How to Add Web3 Hackathons to Your Resume

Written by John Williams

Reviewed by Brady Werkheiser

Published on 2022-08-039 min read

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Showing that you participated in a popular web3 hackathon looks excellent on your resume because it shows potential employers your skills, hustle, and ability to ship products in a high-stress environment.

Developers looking to get a career in Web3 should put hackathon experience on their resume and LinkedIn profile because it immediately communicates to recruiters that you are motivated, have a baseline of experience, and now how to work in the industry.

Additionally, if you earned awards, collected bounties, or received prize funding for one of your winning Web3 hackathon ideas, your resume will carry the authority of the hackathon judges, and make you a more appealing candidate.

Do employers care about Web3 hackathon experience?

Because the Web3 industry is experiencing enormous growth, hiring managers and recruiters are trying to find capable professionals with first-hand experience building and working in Web3. Participating in a Web3 hackathon establishes a baseline of experience, and enriches a candidate's application.

Additionally, hiring managers for high-growth Web3 companies need to know their employees can produce high-quality work in a fast pace, high stress environment. Because Web3 hackathons allow developers to do exactly that, adding hackathon experience to a resume can significantly influence a hiring decision.

So, before going into a hackathon, make sure to focus on not just winning the hackathon but also making decisions and writing them down so that you can make a compelling resume. If you want more tips about what to do before a web3 hackathon, check out this page about preparing for a web3 hackathon. 

How do I put a Web3 hackathon on my resume?

Adding a hackathon to your resume is as simple as including an additonal section for projects, and listing bulletpoints that explain your project in the same format as you list work experience or internship experience.

1. Create a “Projects” Section

In addition to an “education” and “experience” section, create a new section to include hackathon “projects.” Because resumes for entry-level and non-senior positions should be kept to a single page, if you don't have enough room for a new section, consider removing a less vital section like skills, courses, or volunteer experience.

In addition to your web3 hackathon projects, this section can include school competitions, apps you’ve built as a side project, or projects built during school.

2. Add Your Hackathon Project

Each hackathon project you’ve built should be listed under the “projects” section. For example, if you participated in the ETHDenver BUIDLathon, your header for the section might include the hackathon, the project name, and date.

Here's an example:

ETHDenver BUIDLathon, Indexly, an Ethereum Indexing API, February, 2022

Underneath this header you will include concise bullet points that explain your role.

3. Include 3-5 Bullet Points Explaining your Role

Explaining your role is the most crucial part of your hackathon in your resume–it shows the hiring manager what exactly you did, learned and excelled at during the hackathon. 

How do I write bullet points explaining my role in a hackathon?

First, write down everything you remember about participating in the hackathon. Here are some helpful questions to start remembering your role in the hackathon:

• How many people were on your team? 

• How long was the hackathon? 

• What programming languages did you use?

• Did you lead the development of any parts of your project?

• Did you take a leadership role in your team?

• How did your contribution in the hackathon help your team?

• What previous skills did you build upon while participating in the hackathon?

• What new skills did you learn from participating in the hackathon?

• Did you win any awards or receive any recognition?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can start writing bullet points explaining your role. Make sure these bullet points focus on the most significant, impactful, and impressive aspects of your participation in the hackathon from above. 

Web3 Hackathon Resume Tips

1. Start every sentence with an action verb

A general resume tip is to write about your roles and experiences using strong action verbs in the tense based on whether the project is ongoing (e.g. use present tense), or if the project has ended (e.g. use past tense).

Writing about your experiences with action verbs clearly communicates what you did rather than sharing generalized details about the project.

Next, choose the most specific verb for your accomplishments at the hackathon. For example you might use two bullet points like this:

• Developed a no-code smart contract development tool using performance optimized contracts written in Huff

• Managed a team of 3 marketers and designers to launch a frontend website for our non-code smart contract tool

Lastly, don't include the word, "I," such as "I developed," because it is clear to resume reviewer that your resume is about you. Simply start your sentence with the action verb for maximum clarity.

Don’t repeat verbs

Avoid repeating the same verb to highlight your breadth of experience. Even if you developed the frontend and backend for your project, use different terms like "Developed," for one bullet point, and "Architected." This will show your range as a writer and strengthen your Web3 resume.

