Last year was the first time we hosted the AsyncAPI Conference. This year, we're going to host our first AsyncAPI Hackathon. This article tries to address the many questions coming from our community. 😀

When is the Hackathon?

1st - 31st of October, 2021.

We wanted you to have an entire month to complete your idea. This way, you don't have to stress and overwork yourself over the weekend. Instead, enjoy a relaxed month and remember it's about having fun! 🤩

What is the main theme for the Hackathon?

The goal of the Hackathon is to provide MVP solutions that can help AsyncAPI Community in ways like:

• Ease education and getting started with the project.
• Bring new AsyncAPI-related solutions that can solve the existing challenges the community is facing with event-driven architectures.
• Extend existing tools, reuse them for some scenarios, and add the extra implementation on top.

Do I need to register for the event?

No, you do not need to register for the event. 🙂

Anybody can join the Hackathon, whenever they want! No pressure, in case you realize you can't deliver what you had originally planned.

Is it a team competition or only for individuals?

Both.

You can work solo or form a team if you want! Just keep in mind that if you win with a team, the prize is divided amongst the entire team.

I want to participate, but I don't have a good idea

No worries, look at the ideas that community members are sharing in our public community discussion thread; you can pick one of them and/or get some inspiration.

Can there be multiple submissions with the same idea?

Yes.

We do not set any limits here. The same idea can be done by multiple teams. Just keep in mind that if there are two excellent submissions for the same idea, I doubt judges will vote for both to let other ideas shine, although this is not an official rule.

What is the scope of the submission? What does finishing my solution on time really mean?

• Your solution must be fully open-sourced and stored in a repository under your GitHub profile. Please do not use Bitbucket or GitLab as it will increase complexity for our community members that will review submissions.
• Your repository must have an open source license. If it helps, at AsyncAPI Initiative we always use Apache 2.0 😉.
• It cannot integrate with a commercial solution that has no free tier.
• You must submit it before the deadline. Evaluation of the solution will not take into account any commits pushed to the repository after the deadline.

How do I submit my task?

Create a new discussion item here. Make sure there is:

• Overview of what the solution is about.
• Screenshots/Video/Diagrams/Code snippets (anyOf 😉) that helps judges to quickly understand the solution and encourage them for further review.
• Link to the repository where the full solution can be found.

If you win, you get to present your idea at our upcoming 2021 AsyncAPI Conference in November.

How will solutions be scored?

A selected group that will represent the community will review all solutions. They will be obligated to only provide YES comments for ideas they liked the most and explain why. Each judge has 3 votes.

Submissions and scores are public, and we reserve the right for judges to not make public NO comments, for the respect of all involved parties.

The solution with the highest score wins! 😀

How do I get help? Who can help with further understanding of AsyncAPI and the entire tooling landscape?

• Join one of Contributor First meetings. These will be streamed throughout the entire month of October, 2021. Add this calendar with Google Calendar format or iCal format. The Contributor First meetings will take place every Wednesday, twice a day, at 8AM UTC and 4PM UTC.
• Join our Slack. We are a very friendly and responsive community.
• Create an issue in one of the repositories and explain what help you need.

What prizes are there?

$5000 for the winner, $3000 for the runner-up, and $1000 for 3rd place.

There will also be additional swag-packs for other participants.

How do I get the winning prize money or swag?

After the AsyncAPI Conference, you must submit an expense to Open Collective here with an invoice that indicates the amount of money you have won.

For swags, we will ask you directly to share your postal address with us that we will share with the agency responsible for swag-pack production.

Who owns the intellectual property (IP)?

AsyncAPI Initiative doesn't claim the IP of submitted solutions. Nevertheless, we welcome projects donations. Contact us if you want to continue working on your submission further after the Hackathon, and you want to do it under the GitHub organization owned by the AsyncAPI Initiative.

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash