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Hackathon Be Gone

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Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#51

Post by jvrossb »

caseysoftware wrote: post #21

In Austin, we started running an event called "Finish Up Weekend" or FU Weekend - http://fuweekend.com/ ;) We have some simple rules: * you can't start anything new; * you have to celebrate something being done - usually with a round of applause; * there are no prizes - only the satisfaction of being done. While there is plenty of coding, we've had designers finish their portfolios, screenwriters finish pilots, an ar…

Love this. We once hosted a Shipathon - same concept, want to do more. Excited to read your doc and compare notes!

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#53

Post by mdxn »

The hackathon that they mention in the post (Mhacks) put up an application process and enforced a 50/50 gender ratio. In the weeks leading up to the event, I overheard many defeated conversations from fellow CS students over anxiety of getting rejected from this hackathon because they were male. The females didn't share the same anxiety, but it definitely made them feel down that they wouldn't be able to participate with their male friends who were rejected/waitlisted. Overall, the fact that things ended up this way made everyone feel very awkward, guilty, and discouraged. Hopefully its success makes up for the hidden fractures that will be felt by our student body for quite a while after.

Mhacks lists the 50/50 gender divide on their site followed by the reasoning: "because it’s about time for a little change in the tech world"

Disclosure: I am a CS-Eng student at this university. I did not plan to attend or care about this hackathon.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#54

Post by reitanqild »

alexashka wrote: post #26
nxzero wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point is to get something done, force you to make choice, have a deadline, etc. -- not something else, like production ready code.

The older you get - the less patience you have for tight deadlines and 'forcing yourself to make a choice'. That's just having more energy than you know what to do with. The tragedy is young people have lots of energy and are scatterbrained and old people are sometimes wise but too tired. The future is having older wise folk write out proposals to ambitious projects, and have young people fill in the necessary parts.…

> The older you get - the less patience you have for tight deadlines and 'forcing yourself to make a choice'.

Me, I past 30 a few years ago and I (often) find it useful to give myself deadlines and force myself to get things done.

Things/words that have helped me:

* Pomodoro technique / time boxing

* Get it working, get it right, get it fast

* Cult of Done

That said, yes, I am also skeptic to the kind of "hackaton culture" that is being mentioned here.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#55

Post by ChemicalWarfare »

Was at a couple of "internal" hackatons ran by my employer as a part of the offsite all hands meeting. There was plenty of corporate politics involved with judging, other than that it was time well spent.

The angle was to bring new ideas to the table and build an MVP/POC to demo the idea. Overall was a positive experience other than the politics involved.

The event was voluntary, took place in the hotel with beer in the hotel bar and nice catered lunches.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#56

Post by carlosnunez »

caseysoftware wrote: post #21

In Austin, we started running an event called "Finish Up Weekend" or FU Weekend - http://fuweekend.com/ ;) We have some simple rules: * you can't start anything new; * you have to celebrate something being done - usually with a round of applause; * there are no prizes - only the satisfaction of being done. While there is plenty of coding, we've had designers finish their portfolios, screenwriters finish pilots, an ar…

I like this a lot. I cannot wait to move to Austin.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#57

Post by kamens »

At Khan Academy we've been running ours as "Healthy Hackathons" — we kick people out at 11:45pm to get sleep, bring in healthy food, snacks, and activities, and always include our work week as part of the schedule (not just weekends).

We actually just held our Monday-Friday Healthy Hack Week last week (http://healthyhackathon.khanacademy.org). One of my favorite weeks ever, particularly because we encourage "hacks" of all kinds that don't have to include coding, and the entire company dives in.

They've been internal only so far. Maybe some day we'll open it up.

After a week of hackathon'ing intensely I'll walk in tomorrow more energized than ever (and eager to figure out how to use some of the team's work in upcoming projects). The commitment to staying healthy while hacking feels like it's paying off for us.

Plus it demonstrates our commitment to long-term investment in teammates.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#59

Post by hueving »

mdxn wrote: post #53

The hackathon that they mention in the post (Mhacks) put up an application process and enforced a 50/50 gender ratio. In the weeks leading up to the event, I overheard many defeated conversations from fellow CS students over anxiety of getting rejected from this hackathon because they were male. The females didn't share the same anxiety, but it definitely made them feel down that they wouldn't be able to participate…

That's the dumbest barrier I've heard in a long time to enter a hackathon. Your gender shouldn't prevent you from getting into an event to get work done, it should be based on the merit of what you want to do. Did anyone ask if their rejection would be reconsidered if they chopped their penis off?

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#60

Post by BinaryIdiot »

alexashka wrote: post #26
nxzero wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point is to get something done, force you to make choice, have a deadline, etc. -- not something else, like production ready code.

The older you get - the less patience you have for tight deadlines and 'forcing yourself to make a choice'. That's just having more energy than you know what to do with. The tragedy is young people have lots of energy and are scatterbrained and old people are sometimes wise but too tired. The future is having older wise folk write out proposals to ambitious projects, and have young people fill in the necessary parts.…

> The future is having older wise folk write out proposals to ambitious projects, and have young people fill in the necessary parts.

Absolutely not. The most brilliant of minds made their marks on history at 30 or younger. Science has shown that, over time, learning becomes more difficult and slower. The whole idea of an older person being more "wise" is more of an old wive's tale more than anything else.

Young people and old people alive can have great ideas. Inversely young and old can be great at simply cranking away at building things. The future mixes the young and old more and more making the young younger for longer and the old far more capable than ever before.

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