Hack smarter. Ship faster.

About the Author

Hey! I'm Kartikey Pandey. I studied computer science at Penn State.

I've won 13 prizes at 12 hackathons and founded Penn State's collegiate hackathon team. This guide collects the resources and strategies I picked up along the way.

Why trust this guide?

Prizes at hackathons including HackPSU, HackHarvard, Bitcamp, MHacks, Cal Hacks and the UC Berkeley AI Hackathon
Founded the Penn State Collegiate Hackathon Team, which went from #185 to #74 (merit rank) in one year

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Who This Guide is For

This guide is designed for Penn State Computer Science students and other novice-to-intermediate hackers looking to maximize their efficiency and win hackathons. Whether you're attending your first hackathon or your tenth, this resource will help you discover opportunities, build faster, and pitch better.

What This Guide Assumes You Know

To get the most out of this guide, you should have:

•Basic familiarity with coding (any language)
•Understanding of version control with Git and GitHub
•General knowledge of hackathon structure (ideation → building → pitching)
•Willingness to learn new tools and frameworks quickly

How This Guide is Organized

The guide follows the natural flow of a hackathon lifecycle, organized chronologically to support you from start to finish:

1. Hackathon Discovery

Find events that match your interests and eligibility (Devpost, MLH, Hack Club)

2. Ideation & Validation

Generate winning ideas and validate market fit (Product Hunt, GitHub Trending, Google Trends)

3. Development Tools

Build and deploy your project fast (VS Code, Vercel, Firebase)

4. AI/ML Integration

Leverage cutting-edge AI to accelerate development (Hugging Face, Modal, OpenAI)

5. Winning Strategy

Pitch effectively and maximize your chances of winning

Tips for Using This Guide

→Start with Strategy: Read the "Winning Tips" section first to understand what judges value, then work backward to choose tools that support your pitch.
→Browse by Category: Use the resource filters to find tools based on your project type (AI/ML, Web3, Hardware, etc.).
→Click for Details: Each resource card links to a detailed page with usage guides, tips, and video tutorials specific to hackathon workflows.
→Deploy Early: Set up your deployment pipeline (e.g., Vercel) in the first hour—having a live URL is critical for demos.
→Share this Guide: Bookmark it, share it with your team, and reference it during hackathons. All links open internally first for safety and context.