Say you find an AI hackathon and think,
“I kind of want to try this.”
I think the next question that comes up is this one:
“But is it okay to go alone?”
At first, that was a big concern for me.
When I signed up for my first AI hackathon, I didn’t have anyone lined up to go with me.
I asked about five or six people around me, “Want to come with me?”, but in the end, nobody came.
So I was truly on my own.
And I’m not an engineer.
I had only just started using AI.
Looking back, that was a pretty bold move (haha).
But to give you the conclusion first:
joining alone turned out to be totally fine.
That said, how teams are formed varies a lot from event to event.
In this article, I want to share what I learned from actually going: what happens when you join a hackathon alone?
First: whether you can join alone depends on the event
This part is important.
Not every AI hackathon lets you sign up on your own.
Depending on the event, the rules might be:
- you apply as a team from the start
- solo participants are welcome
- you sign up alone and form a team at the venue
- you can join either as an individual or as a team
- you can build alone all the way to the end
So before you apply, it’s good to check things like:
“Can I join solo?”
“Do I need a team in advance?”
“Is there team building on the day?”
The problem is that event pages don’t always explain this in detail.
On this site, when I put together event information, I try to include details about joining solo whenever I can confirm them from official information.
At my first hackathon, I was completely alone
My first AI hackathon was AIAU Craft Day, held in Roppongi Hills.
Until a few days before, I barely even knew the word “hackathon.”
Someone told me about the event on a Sunday.
It was happening that Friday.
It was very last-minute.
At first, I thought something like:
“I’ll just go with someone.”
But even after talking to about five or six people around me, nobody ended up joining.
“Oh. I’m really going alone.”
That was the moment (haha).
On top of that, there were about 60–70 participants.
To me, it looked like a pretty big event.
Around noon, a shared slide deck for finding teammates appeared
At that event, around noon on the day, a shared slide deck was set up so participants could look for teammates.
On it, people wrote things like:
- what they wanted to do
- what they could do
- what kind of people they were looking for
- whether they already had a team
Out of the roughly 60–70 participants, I remember fewer than ten people writing on the slides at first.
In other words, if you just wait and think,
“I hope someone reaches out to me,”
nothing might happen.
So I wrote something too.
I didn’t just use text — I added images as well, so people could understand what I wanted to do and what my background was.
Looking back, I think it was good that I took that kind of initiative.
Then I took the mic at the venue
After the event started and the explanations were over, there was time for people looking for a team to speak in front of everyone.
I took the mic too.
What I said was basically:
“I’m looking for teammates.”
And I even said something like:
“If nobody comes, please let me join one of your teams.” (haha)
It’s a little funny to me now, but at the time I was completely serious.
I had come alone, I didn’t have a team, and I didn’t really know what to build.
So the only thing I could do was say,
“I want a team.”
But I think that’s actually fine in a setting like that.
In the end, I teamed up with a participant who had hackathon experience, and we became a team of two. They also took care of the registration and submission process, which might have been hard for me to manage on my own.
When you join alone, it may help not to wait too long
This was one of the biggest things I felt at my first hackathon.
Coming alone isn’t a problem in itself.
But if you keep waiting and thinking,
“Someone will probably invite me,”
you might not end up with a team.
In my case, I:
- wrote on the shared slides
- explained who I was
- spoke up at the venue
It doesn’t have to be a flashy self-introduction.
Something like:
“I’m not an engineer, but I can do planning.”
“I can do design.”
“I speak English.”
“I want to help with ideas.”
“I’m new to AI, but I want to give it a try.”
is enough.
I think just making it clear to others who you are
makes a big difference.
Some events have you form teams online in advance instead of on the day. For the Vietnam Japan AI Hackathon, when I posted on Discord looking for teammates, about eight people reached out to me.
Even if you’re not an engineer, there’s plenty you can do on a team
One reason people feel nervous about joining alone is probably this:
“I don’t have technical skills. Won’t I just get in the way if I join a team?”
I thought the same thing.
But when you actually join, there’s quite a lot to do besides writing code.
For example:
- coming up with ideas
- figuring out who the product is for
- writing text
- planning the presentation
- making slides
- thinking about design
- giving feedback from the user’s point of view
- sorting out priorities while keeping an eye on the time
These are real roles too.
Of course, some events are very technical.
But at least in my experience,
“I can’t code, so I can’t join a team”
wasn’t necessarily true.
Team building isn’t just about skills — it’s also about chemistry
After joining a few hackathons, I realized that teams aren’t decided by technical skill alone.
With some people, the conversation just flows naturally:
“That idea sounds fun.”
“Let’s try that.”
On the other hand, even if someone is technically amazing, you might be heading in completely different directions.
At the AI Film Hackathon, I was on a team of four, including me.
There was someone visiting Tokyo while traveling from France, and there was also a participant with a connection to India.
When I told them I had never used Magnific, the tool for making the video, they said, “It’s everyone’s first time, so it’s fine.”
I don’t think we were a technically super-strong team.
If anything, we spent so long talking about ideas that we only just made it at the end (haha).
But I really enjoyed that time.
So for me, it might be more important to
team up with people I enjoy making something with, rather than trying to join the strongest team.
Going alone actually means talking to more people
This one surprised me.
When you go with someone you know, you naturally end up spending more time talking to that person.
But when you’re alone,
you have to find people to talk to yourself.
As a result, you end up talking with all kinds of people.
To me, the most interesting part of a hackathon has always been meeting people.
You get to talk with people you wouldn’t meet in everyday life.
Engineers, students, people from overseas, people who use AI in their jobs.
Joining alone can feel a little lonely at first, but I’ve started to think
it might actually be a pretty good position for getting to know people.
Of course, some people build alone all the way through
A hackathon doesn’t always mean working in a team.
Some events allow solo projects.
In fact, at the events I joined, there were people who built amazing things on their own.
Working alone has its advantages too:
- you can make decisions quickly
- you can build exactly what you want
- you don’t need to divide up roles
Especially if you have strong technical skills and can turn your idea into something quickly, joining solo might be easier.
I’m more of a team person because I like moving forward while talking with others, but this is completely a matter of preference.
Don’t skip it just because you’re worried about not finding a team
When it’s your first time, it’s easy to worry:
“What if I go alone and can’t team up with anyone?”
I get it.
I felt the same way.
But at least in my case, rather than worrying about it and not going at all,
just going and speaking up if needed
worked out better.
Even if you don’t end up forming a team, just seeing what happens at the event can be a good learning experience.
Even just talking with people is worth it.
I don’t think you need to handle everything perfectly from the start.
If it’s your first time, check these before you apply
If you’re thinking about joining alone, it helps to check at least these things on the event page:
- whether you can sign up alone
- any team size requirements
- whether there’s team building on the day
- whether there’s a place to connect beforehand, like Discord
- whether solo projects are allowed
- whether it says beginners are welcome
If it doesn’t say, I think it’s fine to just ask the organizer.
When I’m researching event information too, I sometimes think it’s faster to just check with the organizer when something is unclear.
Joining alone is okay — just take a little initiative
From my experience,
it’s okay to join an AI hackathon alone.
But
“signing up alone” and “staying passive the whole day” are two different things.
If you want to form a team, it helps to take a little action, like:
- reaching out to people yourself
- writing on the recruitment slides
- talking on Discord
- letting people know what you can do
I mean, at my very first hackathon, I took the mic and said,
“If nobody comes, please let me join one of your teams.” (haha)
And it still worked out.
So if you’re thinking,
“I can’t join because I don’t have anyone to go with,”
you don’t need to give up just because of that.
If anything, going alone might be exactly how you meet some interesting people.