Hackathons reward fast learning, but they also make it easy to waste time and mistake exhaustion for progress. After a few of them, I started thinking more seriously about what the pressure was doing to me.

Along the way, I met people with much more experience than me. I cannot compete with them on their home ground, and it is easy to feel small in those moments.

The time and energy they demand is insane. Most competitions have a preliminary round, sometimes a semi-final, and then a final. Each round becomes a mini-marathon of brainstorming, last-minute changes, and almost no sleep, all to deliver something that works.

In the first few hackathons, I was genuinely excited. Every time one ended, I was already looking forward to the next. After enough rounds, though, the excitement wore off. I still learned something from every competition, but I was tired before the next one even started.

Eventually, it all started to feel a bit empty.

There was also this lingering thought back in my mind: "Why am I comparing myself to people who are fully in this industry, who live and breathe in tech every single day, when I'm still just a student trying to explore things outside my field?"

There is still one more hackathon coming up, and I will give it what I can. After that, I need a proper break from hackathons and the constant cycle of proving myself. I need to breathe, reset, and take care of my mental health.

I am not quitting hackathons forever. I need some time away from them, though, to focus on myself and rebuild my energy.

That is where I am at the moment. I will see what the last one feels like, then take the break I should have taken earlier.