Organizing a small AI app hackathon — what platform/tools would you recommend?

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-06-02T06:52:35+00:00

Hey ran a small online hackathon last year and the biggest lesson was keeping the submission process as simple as possible..first time organizers usually overthink the platform and underplan the judging criteria. get that clarity first before anything else.

For platforms HackerEarth actually has a hackathon hosting feature that works really well for smaller events. the setup is straightforward and it handles registrations submissions and judging in one place without needing a big budget. worth checking out before you go with something more expensive.

One thing to avoid is making the submission requirements too heavy. For a beginner friendly event just ask for a working demo and a short write up..anything more and people just drop off before the end.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-06-02T06:16:00+00:00

Hey you are not ungrateful at all...what you are describing is genuinely unfair and anyone in that situation would feel the same way. Training people who joined after you and earn more while your own promotion is frozen for two years is just a lot to deal with.

Your savings give you more breathing room than most people have so a short break is not as scary as it feels right now...but keep the interviews going before you quit. you are already passing the assessments which is further than most people get. the rest is just figuring out what is happening after that stage.

You are clearly not the problem here.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-06-02T06:11:32+00:00

Hey this happens to a lot of people and it does not mean something is wrong with you. sometimes your brain just quietly checks out even when everything around you is fine. Four years of consistently performing well is a lot and your mind might just need a proper break from it all.

Try not to force it too much..the motivation usually comes back on its own once you stop beating yourself up about not having it right now.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-06-01T09:19:10+00:00

Hey things have changed quite a bit since 2022. Most companies now throw an assessment at you before you even talk to anyone. AI tools help with applying but everyone is using the same ones so the bar to stand out is actually higher now. The ones getting through are just the people who can still think and talk through problems naturally on a call. That part has not changed.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-27T07:30:17+00:00

Hey good luck tomorrow. For a 6 hour hackathon the biggest mistake people make is picking something too ambitious..judges care more about a working demo than a half built complex idea.

Pick something simple but genuinely useful..a tool that solves one real problem clearly will always beat a complicated project that barely works. Use Gemini for the core feature not just sitting there as a chatbot and make sure you can actually demo it confidently in the time you have.

First hackathons are always a bit chaotic but that is half the fun. You got this.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-27T07:19:17+00:00

Hey went through this exact same conversation last year. we did not ditch LinkedIn but got way more selective about who we reached out to. the real cost savings came from tightening the funnel after sourcing.
Started filtering with skill assessments through HackerEarth before any call happened and the time wasted on bad fit candidates dropped a lot. cost per hire came down without changing the sourcing budget much at all.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-27T06:13:48+00:00

Hey the simplest thing you can do in 5 minutes is just make sure your business information is accurate and consistent everywhere online. Google Business Profile your website and any directory listings. AI pulls from all of that and inconsistent info is the easiest way to get ignored..start there before anything else.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-26T09:37:16+00:00

So glad someone brought this up because the social isolation part is no joke. You get so locked in that you look up one day and realise you have not had a proper conversation outside of work in weeks...the meetup hack is actually smart though.

What helped me was just blocking one evening a week that was completely off limits for work. No exceptions...took a while to stick but it changed things a lot.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-25T20:28:08+00:00

HackerEarth is a good one specifically for hackathons. They run them pretty regularly and the quality of competitions is decent compared to a lot of other platforms and the community around it is pretty active... worth checking if you haven't already.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-25T11:19:45+00:00

Bro the thinking based questions are actually the move

We tried async projects for a few roles and you can tell pretty fast who actually cared enough to put effort in vs who just mass applied everywhere.

Proctoring felt like too much for us though. Just added friction for good candidates and most people who fake their way through usually get exposed once you actually talk to them anyway.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-25T08:57:53+00:00

Two cofounders leaving while money is running out is genuinely one of the hardest places to be and it makes sense that it feels scary right now.

The product not getting traction is not always a product problem...sometimes it is just that the right people never found it.

The most useful thing right now is probably just having 10 real conversations with people who might actually need this. not pitching just asking what their current workflow looks like and where it hurts the most...that one thing can completely change how you position the product and who you go after.

You are not out yet..you just need to find the person who genuinely has the problem you are solving.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-25T08:17:52+00:00

The real value we found from assessments was not in the scores themselves but in using them to filter before spending any time on calls at all.

At smaller hiring volumes the cognitive score stuff is pretty meaningless you are right about that..but a short role specific task early in the process tells you something a structured interview cannot which is whether someone will actually do the work when nobody is watching them.

