hackathon in September 2022. Before that, I had been working as a backend software engineer for about five years in various non-crypto companies. At my first hackathon, I was part of a team with my friend, who had more experience in the crypto space but as a frontend developer. Neither of us had experience writing smart contracts. I didn't expect to win and was participating purely for the experience. To my surprise, I won a $1000 prize. Since then, I've participated in several more hackathons, winning awards in each one, though I still haven't written any smart contracts. This is not because I'm unable to, but because I prefer data challenges. Here's what I've built in the past:

• Snapshot voting analysis for Sybil attacks with on-chain attestation https://ethglobal.com/showcase/0xsybil-h9e55
• Off-chain with on-chain analytics with the Dune API https://devfolio.co/projects/privacy-oriented-offchain-and-onchain-analytics-2ddd
• AI-powered Lens profile search based on on-chain activity https://devfolio.co/projects/openlens-7b2d

Why I Enjoy Participating in Crypto Hackathons

Crypto hackathons are an incredible experience that I highly recommend to everyone. Here's why:

• The prize money could be huge! I have never seen a hackathon with a larger prize pool than the one at ETH Global. In the Paris ETH Global event, the prize pool was around $500,000, and in Istanbul, it is going to exceed $600,000! The number of projects in Paris was around 320, so the chances of winning something are very high. I couldn't find any non-crypto hackathons with comparable prize pools.
• The events are always well-organized. There is a noticeable difference in the quality of organization at crypto events compared to other tech events. If you attend a global ETH hackathon, it will certainly be in a great location, with excellent food, high-quality talks and workshops, and activities at the venue.
• Additionally, you can participate in numerous high-quality side events that usually take place before the hackathon.
• For in-person hackathons, there are often a variety of scholarships and hacker houses to cover accommodation and flight expenses.
• Something I personally appreciate is the freedom to choose what to build at the hackathon. You can explore any topic, from social, environmental, or economic issues, or anything else, as long as it can be connected, enhanced, or solved using blockchain. Having participated in non-crypto hackathons, I've found this variety of project ideas to be unique to crypto hackathons.

This is something I personally like, but there may be more to add.

Ready to Dive In? Here's Where You Can Find the Next Crypto Hackathon

These are a few popular resources to check for both virtual and in-person upcoming hackathons:

• https://ethglobal.com
• https://app.buidlbox.io
• https://dorahacks.io

I hope this post will encourage someone to participate in a crypto hackathon. Even if you're not interested in the competitive aspect of the hackathon, the learning experience, networking opportunities, and potential collaborations are worth it alone. So why not give it a try?