Summary

The web content provides a curated list of the eight best websites for finding hackathons, offering insights and tips for hackathon enthusiasts.

Abstract

The article titled "The 8 Best Websites to Find a Hackathon — The HackLife Guide 💾 💻🤓" outlines top platforms for individuals interested in participating in hackathons. It emphasizes the importance of applying to these events and highlights Major League Hacking (MLH) as a premier organization that supports hackers globally, particularly in University and High School settings. The article praises MLH for the quality of its events and mentions two specific hackathons, HackUMass and QuackHack, as personal favorites discovered through their platform. Devpost is recognized for its comprehensive search features, including filters for location, topic, and prize amount, and is recommended for those seeking hackathons with short notice, especially outside North America and Europe. Hackalist stands out for its open-source nature and filters for travel reimbursement and high school-friendly events. HackathonsNear.me offers a map feature for locating nearby events, while Hackathon IO is noted for its extensive network of hackers and events. HackEvents is highlighted for its user-friendly interface, allowing users to save favorite hackathons for later application. The article also suggests using Facebook to discover hackathons through pages and groups like Hackathon Hackers. Lastly, Hack Club is recommended for high school students looking for hackathons tailored to their age group. The author concludes by encouraging readers to explore all the mentioned websites and apply to multiple hackathons to maximize their chances of participation.

Opinions

Major League Hacking is highly regarded for empowering hackers and ensuring high-quality events.
Devpost is considered particularly useful for its advanced search capabilities and global reach.
Hackalist's open-source platform and unique filters are seen as beneficial for hackers who travel or are in high school.
HackathonsNear.me's map feature is praised for its convenience in finding local hackathons.
Hackathon IO's network tab is highlighted as a valuable resource for connecting with other hackers and discovering events.
HackEvents' feature to save favorite hackathons is appreciated for allowing users to plan their applications.
Facebook is recognized as a useful tool for finding hackathons through pages and the Hackathon Hackers group.
Hack Club is recommended as a go-to resource for high school students interested in hackathons.
The author advocates for applying to multiple hackathons to ensure participation and encourages the use of various platforms to find the right events.

The 8 Best Websites to Find a Hackathon — The HackLife Guide 💾 💻🤓

In order to go to a hackathon, you have to apply to at least one.

1) Major League Hacking

Major League Hacking (http://www.mlh.io/) is an organization built on empowering hackers. They do amazing stuff for anyone who goes to hackathons, wants to, or even plans hackathons (University and High School).

To see all the hackathons, click on “Find an Event” and then on your respective continent.

Unfortunately, there’s only two continents for now. But soon, the whole world will be available for the hackathon-ing!

I’ve only seen in-person hackathons hosted at a University or High School. I’ve never seen anything online or corporate. My two favorite hackathons have been found through here, and both times I found them last minute (HackUMass & QuackHack). MLH promises quality in their hackathons, and they definitely deliver.

2) Devpost

Many hackathons use Devpost (http://www.devpost.com) to help you find a team, submit your project, and look at other projects. I’ve actually been asked for my Devpost account during an internship interview so that they could see all my cool projects.

What’s great about Devpost is their search system. You can filter by in-person or online. You can sort by end date or prize amount. And, most importantly, you can search by location or even topic.

That bottom hackathon is from India. Devpost is for everyone.

If you are in need of a hackathon tomorrow, Devpost is your way to go. Especially if you don’t live in North America or Europe. You hear that Asia, Africa, & South America? (Has there been a hackathon in Antarctica yet? #HackTheIce)

3) Hackalist

Not only is Hackalist (http://www.hackalist.org) open source, it is also very cool for those who like to travel. It has a filter that only shows you hackathons giving travel reimbursement. And for all the young padawans, it has a filter for hackathons accepting high schoolers.

4) HackathonsNear.Me

HackathonsNear.me (http://www.hackathonsnear.me) is another listing website with a different styling. It has a nice feature of Searching by a city or even address to find local hackathons. The coolest part is that they have a map.

5) Hackathon IO

Hackathon IO (http://www.hackathon.io) has just about every hackathon on Earth.

What’s even cooler, is that they have a “network” tab where you can find fellow hackers to start a project with, attend a hackathon with, or even hire.

6) HackEvents

HackEvents (http://www.hackevents.co) allows you to add hackathons to your favorites. So if you don’t have time to apply right away, you can push that to a later date.

199 hackathons in 129 cities. Talk about beauty.

7) Facebook

With Facebook advertising bringing in such amazing ROI for just about anything, almost every hackathon has a facebook page. By liking one page, you are suggested between 5 to 20 more. I went on a liking spree for maybe 100 hackathons so that they show up on my news feed.

In addition to facebook fan pages, there is a group named Hackathon Hackers that is full of over 38 thousand (and rising) hackers who will be more than happy to help you find a hackathon. In fact, this guide was inspired by someone’s post on the site asking for hackathons this semester.

8) Hack Club

Check out this website for high school hackathons: https://hackathons.hackclub.com/

There’s about 100 more…

So — Which one is the best?

You can’t lose. Unless, you don’t choose any of them 😦.

But really, my advice is to go to all of the websites above and any more you can find. Apply for every single hackathon you can, so you have options. Not sure how to apply to a hackathon? Check out my guide.

I also asked my question on Hackathon Hackers, and these are the responses I got: