HARBORHACK, October 18-20th, 2024 (In-Person Hackathon)

Welcome to HarborHack!

If you have made it this far, you are interested in either technology, startups & entrepreneurship, meeting people, learning something new or competing for a prize. CharlestonHacks HarborHack brings together people from all walks of life, from novices taking their first steps into the world of tech to experts pushing their own boundaries.

HarborHack is a free event, held in person, at the beautiful C of C's Harbor Walk facility in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on the following dates:

• Friday, October 18th, 5:30pm-10pm - Featured speaker, Orientation & Team Formation (Harbor Walk West)
• Saturday October 19th, 9am-10pm - Hack Day (Harbor Walk East)
• Sunday, October 20th, 9am-?pm - Submission, Judging and Awards (Harborwalk West)

The Challenge: TRANSFORMATION

"I was a remote worker for 15+ years and was laid off during Covid. Most of my career involved interacting with co-workers who were hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. I realized that  I didn't know the people in the town where I live, and my work experience was in an industry that doesn't really exist in my area.

Having little success in finding a new job, I decided to learn something new and took a course in XR development. Little did I know that this class would set me on a transformative path.

The path led me to a large multi-day event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called the Reality Hack. I immediately connected with some of the most amazing people I have ever met and was fascinated and intimidated by them. Imposter syndrome started to kick in, and I wondered if leaving my normal life for a weekend and competing in an in-person hackathon was a good idea.

Team formation night was where things got serious. I spent hours at the MIT Media Lab trying to convince people to join my team and work on an application for Qualcomm's new augmented reality glasses. I wanted to turn ordinary people into actors in a giant immersive mystery.

The idea was, dare I say, ambitious, especially since I wasn't a developer and would need lots of tech help to pull it off. Potential teammates came and went. I gave up several times and started to walk back to my Airbnb. It was 1am when I returned to the Media Lab, deciding that I was going to join another team and hoped I could add value in some way and not let my teammates down.

When the night was over, I walked across the windy, freezing cold bridge back to Copley Square, feeling a sense of self-doubt and regret. My mind was racing, and I couldn't stop thinking about what I had gotten myself into. Why did I think I could compete in a hackathon with so little experience? Should I just take the next flight home or stay a couple more days walking around Boston, obsessing about how I didn’t have the guts to continue down this path?

I didn't sleep, and in the morning, I grabbed my laptop, drank lots of coffee, and walked to the hackathon. This turned out to be one of those important decisions that you make, jumping in with both feet, not knowing where you will land.

I discovered a lot about myself that day:

1) Commit to something and do whatever you can to be of service.

2) See the good in people.

3) You will be rewarded for going outside your comfort zone.

4) Truly understood the value of a team.

Did we win? No. But by the time the event was over, I had made new friends and helped create something I believed in. I was not the same person that I was before this event. I was TRANSFORMED, I now knew what I had to do." 

At HarborHack 2024, the theme is transformation. You'll be developing digital solutions that transform the way we live, while also harnessing your skills to transform yourself. This experience will change you if you let it. You must do something you have never done before. 

Get started:

A great first step is to take a look at the Digital Product Basics video specific to hackathons. It will help you understand how judges think and give you tips on how to prioritize your time. Contact us to request longer workshops on any topic from the video. There's even a sample pitch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWlLHpUO78

But remember, we all started somewhere, so jump in with both feet. Great things await you!

You can talk to our AI, "Descartes". He can help you brainstorm ideas and give you helpful advice: https://aistudio.instagram.com/ai/466259289556196/?utm_source=share

• Presentation Criteria: User Specifics, User Pain Points
  A criteria that focuses on how ambitious the solution is. Effective communication of how the design and execution of the product is user-centered, and how user pain points were solved, anticipated, or considered within the product.
• Technical Implementation Criteria: Feasibility Assessment
  Evaluation of the technical implementation's feasibility, considering available resources, skills, and technology. Explanation of initial prioritization. Explanation of technical decisions and tradeoffs made, if any.
• Presentation Criteria: Solution Demonstration
  Technical demonstration of working code, showcasing how the application addresses the identified problem and its unique feature/s or solution/s.
• Business Model Criteria: Market Understanding, Monetization Strategy, Competitive Advantage
  Identification of a specific target market, competitors, market size, customer base. Explanation of proposed monetization and revenue generation strategy. Identification of the application's USPs and differentiation from existing solutions.
• Technical Implementation Criteria: Usability and Design
  Assessment of the user experience design and usability of the application.
• Prioritization
  Some mention of how the team prioritized various options in a limited hackathon timeframe.
• Hackathon Theme
  Does the product dovetail with the theme of this Hackathon? Your solution must demonstrate how it transforms the world around you as well as yourself through doing something you haven't done before.