2. Align your contributions with the job you’re applying for

Resumes are used by hiring managers to see whether your credentials fit the specific job requirements their company is hiring for. Therefore, it is beneficial to align your web3 hackathon experience with the job description and the products the company you’re applying to is building. 

For example, if a job is a fully-remote blockend development role, you may want to emphasize your aptitude with different programming languages and ability to deliver projects on time without any issues during an online Web3 hackathon.

In contrast, if the job you are applying for is an in-person, team-based project management role, then you’ll want to emphasize your ability to organize and lead a hackathon team efficiently, manage personnel, meet deadlines, and deliver a cohesive project during an in-person Web3 hackathon.

Finally, if you have too many projects to fit onto one page, ensure that you include the most relevant hackathons to the job you’re applying for.

For example, suppose the job is to develop the frontend website for a web3 startup developing an NFT marketplace. In that case, you’d want to include a hackathon where you designed an award-winning frontend application rather than one where you focused on backend development.

3. Cover multiple aspects of your contributions

High-growth Web3 startups need people who can accomplish a wide range of tasks, so it is important to highlight your breadth of skills that you improved during your Web3 hackathon experience. Make sure your bullet points communicate not only development skills, but management, leadership, design, and cross-functional skills too.

If all of your bullet points discuss your development achievements, the recruiter may think you are one-dimensional. In contrast, if you write about your leadership and management roles then the hiring manager will see that you are capable of being a good team player on a web3 team.

4. Include quantifiable results

When writing about a Web3 hackathon on your resume, include quantifiable results in your bullet points. Including specifc data points adds meaning context to your resume where broad language can be used to stretch the truth.

Here are some quantifiable results that your web3 hackathon resume should include:

1. Lines of code written

2. Time spent coding

3. Prize money won

4. Rewards earned

Here's an example of a Web3 hackathon resume bullet point that uses quantifiable numbers:

• Wrote 1,500 lines of bug-free Solidity and Vyper code in 48 hours

Including these quantifiable results will allow your hiring manager to better understand how hard you worked during the hackathon and what you got out of it.  

5. Write bullet points on one line each

Because hiring managers review resumes quickly, and often scan the resume for just the most important details, keeping bullet points concise and to one line makes their job easier.

Although you may want to write more, chances are the person reviewing your resume will not read every word. Instead, distill your most impressive contributions, achievements, and roles into a few supercharged bullet points.

Plus, the more concisely you can write your bullet points, the more overall experiences and roles you’ll be able to fit on your resume. 

6. Highlight only the most important projects

Format your resume so that the most recent projects are at the top of the projects section, and only the most relevant ones are included.

By including your strongest hackathon experiences and ordering them in reverse chronological order (e.g. the most recent experiences at the top), recruiters can see your progress and dedication to building in Web3 over time.

7. Keep sentences simple

Another common mistake is using confusing language in your bullet points. Despite what you may think, using big words and confusing language doesn’t make you sound more capable and intelligent. Instead, it confuses your reader and dilutes the achievements and skills you are trying to express. 

8. Don't lie or exaggerate

Take pride and own your accomplishments. Don't stretch the truth or lie on your resume because it can destroy your credibility in the Web3 space. Hiring managers have many resources to fact-check you, so lying is the fastest way to get your resume disqualified. Because the Web3 hiring network is small, managers may even alert other companies not to hire you.

If you don't have a lot to say about a hackathon, it might be better to not include it on your resume, and instead use a section to highlight the web3 courses you've completed.

Web3 Hackathon Resume Examples

DAO Tooling Example

ETHDenver BUIDLathon, SunDance, DAO Tooling, August 2022

• Participated in a 24-hour web3 hackathon with 4,000+ participants and won the silver medal and best design award.

• Led a team of five participants in developing “SunDance,” a DAO-creation API designed for charitable ventures. 

• Designed a frontend website using HTML, Webflow, and CSS, focusing on accessible UX for non-crypto-native users.

This example does a great job of succinctly writing this participant's very impressive achievements.  

DeFi Example

Polygon BUIDLit, ZeroKash, Zero Knowledge DeFi Protocol, June 2022

• Created “ZeroKash,” a DeFi protocol utilizing zero-knowledge technology during Polygon's 5-week web3 hackathon.

