On March
3rd and 4th, we participated in the Sitecore Hackaton 2023, an annual event
organized by the community for the community. This year, we formed a team
called "Stack Overflow," consisting of three Sitecore enthusiasts.
The
challenge, as in previous years, involved 24 continuous hours of programming,
tackling three new and unfamiliar topics for the participants. These were:
- Best
Enhancement for SXA Headless
- Best
Enhancement for XM Cloud
- Best
Migration Module to transition from XP (traditional) to XM Cloud/Content Hub
One/Headless CMS
Compared to
the previous year's hackathon, I feel that this year was more demanding.
Despite participating in my first hackathon last year, this time the focus was
entirely on Sitecore's composable suite.
The most
challenging part was that all categories were cloud-oriented, and we had
limited experience in these areas. While we had been working on projects
deployed on containers and the latest version of Sitecore XP (Sitecore 10), we
still lacked practical experience in Headless or Sitecore's composable suite.
Nevertheless, we gave it our all to present a solution, focusing on the best
migration from traditional XP to Content Hub One.
The
experience was challenging, but as always, it left us with valuable lessons.
For future hackathons, I have the task of staying informed about Sitecore's
latest releases. Although we may not master all the tools, staying informed
about them can be crucial for the team's success. Additionally, I emphasize the
importance of having a team with diverse knowledge and skills in various
technologies to channel ideas into solutions.
A key
lesson was recognizing when it is necessary to take a break. We discovered that
taking a short break, rotating among team members, and clarifying our ideas
significantly improved the quality of our solutions. Although challenging due
to time constraints, I now understand that it is essential for creating clearer
and more effective solutions.
If you're
thinking about participating, I recommend considering these points and not
being afraid. Check out Sitecore's latest releases and contributions to technology. Also, staying informed about emerging technologies can open up new
creative possibilities. This year, a team integrated artificial intelligence
with Sitecore to facilitate content generation—a brilliant idea.
In summary, the Sitecore Hackathon 2023 was a challenge, but
the lessons learned and shared experiences made every effort worthwhile. I look forward to participating in
the coming years.
