One thing I've been thinking about lately is how we choose teammates for hackathons.
Usually, when looking for teammates, we focus on their technical skills, professional backgrounds, past projects, or how much experience they have. And honestly, those things do matter.
But I think we sometimes overlook something much more important: how willing is this person to show up and put in the effort when it actually matters?
Because at the end of the day, you don't necessarily need a team full of experienced developers to build something cool or win a hackathon. You need people who are willing to learn, take responsibility, and work together to make the project happen.
It's okay if you don't know everything
I genuinely believe that you don't need to be an expert to be a good teammate.
Maybe you've never worked with a particular technology before. Maybe you haven't built many projects. That's completely fine.
If you're curious, willing to learn, and ready to put in the effort, there's a lot you can figure out along the way.
Sometimes, I'd rather work with someone who says, "I've never done this before, but let's figure it out," than someone who knows a lot but isn't willing to contribute consistently.
You don't have to know everything. You just have to be willing to try, learn, and take ownership.
Something I've noticed about team projects
I've noticed an interesting pattern: people often seem to put more effort into their personal projects than they do into projects they're building with a team.
Think about it. When you're working on your own project, you'll spend hours debugging an issue, watch tutorials to understand something new, or try five different approaches until something works.
You do it because you care about what you're building.
But sometimes, when the same person joins a team project, that level of involvement seems to drop.
Tasks get delayed, communication slows down, and there's an unspoken assumption that someone else will handle things if they don't.
Of course, not everyone does this, and people have different schedules and responsibilities. But I've seen enough of this pattern to wonder why it happens.
Maybe it's because, in a personal project, you know that if you don't do the work, nothing gets done. In a team, it's easier to assume that someone else will pick up the slack.
And that's where things get difficult.
A team works best when everyone feels responsible
Imagine you're building a project for a hackathon. Everyone is excited at the beginning, ideas are flowing, and the team is motivated to win.
Then the actual work begins.
Someone is struggling with the backend. Someone else is trying to get the UI working. There's an integration bug, the deadline is getting closer, and a few features need to be dropped.
This is the moment when teamwork really matters.
You don't need every teammate to be equally skilled. You don't even need everyone to contribute in exactly the same way.
But everyone should feel responsible for moving the project forward.
If you're stuck, ask for help. If you can't finish something on time, communicate early. If you don't know how to do a task, try to learn before giving up.
And if a teammate is struggling, help them out when you can.
The goal isn't to prove that you're the smartest person in the room. It's to build something together that none of you might have built as effectively alone.
Don't just join a team. Be someone the team can count on.
I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make is treating a team project as an opportunity to benefit from other people's work without contributing enough ourselves.
Joining a team should mean that you're bringing something to the table, even if that something isn't advanced technical knowledge.
Maybe you're good at research. Maybe you can design a clean interface, write documentation, test features, prepare the pitch, or learn a new framework quickly.
There's always something useful you can take ownership of.
And if you commit to doing something, try your best to deliver it.
Nobody expects everything to go perfectly. Things break, estimates are wrong, and sometimes we need help. That's normal.
What makes the difference is whether your teammates can trust you to communicate and make a genuine effort.
You don't have to be the person who does the most work. Just don't be the person everyone has to keep chasing to get their part done.
So, how do you find good teammates?
I don't think you can figure this out just by looking at someone's résumé or talking to them for ten minutes.
Instead, I'd pay attention to a few things.
- Start small. Build a small project together or participate in a short event before committing to something bigger. You'll learn a lot about how someone works.
- Talk about expectations. Ask what they want to get out of the hackathon and how much time they can realistically commit.
- Look for ownership. Do they take initiative, or do they wait for someone to assign every little task?
- Notice how they handle problems. When something doesn't work, do they try to find a solution, ask for help, and communicate? Or do they simply disappear?
- Choose consistency over big promises. Someone who quietly gets things done can be far more valuable than someone who constantly talks about winning.
And remember, someone having limited time doesn't automatically make them a bad teammate. It's much better to work with someone who honestly tells you they can contribute five hours than someone who promises twenty hours and never shows up.
The important thing is finding people whose expectations match yours.
You don't need identical skill sets. You need a shared mindset.
A great team can have beginners, experienced developers, designers, and people who are still figuring out what they're good at.
In fact, having different strengths can make a team much better.
What matters is that everyone respects the work, takes responsibility for their contribution, and genuinely wants the team to succeed.
You might join a hackathon because you want to win. Someone else might want to learn something new. Another person might be excited about building a product idea.
Those goals can absolutely coexist, as long as everyone agrees on the level of effort they're willing to put in.
Not every hackathon has to be about winning. But if a team agrees to compete seriously, everyone should respect that commitment.
One last thought
I don't think the biggest challenge in finding hackathon teammates is finding people who know enough.
It's finding people who care enough to keep going when things get difficult.
People who are willing to learn something new instead of immediately giving up. People who communicate when they're stuck. People who don't expect others to carry them through the project. And people who understand that being part of a team means contributing to something bigger than themselves.
Professional experience is great. Technical skills are important. But neither guarantees that someone will be a good teammate.
Sometimes, the person who knows the least at the beginning ends up being one of the most valuable members of the team because they're curious, dependable, and willing to put in the work.
And I think that's something worth remembering when we look for our next hackathon team.
Don't just look for people you can build a project with. Look for people who are willing to build it with you.
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