figure out what you want before looking for partners

what happened

lesson from finding partner in hackathon is that you gotta figure out what you want earlier and optimize for that. showed up looking for teammates without knowing what i actually wanted from the experience.

why it's a gotcha

if you don't know whether you want to win, learn, network, or ship, you'll end up on a team optimized for a different goal. the person who wants to win will clash with the person who wants to learn. both are valid — but they don't mix well under time pressure. the downstream effect is a team without shared understanding, and under pressure, the personality clashes get ugly fast.

the fix

before the hackathon, ask yourself: am i here to win, learn something specific, meet people, or build something real? then find people aligned with that goal. roles should follow from goals — and so should your choice of theme or track. make sure you know what game you're playing. if you can't find aligned people, going solo is better than joining the wrong team out of FOMO.