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 discuss:

• Winning hackathon strategies

• How to stand out as a college student

• Content creation

• Dropping out to build a startup

• College reflections and advice

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(00:55) Getting into hackathons

(04:10) Hackathon strategy

(15:20) Developing agency & time management

(19:27) Standing out at a non-target school

(20:19) Is college useful?

(24:28) Personal brand

(26:25) Dropping out to build a startup

(32:32) Advice to younger self

Where to find Jia:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jia.seed/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-chen-tech/

• Startup (Sprint.dev): https://www.sprint.dev/

Where to find Ryan:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ 

• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman