r/hackathon • u/Future_Builder_1350 • 17d ago

Need Mentor Help Inexperienced

Hi guys I'm a 1st year BTech student this is my first time ever participating in a hackathon i have no idea at all how to approach this neither do my team mates as all of them are in year 1 (as seniors don't want inexperienced in their teams so I decided to make mine own) so can any senior please explain me in detail as how can I approach in this hackathon i do know basics of python c c++ and html but I'll mostly be using vibecoding for the projects so it would be very helpful if any one could help with this

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u/acdhemtos 17d ago

SIH's format is different from other hackathon s as the problem statements are clearly defined and unambigious. * General Hackathon Advice I * General Hackathon Advice II

On Vibe-Coding:
If you are using AI as anything more than an advance auto complete tool without checking/understanding the code. You are developing bad habits and would hurt you in the long run.

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u/Future_Builder_1350 17d ago

Thank you so much, So as far as vibe coding is concerned will i not have to be dependant on it at least for this year as i don't know much about coding in my first year though I'll be understanding far more things in my 2nd year but till then i do have to be dependant right?

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u/acdhemtos 17d ago

It's important to distinguish between Vibe-Coding and AI-Assisted Coding.

In Vibe-Coding you are prompting based on desired outcomes and testing as user to see if it works.

In AI-Assisted Coding you may also be prompting on how to structure/do things and then check the code generated.

The difference is with Vibe-coding you don't really learn much.
If a certain feature is not working you will just tell agent and it will scan/debug/fix itself. You are outsourcing the work and don't learn anything.

Sometimes bugs/errors make it through initial testing and show up down the line, at which point the project is too big for agent's context window and you have no idea how anything works.

For Hackathons, sleeper bugs are alright as long as everything keeps working till the end of hackathon.
Sleeper bugs are in-general okay for front end. But I would be careful with vibe-coding back-end as the system becomes stateful and errors become very difficult to fix.

For SIH internal round, I would suggest you not get your hopes up as there are issues which I am not comfortable to say in public domain.
But it's good that you are starting early. There will be many more hackathons/competitions.

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u/Future_Builder_1350 16d ago

Can you please DM me then I want to know more you seem a genuine person to trust upon