Been going to a bunch of hackathons in SF lately and honestly, everything feels fake. There are like 20 sponsors handing out credits for their tools that all do the same thing. Half the time, they can’t even explain what they’re for. They’re just hoping someone uses them so they can count it as adoption. Everyone jams these into projects to check a box, and what gets built is mostly BS with zero innovation.
Was it always like this and I'm noticing it now, or has something changed?
Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
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Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#2Feel the same
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#3Yeah, hackathons were always shit. They're an apparatus for getting essentially free labor out of unsuspecting and gullible nerds.
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#4I mostly agree with the premise, but to point out something kinda funny: these complaints are basically identical to the ones I remember from a time I personally remember as the "heyday" of hackathons (early/mid 2010s).
I think:
- they've had this degree of fakeness for almost the entirety of their existence (as long as they've needed "sponsorship" / been 6+ figure events)
- at its best, there also was a scene/subculture _surrounding_ hackathons that did care about building genuinely "cool" / "impressive" things, had an earnest interest in actually starting something longer term (there are some really successful founders that "incubated" in the hackathon scene). these folks frequented hackathons, and eventually moved on as the scene saturated with careerism / they "grew up" professionally
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#5For a very short timespan they felt organic. But very quickly became something where companies could get value for free or very low cost.
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#6Yeah, hackathons were always shit. They're an apparatus for getting essentially free labor out of unsuspecting and gullible nerds.
Could never wrap my head around the idea.
They're often framed by employers as perks: Look, we're giving you the chance to come and work overtime for free, isn't that great?
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#7An easy way to avoid this is not going to corporate-sponsored hackathons.
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#8Based on my experience, Hackathons are meant as networking events where you might put together some simple prototype. Usually people oversell whatever it is that they built, and they're using existing skills to rebuild some small part of a larger thing which they've already studied extensively outside of the event.
If a company is a big sponsor and they're offering an extra prize for using their tool then people will figure out a way to jam it into their project, but it's rarely the optimal choice. I think it has always been like this.
But if you really want to build something and there's a sponsor at the event you should ask them for lots of free credits or for some contact info in order to establish a longer-term sponsorship.
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#9The few I saw had terms of participation that gave the organisers IP first rights to everything and anything done during them and every IP release was at their discretion. Even the naive soon got wind of that.
Re: Ask HN: Hackathons feel fake now
#10I organized some grassroots hackathon events 10+ years ago. Turnout was mostly students and die-hard geeks who wanted something to do on the weekend. Even in this small pond we had a local startup sponsor and try to shoe-horn their service into it.
When I attended bigger events with bigger sponsors it felt like 90% marketing to pitch your idea. The actual technical side was never that impressive or interesting.
One community that kicks ass at this are InfoSec people, I've done a lot of terrific volunteer-run CTFs.