21x Hackathon Winner Turned College Dropout | Jia Chen Interview

Jia Chen is a 21-year-old that won 21x hackathons and co-founded her own startup, all while being a content creator. She’s worked hard to succeed in tech despite attending a non-target school, and has recently dropped out to work on her startup, Sprint.dev.

We recently talked about her journey and how she’s accomplished so much, so quickly. Here are some key takeaways:

1. Why most people struggle to win hackathons – Winning often comes down to team dynamics, judge interaction, and smart project execution, not just stacking credentials or showing off a complicated tech stack.

2. Succeeding at a non-target school – If your school isn’t an outlier, make sure you are. Take on leadership roles, drive big projects, build a personal brand, etc.

3. Dropping out of college – College can provide structure but stifle creativity. Don’t just drop out, though–set preconditions. Build projects, test ideas, and create opportunities first if you are considering it.

The full conversation is available wherever you get your podcasts (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts). I've also gone ahead and wrote up a brief summary if you prefer to read below:

Getting Into Hackathons, Strategy, Benefits

• Building hackathon teams – Audrey picks teammates based on skills and drive, not credentials. Instead of chasing stacked resumes, she looks at past projects, GitHub activity, and ambition. She’s won with community college students who had less experience, but a stronger will to win. Although she’s done hackathons solo she says a strong team is better.

• Judge interaction – You only get so much time to present your project. Audrey usually keeps her presentation very short, instead spending most of the time on having judges interact with the project. Many strong teams lose by wasting time bragging about their tech stack.

• Technical development – Dividing the team into frontend and backend then merging later often leads to failure as they get out of sync. Instead, connect both early on and iterate together.

• Benefits of hackathons – Hackathons offer more than just personal projects for your resume–they’re also a fast track to networking. Recruiters often come to larger hackathons in search of future interns that can build and will fast track you for internship applications.

Standing Out From a Non-Target School

• Agency – Throughout our conversation, Audrey emphasized having ‘agency’–the ability to take action and think on your feet. Participating in hackathons has helped her develop this agency, enabling her to take bold steps that have helped her stand out. It has also taught her the importance of time efficiency, with a mindset of “get it done and move on.”

• Becoming a “decision maker” – Showing leadership in a club, spearheading a big project, or creating content (even if you only reach a small audience) are all ways to stand out.

• Is college important? – College is good at providing structure if you don’t know what to learn, but isn’t necessary. In Audrey’s experience, it was helpful but dulled down her creativity and passion for learning.

• Personal brand – Initially encouraged by a friend, Audrey began vlogging her hackathon experiences and has made short vlogs since then. Content creation isn’t her main focus, and she doesn’t plan most of her content, instead focusing on authenticity.

Dropping Out, Building a Startup

• Should you drop out of college to start a company? – Before dropping out, set preconditions for your idea. Evaluate your technical skills, whether you have the network to raise investment, and other factors to verify that you will have a good shot.

• Move fast, but avoid burnout – Audrey believes in moving quickly and continuously shipping, but simultaneously emphasizes the importance of balance.

• Staying open – Be open to anything that brings you a connection or teaches you something new, even if it might not seem immediately beneficial.

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If you found anything above interesting, you can hear it in more detail in the podcast. You can listen to it wherever you prefer getting your podcasts:

• YouTube

• Spotify

• Apple Podcasts

And for more from Audrey, check out her startup, Sprint.dev, and her socials here:

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

If you have any questions for me or future guests, please drop them here. I will use these questions to make future content so I can answer the questions you care about most.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman