Join the Fray at Hackathon 2025: Building a Team
First things first: Know thyself
When forming teams, one thing you’ll want to discuss is the skills that you and your teammates bring to the table. This is going to help you determine your approach. To do this, you’ll want to be able to articulate what skills you have and want to focus on, both technical and non-technical. Think about the following:
Products
Are you a whiz at HRSD or SAM? Are you a master weaver of the Workflow Data Fabric? Are your Flow Designer flows automagical? Know what you can do with different parts of the platform, and how that might play into possible build ideas as well as the announced build categories.
Technicality
Can you glide through GlideRecords and make those APIs sing? Are you more comfortable building reports, designing forms, and making those related lists…relatable? Some skills will transfer among products, even if you haven’t touched them before. Most builds will need different levels of technicality, so again, no need to sit out on the fun if you’re not “pro-coder”. Just have a good idea of where your level of expertise sits.
Non-Technical skills
Are you an outstanding cat herder that can keep your devs from coming down with a case of “scope creep” (SO IMPORTANT with the time limitation). Or maybe you’re a master storyteller that can help sell to the judges just how special your idea is. There are so many non-technical skills that go into a successful entry, so make sure you and your teammates think about who will be the best fit for handling these tasks.
Overall, consider what skills you bring and what gaps you need to fill:
Front-end Developers: Build the user interface and make it visually appealing.
Back-end Experts: Handle integrations, workflow automation, and database work.
Designers & Marketing experts: Provide UI/UX guidance, create assets, and ensure a polished presentation.
Project Managers or Business Analysts: Help drive decisions, keep the team on track, and ensure efficiency.
Second things second: Know thy team
Now that you’ve figured out what you bring to the table, take a look around at your friends, coworkers and other contacts you’ve met across the ServiceNow industry and see who wants to dive into the fray with you. As you figure out who to add to your team, consider the following:
Aim to have fun!
Even IF you’re super-competitive (like I am), I first want to encourage you to build a team that you will have fun with. Knowledge can be a grueling (but so rewarding) week of constantly going and being on your feet. If you’re going to spend eight hours hunkered over a laptop with four people, chugging caffeine and worrying about the time straight until midnight, make sure they’re people you like and will enjoy your time with. Win or lose, the craziness of the time crunch and the atmosphere can make the experience really fun, or really stressful. Honestly, having fun with people you enjoy is worth more than any trophy.
Play to your team’s strengths
Once you know who you’re teaming up with, start speaking to who wants to and can do what types of work to support a Hackathon entry. Ideally, you’ll have a good mix of technical and non-technical skills that covers an array of products, features, and needs. But again, having fun is more important here, so if your team doesn’t have (for example) an integrations expert, that’s ok! Knowing what you have (and what you don’t) is just another piece of information that helps you decide things like the category you’ll build your entry for and how you’ll go about bringing those good ideas to life. If you’re missing a skill set, don’t fret. A lack of an integrations expert just means that you probably dont want to choose a category that heavily relies on integrations. Instead, select a challenge that aligns with your team’s expertise.
Get your Logistics in Order:
While all of this sounds fun and good (and it is!) there are a few logistical things that you and your teammates will need to do to make sure the event goes smoothly for you (or as smoothly as an adrenaline-fueled dev session CAN go!).
Register for Knowledge/CreatorCon: The Hackathon is available only to those signed up for Knowledge/CreatorCon, so make sure you’re registered and set to go to Knowledge as well as CreatorCon (if registration is separate).
Crown a Team Queen: Every team that registers for Hackathon has to have a team lead/captain/queen/marquis/whatever. This person’s main responsibility is making sure the team and all its members are properly registered for the event. So pick someone most likely to remember to take care of these logistics in a responsible manner. The official Team Queen as noted on your team entry doesn’t necessarily have to confer other responsibilities, that’s entirely up to you.
Pick a team name: Oh please have fun with this. This is a great way to be creative, let your team’s personality shine, and help your entry stand out. Pick a name that makes you and your team members smile. Your name can come from where you plan to focus your efforts (for example, in 2023 we chose the name “Townsville Parks and Rec" because we planned to focus on public sector solutions), or from pop culture (there is no end to how much amusement we got out of calling ourselves the “Tortured Developers Department” after the latest Taylor Swift album), or whatever strikes your fancy. Whatever you choose, make it something you’re proud to own!
Register for Hackathon: As information becomes available and registration opens, make sure aforementioned Team Queen does their royal duties to set you up for smooth entry to the competition. If individual registration is also required, make sure you get that taken care of.
Clear your calendar: As I mentioned earlier, the Hackathon usually takes place the Tuesday evening at Knowledge. Food is provided, but plan for the event to take up your ENTIRE evening, from 4pm til midnight. Check early and often with your teammates. If one of you have other obligations (client meetings, team dinners, etc), start now to see what can get moved so you’re available to your team for the duration of the event. If not, work with the team member to see if they’ll still be able to contribute in the way that they want to, and whether or not that works for your team as a whole.
Building a strong team for Hackathon 2025 is about more than just assembling a group of skilled individuals—it’s about finding people you enjoy working with, leveraging each other’s strengths, and setting yourself up for a fun and productive experience. By taking the time to understand your own skills, forming a well-rounded team, and handling logistics ahead of time, you’ll set yourselves up for success. Whether you walk away with a trophy or simply an unforgettable experience, the key is to collaborate, create, and most importantly, enjoy the journey.
