I Forgot I Had a Blog
I completely forgot that I once had a blog.
Looking back, I’ve gone through quite a lot over the last few months, but somehow, blogging slowly disappeared from my routine. So, I thought it was finally time to write again.
Another National-Level Hackathon
A few days ago, I competed in another national-level hackathon, Odoo Hackathon 2026. It was a big one. More than 21,000 participants took part in the first round, and only 857 participants made it to the second.
This time, I had the opportunity to lead another great team, and interestingly, most of the members are also with me in SIH. We had already worked together before, so there was a certain level of comfort and understanding within the team.
Did we win?
Simply, no.
And honestly, I don't think we were strong enough to win this time.
But that doesn't mean the hackathon was a failure.
We Knew What We Were Missing
In fact, I think the most valuable thing we got from it was understanding our own weak points.
For me personally, one of the biggest realizations was that I currently need to work much harder on building projects end-to-end, instead of constantly thinking, “Let's build another one.”
We had built a complete project. The project worked, and we had put real effort into it. But the problem was simple, there were better teams, and they deserved to win.
While watching the presentations of the winning teams, I realized something important. They had built considerably more features into their projects than what most of us on my team even knew was possible within the scope of the hackathon.
And that made the difference.
This Time, Losing Made Sense
This time, the failure was somewhat inevitable.
Unlike the hackathon I participated in back in March, where I had a few advantages working in my favor, this time there was no such comfort.
But let's forget about those perks for now.
Instead, I think this experience was useful precisely because there was nowhere to hide. We weren't unlucky. We simply weren't good enough yet.
And sometimes, that's exactly what you need to see.
A Little Confidence Boost
There was, however, one thing that gave my confidence a rather unexpected boost.
During the evaluation, I was asked several backend-related questions, and I answered all of them perfectly, without really struggling.
Somehow, I even knew the year in which the technologies were created and who created them.
And there is actually a reason for that.
Something Is Brewing
Right now, I am working on something.
Something related to backend.
Something that I will be revealing very soon.
Until then, I’ll probably be writing about it anonymously on Reddit.
So, for now, that's all I can say.
No Trophy, But a Lesson
Maybe this hackathon didn't end with a trophy, but it gave me something else, a much clearer understanding of where I currently stand, where my team stands, and most importantly, what we need to improve.
Sometimes, losing doesn't tell you that you're bad.
Sometimes, it simply shows you how much further you still have to go.
