After the Hackathon: What I Learned, Built, and Plan Next

When I joined the hackathon, I had one main goal: break out of the tutorial zone and actually build something useful with AI and Telegram.

I'd worked with Python before, but never took the time to properly explore aiogram, the async-first framework for Telegram bots. And while I’d used Gemini, I’d never integrated it into a real-world project.

This post is about what happened after the first working prototype, what I improved, where the limits showed up, and what’s coming next.

Looking Back: From Idea to Bot in Days

It’s surprising how fast things moved once I got started. With the right tools (and a little stubbornness), a working AI-powered Telegram bot came together in just a few days:

Each day added a new piece and by the end of the week, it wasn’t just a demo. It was a tool that someone could realistically use to improve and publish real Telegram content.

How Much Time Did Bolt Actually Save Me?

Looking back, using Bolt and Gemini easily cut my development time in half.

• With AI: The full project from idea to working Telegram bot took just over a week.
• Without AI: Doing it all manually (figuring out aiogram, wiring configs, structuring logic) would’ve taken a month or more.

Bolt handled the repetitive parts, suggested clean structures, and gave me a working starting point almost instantly which meant I could focus more on improving.

Sure, I still had to review but having something that works in minutes instead of hours? That’s cool.

Lessons Learned: Tech, Process, and Mindset

During the hackathon, I learned to work effectively with aiogram, explored the Gemini API in practice, and understood the strengths and quirks of different model types. It taught me that AI can accelerate development but still needs careful supervision and that starting messy is better than waiting for perfect.

What’s Next for This Project

Now that the prototype is up and running, the focus shifts to making it usable for real users.

Here’s what’s on the roadmap:

1. Public release. Launch a fully functional version of the bot so anyone can start using it to create and update Telegram posts.
2. Scheduled posting. Add the ability to plan posts in advance, letting users set dates and times for automatic publishing.
3. Redis integration. Use Redis to store user-specific data like language preferences and daily limits, improving both performance and personalization.

These features will transform the bot from a simple AI assistant into a practical content management tool for Telegram creators everywhere.

I’m excited to gather user feedback and continue iterating to make the experience even better.

Would I Join Another Hackathon? Absolutely.

Definitely yes. Even if you don’t win, you still get:

• New tech stack experience
• A working, deployable project
• Bonus: portfolio boost and fresh material for blog posts

Hackathons push you to learn fast, build practical solutions, and connect with like-minded devs. For me, it’s always worth it and this Telegram AI bot was no exception.

Closing Thoughts: AI Tools Don’t Replace You - They Extend You

AI and tools like Bolt.new definitely speed up development, but the real difference still comes down to your thinking, judgment, and manual refinement.

These assistants help jumpstart projects and handle routine code, but the final quality depends on how you guide, review, and improve their output.

If you want to explore the full code and try the bot yourself, check out the GitHub README for detailed instructions.

Also, if you want to dive deeper into my development journey, I wrote another post about the process here: From Zero to Telegram AI Bot: My Experience Building with Bolt and Gemini.

This project was built as part of a hackathon by @oleg_pydev and @valentina_skakun.