• Awarded the third-place prize of $15,000 for ZeroKash’s scalability, reliability, and streamlined UX. 

• Coded the project over 300 hours during the hackathon, and wrote over 4,000 lines of code. 

• Synthesized the best parts of top DeFi protocols such as Aave, Fantom, and TrueFi and made ZeroKash zkEVM-compatible.

This example does a good job at highlighting ZeroKash’s achievements at the hackathon. However, depending on which employer the applicant is applying to work for, they may want to simplify or take out the acronyms “zkEVM” and “DeFi.” In general, the larger software and web3 companies will know what these terms are. 

NFT Example

ETHOnline – Fi-Foxes, NFT Project, September 2021

• Participated in a 3-week web3 hackathon and won $1,000 and an honorable mention. 

• Managed a team of 10 developers in creating “Fi-Foxes,” an NFT project with decentralized finance interoperability.

• Met for 2+ hours daily with each of the project’s divisions: design, backend, and product, ensuring a smooth rollout.

• Taught new developers on our team about the fundamentals of Javascript, HTML, Solidity. 

• Learned important leadership, project management, and go-to-market skills. 

This example shows the participant's technical and soft skills, including various programming languages, leadership, and project management.  

Web3 Hackathon Resume Templates

Here are some generalize Web3 hackathon resume templates that you can copy and update for each of the projects you plan to include on your resume.

[Hackathon In Which You Participated], [Project Name], [Project Category, [Month, Year]

• Designed…

• Developed…

• Awarded…

• Managed…

[Hackathon In Which You Participated], [Project Name], [Project Category, [Month, Year]

• Coordinated...

• Directed…

• Instructed…

• Wrote…

[Hackathon In Which You Participated], [Project Name], [Project Category, [Month, Year]

• Crafted…

• Presented…

• Participated…

• Published…

Using strong verbs, concise wording, and including relevant context aligned with the role you're applying for will help you stand out.

How to Add Web3 Hackathon Experience to LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another great way to highlight your Web3 hackathon achievements to Web3 recruiters and startup founders proactively searching for candidates. There are two main ways to add your hackathon on LinkedIn: adding a project section, creating a post, and including a link to a PDF version of your resume.

1. Link a PDF of Your Resume

LinkedIn has a featured section where you can upload your resume. This is helpful for recruiters proactively looking for new candidates.

Here's how to add your resume to LinkedIn:

1. Click view profile

2. Click the "pencil" icon in the "featured section"

3. Click the "+" to add a featured link

4. Select "Add media"

5. Upload your resume

6. Write a punchy title

7. Write a short description about your goals

8. Click save

2. Include Hackathon on your LinkedIn Resume

Another excellent solution for adding hackathon experience on LinkedIn is to place the hackathon experience on your profile page under the "Projects" section. On the profile page, you can copy what you wrote about the hackathon for your resume.

To add your web3 hackathon to your LinkedIn profile, complete the following steps:

1. Click "View profile"

2. Click "Add profile section"

3. Click "Additional"

4. Click "Add projects"

5. Fill out the name, dates, URL, and description

6. Click save

Now, everyone who views your profile will be able to see your hackathon experience. 

Alternatively, you can add your hackathon experience under the "Experience section," but it could dilute your full-time experiences which will be more relevant for recruiters to see.

3. Create a Post

Once your profile is updated, sharing a post will help broadcast your web3 hackathon experience to your LinkedIn network and 2nd-degree connections.

Not only does a web3 hackathon post allow your network to keep up with your professional career progression, but it also helps them remember your name when it comes time for employment opportunities. 

Here are some important building blocks to include in your LinkedIn post about your web3 hackathon:

• An introductory sentence that outlines your post

• What you built during the hackathon

• A sentence about your general experience at the hackathon

• How you placed and what awards you received

• Why you chose to build the project you did

• A thank you to your teammates (make sure to tag them)

• A thank you to your host (tag them too)

• A thank you to anyone else you think deserves it (tag them too)

• Your plans for the future of this project and others

• A photo, screenshot, or link for the hackathon to maximize reader engagement

Best of luck on your web3 journey! Keep hacking on web3 projects and let recruiters know you're motivated to work in the blockchain industry by adding your experience to your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

If you found this helpful, consider sharing our handbook for hackathons with other web3 developers.