The time and energy hackathons demand is insane. Preliminary rounds, semi-finals, and finals each mean another round of brainstorming, last-minute changes, and almost no sleep.
At first, I finished each one looking forward to the next. After enough rounds, I was tired before the next competition started.
I also kept comparing myself to people who work in tech every day. I’m a mathematics student exploring outside my field, but that’s easy to forget when everyone around me seems more experienced.
There’s one more hackathon coming up. I’ll give it what I can, then take a proper break. I still want to do hackathons, but I need time away from the constant cycle of proving myself.