2025 is upon us and ETHDublin a mere 5 months away. Most of our hackers thus far have been first timers, so for anyone out there that might be curious, as you never know who you might bump into, here are the people you’ll meet any a typical web3 hackathon.

Disclaimer: this is for to be ‘a bit of craic’ and is not intended to offend our stereotype any person or group.

Hacker archetypes

Kicking us off is The Visionary. This person is driven by passion and moved by something bigger than themselves. The visionary dares to solve big problems and is not necessarily there to win. Their enthusiasm makes them great leaders, seeing the hackathon as a stepping stone to a larger goal.

Call us biased, but visionaries will do well at ETHDublin for sure. The implementation of MiCA in Ireland gives the country the advantage of regulatory clarity for those altering the financial landscape. This will suit visionaries looking to establish a headquarters for their web3 endeavours.

Similarly, visionaries will be easily found at Ethereum Zurich given the city’s status as a hub for financial innovation and blockchain technology.

The visionary’s more technical counterpart is The Innovator. Both are future oriented, however, the innovator will be adept at directly handling cutting edge technologies. You will find these people excelling at events like ETHDam, upholding cypherpunk values.

Next up is The Bounty Hunter. These are laser focused and hack to maximise rewards. Approach them with caution because time is money, especially when stringing together an array of seemingly incompatible bounties. As serious as they might be about boosting their chances of winning prizes, they counterbalance this by having a lot of fun. Any team would benefit from their highly competitive and strategic nature, although you may find they come prepared (with teammates of their own).

Bounty hunters fit right in at established hackathons like ETHLisbon. You will find them getting on with The Serial Hacker, and in fact, they are often the same people!

Serial hackers are the usual suspects, showing up regularly throughout the global hacker circuit and have a massive opportunity to make a name for themselves at ETHWarsaw, ETHBucharest and ETHSofia. Goal-orientated with less focus on maximising rewards compared to the bounty hunters, serial hackers target very achievable challenges with lucrative rewards, so they win enough to fund their trip to the next hackathon. They are definitely sleeping at the venue, if that’s permitted.

You’ll find serial hackers are more keen on building connections with other hackers, or conference attendees too should your event swing that way. The team will be small, well-oiled and worshipping quality over quantity.

The crowd favourites are often The Casual. They are participating in the experience itself, learning from and galvanising the community forming around your event. You will find the casual experimenting or entertaining, contributing in ways that are essential even if not obviously so. Casuals bring a lighthearted spirit, perhaps playing an instrument, spinning the decks at the afterparty or contributing in a voluntary capacity. There is no fear of failure here. Get them onboard and help them help you.

The casuals are found everywhere, all you need to do is assess the global Ethereum events calendar and choose.

The hacker in all of us

Finally, we have the hacker in all of us: The All Nighter. Sometimes a feature, sometimes a bug, this hacker will make sure that a deadline is met at the expense of sleeping. We’ve all been there.

In the spirit of harm reduction and with longevity coming into focus a lot more, we’d like to see this archetype show up a lot less. Despite all-nighters being an integral part of the hacker experience, is it really necessary? Sleep deprivation is no joke.

That’s why at ETHDublin, we close the laptops at 11pm and send you home.

Though it is permitted to work on your project over night, it is not what we encourage. Instead, you can get an early night’s sleep or join the crew for a bit of craic.

In previous years, we have brought traditional Celtic music to The Vaults. This coming year, we plan on doing that and more. So don’t be shy, come and join us.