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Developer Reflects on Failed 9-Day Hackathon and the Lessons It Left Behind

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A developer participating in Hack Hydra, a 9-day HydraDB hackathon, set out to build an ambitious app but ran out of AI credits, time, and hardware capacity before completing it. Despite using multiple platforms including Codex and Replit, the project was only around 40% complete midway through, with debugging alone consuming nearly 70% of total development time. An aging laptop with limited RAM and full storage further slowed progress, and the final days were spent firefighting rather than finishing. By the deadline, the app was broken and no demo video could be submitted. The developer has since outlined key lessons, including proper scoping, early core functionality, and treating AI as a tool rather than a substitute for planning and debugging.

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Developer Reflects on Failed 9-Day Hackathon and the Lessons It Left Behind · ShortSingh