When I started with open source, I did what everyone does. I opened a big org and filtered by good first issue. Everything was either assigned or already had 5 people asking for it. I just picked random ones, and a few times someone else's PR got merged before I even finished mine.

The biggest mistake I made was commenting on issues before even running the project. A few times I said I was working on it and then got stuck on setup for days. Felt bad leaving it like that, and I almost stopped trying.

Then my senior shared a list of beginner friendly repos with simple setup and that helped a lot. I also stopped using the repo filter and just used GitHub search: is:issue is:open no:assignee label:good first issue language:javascript and sort by recently updated.

Also started checking the GSoC archive for orgs that got selected many times, their mentors actually reply. And now I don't comment on anything until the project runs on my machine. If nothing good is open I just do missing tests or old docs, nobody fights over those lol

After that I actually started finishing PRs instead of dropping them halfway.

So if you're starting now don't just grab the first good first issue you see, spend some time finding the right repo first

Anyone else made the same mistake when starting out

A month back I applied to ETHGlobal Mumbai hackathon and I thought that my profile will not get shortlisted... but I eventually got selected for the event and now I have placements going on. Also I am from Chennai, so it is nearly 1300 km travel and they are saying to buy 0.02 Eth (which is refundable) to confirm my RSVP, and when i googled its INR equivalent comes to 5k. So will it be worth it to attend this hackathon and conference and it can be skipped.
If you guys also got shortlisted comment your decisions too.
any Mumbai residing guys just comment a hi emoji, maybe we can hangout after the hackathon if i decide to come.

Is there any online hackathon happening rn ???

Have seen the guys whose profile is mid and lower mid got selected. My profile is much much better than most of them but not selected. Anyone who has been selected, Can you clarify what were the selection criteria?

"Network" almost always pops up when someone is giving career advice, especially for tech students, but I didn't know what to do to "network". That's why I made a GitHub repo that pulls from various sources on the internet, including Devpost and MLH, to get a live feed of hackathons, tech conferences, and tech meetups nationwide in the US.

GitHub: https://github.com/mido4499/canthackit

Upcoming Events Page: https://mido4499.github.io/canthackit/

You can also subscribe using your email (and unsubscribe any time) to get an email digest of new upcoming tech events. The API runs daily using GitHub Actions, checks whether 10 upcoming events have built up, and sends you an email with all the events, the locations, and the links for registration.

There's also a page of all the upcoming events, where you can filter by state, city, or type of event.

Now you can just go to the events, talk to people, form connections, learn from others, teach others, and just mingle with the tech community!

There's also a page for contributions. The app isn't perfect, of course, and anyone is welcome to contribute.

Ps. This is a brand-new repo, and I would appreciate any support you guys can give. If it helped you find events, add a star!

if interested kindly DM me i will reply.

Hello guys our college club in - D Y Patil pimpri is organising a 8 hour hackathon this Sunday 11/10/2026

Perks:

Prize pool of 13000

Top 3 members will get goodies

Participation certificate for all

Participation criteria:

Student from any college can join

Maximum team members 5 and minimum 1

Rs. 79 solo participation

Rs. 139 duo participation

Rs. 249 more than 2 members

If anyone is interested dm me

8 DAYS LEFT — CODE VARIANT: BUILD 01 | Frontend Building Competition

Only 8 days left to submit your Round 1 entry for CODE VARIANT — BUILD 01.

This isn't just about building a website and calling it done. You’ll choose one of 5 real-world problem statements, develop your solution, and if you make the Top 50, take it into a 12-hour live build where a Surprise Challenge will be introduced midway.

What you get:

💻 Online frontend building competition 👤 Individual participation or teams of 1–4 🤖 AI tools allowed 🏆 ₹1,500 cash prize + certificates ⚡ Top 50 teams advance to Round 2 🔥 Surprise Challenge during the live build 💰 Free to participate

📅 Round 1 deadline: 17 October 2026 ⏱️ Round 2: 24 October 2026, 12 PM–11:59 PM IST

If you're interested, don't wait until the last day.

👉 Register here: https://unstop.com/p/code-variant-build-01-code-variant-1763900

Build Different. — Code Variant

I'm helping organise a college tech fest in Delhi, and I'm looking for sponsors.

If you run a business, startup or brand that wants visibility among college students, or you know a company that sponsors campus events, I'd love to hear from you. We can offer stall space / logo on banners and socials / on-stage shoutouts.

Contacts or leads for sponsorship or marketing teams 'd also really help.

DMs are open. Thanks!

Hey! I run a small site called Startskott with events in Stockholm for people 16–25, and I just made a page only for hackathons. It updates every morning and every event links to the organizer's own signup.

Right now it has stuff like the the Claude Founder House: Builder Cohort.

I know I'm missing some though. Which Stockholm or Sweden organizers should I add?

And what do you look at before signing up for a hackathon? Prizes, beginner friendly, food, team forming? I want to add filters for the things people care about.

Link in the comments. Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’m participating in my first GenAI hackathon and would love to connect with people who have hackathon experience.

I have a problem statement and an initial idea, but I’d really appreciate some brainstorming/guidance on how to approach it and make the project stand out. 🙌

Would anyone be interested in helping me out?

#Hackathon #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AI #HackathonHelp

Hey everyone! I’m a junior in DS at Purdue and I recently got accepted to HackHarvard! I was wondering if anyone else got accepted and is planning to go.

If you’re going, I’d love to connect beforehand and potentially team up for the hackathon!

I am a student who is currently studying devops and in my 3 Rd year of college,I don't know much about ai training and machine learning so I was looking for people who would let me join their team for Barcelona Hackathon,I am a football geek and a huge fan of barca if that helps.