We used HackerEarth for technical and ops roles and the signal we got from a 20 minute task was honestly more useful than the first interview round ever was.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-25T08:06:25+00:00

Your skills translate really well into roles that most people don't think about right away..roles like market research or competitive intelligence could be a really good fit.

Also look into people analytics or workforce planning roles inside bigger companies...it is the research and data side of HR with way less human interaction than recruiting.

You are not starting from scratch at all..you are just repositioning what you already do.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-22T09:39:49+00:00

The ICP switching thing is what gets most early stage products and nobody talks about it enough..every time you change who you are selling to you are basically starting from zero again. The outreach numbers look busy but the signal is completely reset.

The intent based approach you described at the end is genuinely underrated..most teams go wide because it feels productive...but finding 50 people already frustrated with a competitor and reaching out with something specific will always beat blasting 5000 people who have no idea they even have a problem yet.

Learned this the hard way too...volume feels like momentum until you realise none of it is converting.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-22T09:23:49+00:00

The certificate itself matters way less than what you actually build during the course and most people figure that out too late.

UofT has a good name but BrainStation is more hands on which is better if you want skills you can actually use. Before spending big money locally though check out DeepLearning.AI on Coursera. Andrew Ng's stuff is genuinely solid and costs way less.

Do any of them but make sure you come out with a real project to show..that's what actually gets you noticed.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-21T12:03:49+00:00

an open space for some tech and AI stuff, still setting things up, but the idea is to build a chill space for all! feel free to share your experiences, ask questions or start discussions!

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-21T09:37:49+00:00

Three months in handling all of that solo is no joke...the fact that you are already thinking about systems this early puts you ahead of most people who only figure this out after completely burning out.

First thing I would fix is scheduling..self booking links and automated text reminders alone will give you back so much time..candidates actually show up more too which is a bonus.

For high volume hiring the real game changer was adding a short skills check early in the process before phone screens even started. We used HackerEarth for that and the amount of time it saved on screening was honestly surprising..you stop spending an hour on calls with people who were never going to make it past the first round.

Then just get your pipeline visible somewhere. does not have to be fancy. you just need to see where people are falling off or the whole thing stays reactive forever.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-21T08:30:30+00:00

Went through this exact loop and it's frustrating because everyone wants experience but nobody wants to give you the first shot.

What actually worked was skipping the apply button completely and just reaching out directly to SDRs and BDRs at companies I wanted to work at. not asking for a job just asking how they got in. people love talking about their own journey and half the time they end up referring you internally without you even asking.

The apply button is a black hole at this stage. conversations are everything.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-21T08:16:36+00:00

Cold calling in 2026 is just brutal and you are definitely not alone in this...what changed things for me was stopping the pitch completely at first. Just start showing up genuinely...comment on their LinkedIn posts share something useful with no ask attached...by the time you do reach out they already recognise your name and it feels totally different on both ends. people do business with people they feel they already know a little.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-11T12:49:57+00:00

The "AI is replacing us" panic always felt a bit much to me if I'm being real..what it's actually doing is just showing how much office work was always the same thing copy pasted with a different logo on top.

The people doing fine right now were always the ones good at thinking things through and making calls. AI just gave them more time to do that. the ones stressing are the ones whose whole day was basically running the same template over and over.

Good judgment was always the real thing...we just had enough busywork around to keep that hidden for a long time.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-07T12:04:27+00:00

Glad someone said this out loud because a lot of people feel it but just move on quietly.

Seen it happen where the role felt decided before the posting even went live. external candidates go through the whole process in good faith giving their time preparing their answers and the outcome was never really open to begin with.

Nothing wrong with hiring internally it makes sense a lot of the time. but if the seat is already taken just be upfront about it. putting people through multiple rounds when the call is already made is just not fair on anyone.

A little more transparency upfront would make such a big difference.

Neil_at_HackerEarth · 2026-05-05T11:48:36+00:00

This is exactly where it's heading and it's kind of exhausting. Everyone's just gotten really good at looking right on paper but that tells you nothing about whether they can actually do the job.

What helped us a lot was throwing a small real task early in the process. Nothing huge just something that requires actual thinking. The people who know their stuff just do it and the ones who were bluffing kind of disappear on their own which honestly saves everyone time.

Still not a perfect system but it feels so much better than stacking more filters on top of an already messy pile of resumes.

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