I would hate hackathons if I was not aiming for submission.

Hello readers,

Before sharing my story, I am proud to identify myself as a dabbler 🚀.

In the past few days, as I tried to make a breakthrough in my web3 career, the Chainlink Spring Hackathon 2023 emerged as a great opportunity to gain exposure to the space and its people.

As an absolute beginner, I soon realized that nobody would care about me. I lacked confidence in stating my proficiency in any domain, even though I had a basic understanding of many.

So here was my plan: I proposed an idea and wanted people to join me, hoping that my idea alone would at least be considered. I drafted a basic idea and posted it on social media. Within a few days, I received a reply to my post 😄.

XY🤵: "Why does this even need to be integrated with blockchain?"
Me 🕵️: Startled, I confessed, "I don't know either (🫥 yeah)."
XY🤵: Invited me to work on their DeFi project.
Me 🕵️: "I have my semester going on, and I'm not sure if I can handle both."
XY🤵: "That's okay, we will meet again."

I pushed myself to brainstorm and force blockchain into the project, resulting in satisfactory implications.

However, I lacked confidence in building a complete dApp with a user interface. So, I decided to limit myself and break down the implications into stages:

1. Build smart contracts and test for interactions -> 🛑 Just go for submission

2. Scaffold smart contract interactions -> 🛑 Submit this.

3. Use decentralized storage -> 🛑 Enough, submit it now.

4. Integrate AI -> ⛔ Quit, it's not possible.

I started brainstorming and developing smart contracts, planning everything and waiting for team members. After 10 days, assuming no one was interested in my idea, I began working alone.

I said no to entertainment, friends, socializing, and sleep. I worked day and night alone.

Then, with less than two weeks remaining, I realized that the interactions I assumed would work weren't well-structured. Frustrated, I lost control and unintentionally deleted the entire project, including my terminal configuration script.

A friend of mine noticed my despair and brought me back to my desk 😂 to start rebuilding from scratch. This time, I knew where I went wrong and rectified the mistakes in a snap.

Great! I still had time, and I didn't want to be just a dabbler anymore. I started working on the frontend with the minimal knowledge I had. The end result was not exceptional.

In my quest to make it visually appealing, I revisited the nemesis called CSS. I followed quick tutorials and incorporated them into my project.

Finally, it was the submission day, and I submitted my project.

And the project submission deadline was extended for two more days, and I contemplated implementing the fourth stage of the project. Unfortunately, the feature was in beta testing, and there were no proper references available to use it with the framework I had built the project on. I ended up remaining a dabbler.

Mistakes I made:

1. I didn't work as a team and even refused to do so.

2. I received direct messages from people who were skilled enough to take part, but I struggled alone.

3. I didn't make a particular approach beforehand.

✨ Watch the result: CaringDAO Demo | Live

& I'm hiding one mistake that I'm not secure enough to reveal. I'll leave you with traces, and you can comment below 🐾.

If you are thinking about participating in a hackathon, just believe in miracles and take the plunge.

Thanks for your time. Do follow me for more exciting content.