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Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

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Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#21

Post by frankdenbow »

matthewsimon wrote: post #18
frankdenbow wrote: post #10

I was wondering why they were being selective on the people who could come to this. I really wanted to come and learn more about their API but it seems as though they were picking people who already built on it. Isn't the point of these events to get new people into the ecosystem? To answer the question, yes people really do code and come up with solid apps at these events. Check out the music hackday apps that were…

As I understand it, there was some vague talk about being selective, in case they maxed out the capacity of the space, but in the end I believe they sent out tickets to everyone who signed up, and nobody was turned away.

Nope, I signed up and didn't receive one.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#22

Post by parad0x »

I notice this happening a lot in our area as well. When we host hackathons we try to have a topic to focus on as well as project ideas and open source projects ready to work on.

I think opening a public git hub repo with what you want to work on then having people pull that down can start some great coding sessions.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#23

Post by frankdenbow »

timjulien wrote: post #20
frankdenbow wrote: post #10

I was wondering why they were being selective on the people who could come to this. I really wanted to come and learn more about their API but it seems as though they were picking people who already built on it. Isn't the point of these events to get new people into the ecosystem? To answer the question, yes people really do code and come up with solid apps at these events. Check out the music hackday apps that were…

Send a message to my github account when we do the next foursquare hackathon and I'll do my best to get you in ( https://github.com/tjulien ). We maxed out the number of attendees based on how many people the space could hold. There was no criteria of having used our api before.

Will do. It was more packed than last week?

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#24

Post by txt »

Hey, I actually took a train from long island to the city this morning expecting to take a tour of 'general assembly', (where this hackathon was hosted)..But I didnt get past the elevator because of the hackathon! I wish I had known because I would have love to have been there coding with u iqster! Anyway, I plan on becoming a communal member there next month after they review the thousands of applications they have recieved.. iqster, did you get a chance to talk to any of the founders of general assembly there or anyone that is a member?? I talked to Matt Brimer for 5 mins next to the elevator, he couldn't sit down and talk with me because of the hackathon! I was planning on taking a tour and joining today but BLEHH! Do you have aim or skype iqster?

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#25

Post by albedoa »

thehodge wrote: post #9
andrewpbrett wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you enforce that only work done doing the hackathon is presented as the entry? Not trolling, genuinely curious and looking for suggestions.

When we run hack days we do simple things like check when the domain was registered, check if its indexed in Google and a few other things but what we also do is have at least two developers on the judging panel that can judge if someone has cheated or not... It does work both ways though, we almost lost a PayPal hack day last year because the judges believed we had worked on the product previously when we had genuin…

I'm glad you guys weren't disqualified, but I'm lol'ing at the irony of PayPal judges presuming guilt and asking you to prove your innocence. Good to know that they carry that policy everywhere.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#26

Post by christefano »

The code sprints and hackathons we have in the Drupal community in Los Angeles are highly focused on a specific task or event with an actual deadline, so everyone is expected to participate. There's always something for non-developers to do, from user testing and content editing to being in charge of food or music.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#27

Post by JBerlinsky »

Were you at the NYTimes Open Hackday? My teammate and I flew in from Michigan (to be fair, I'm originally from the Tri-State area) to participate, and we damn well weren't just there for networking. That having been said, the networking is incredible. I participated in a Yahoo! Hack U event up here in the great white north, and landed a job this summer out of it (and an offer from Yahoo, which I wound up turning down); the offers that a little bit of networking at the NYTimes one turned up were incredible as well.

Honestly, it's all about balance. My teammate and I spent 99% of the time at these two events coding. We walked in with absolutely no code pre-written, and emerged from both events with a fully-functional application, the synthesis of which we plan to put into full production in the near future. However, the one or two hours of networking that we engaged in, be it during "hacking time" or not, were extremely valuable (and, arguably, helped shape part of our final applications).

Just my two cents.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#28

Post by JBerlinsky »

donohoe wrote: post #14

I share your frustration. I think many of the trendier companies have a tendency for it to end up being networking and also about being seen at so-and-so's hackathon. It's a 'scene' for many ppl who wanna be 'hackers' but really are not. My biggest pet-peeve at hackathons are those who turn up with full working hacks they did prior. Nothing wrong with that but please have the courtesy to not enter them into the compe…

I actually feel like your event (NYTimes Hackday in December) was pretty good along those lines; I didn't get the feeling that any of the applications had a significant amount of pre-writing code-wise.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually code at a hackathon?

#30

Post by andrewvc »

This complaint is kind of like complaining about people going to dance clubs to socialize and hook up rather than dance.

OP, I'd suggest you accept the current state of affairs, or start your own event focused on what you want to do. Why rain on other people's parade?

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