Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I hate Hackathons

pgpt.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 70 posts

Re: I hate Hackathons

#21

Post by brunojppb »

This kind of hackathons outlined by the OP indeed sounds like trouble. In the current company I work at, we have every 6 weeks, 2 full days to hack on whatever we want. Zero expectations.

This has been really cool because: - it’s during normal working hours. 9 to 5. No weekends or all nighters. - you are entitled to cancel all your meetings - you can work on product-related ideas or experiment with a new language. It’s 100% up to you. No expectations or strings attached.

A few cool features in our app eventually started out from days like that, but so far it has been more like a side-effect than a requirement per se.

I see a lot of positive things coming out of this. And the company for sure gets benefits. So far it has been a win-win from my POV.

Re: I hate Hackathons

#22

Post by tossaway0 »

irjustin wrote: post #7
barbariangrunge wrote: post #2

I’m tired of hating. Let’s all be chill and like something

Sounds like you're hating on hating.

I love both your comments.

But to dig further, compared to the article, op's comment not only comes off as laid back, as opposed to aggressive and anxiety-inducing, but it also provides an alternative all in the same sentence.

Re: I hate Hackathons

#23

Post by rex64 »

Just like anything in life, the outcome and enjoyment of a hackathon (or a game jam) largely depend on your attitude and expectations.

If you approach it with a chilled and positive mindset, you're more likely to have a satisfying experience.

Re: I hate Hackathons

#24

Post by musicale »

laserbeam wrote: post #9

I must say, I have encountered free-form hackathons (category 3) at companies with no ideas provided by management, and no expectations. It happened at a team-building event at some nearby lake, only half of the people who were there even participated, and that was fine. People made games, stupid hacks, only one team came up with some cool tool that we kept around and used internally.

> It happened at a team-building event at some nearby lake

Given the choice of

1) Being shipped off to a nice location where managers will demonstrate their authority by requiring you to perform suspiciously work-like fake recreation with other employees

or

2) Actual time off

I am pretty sure which one I'd pick, most of the time at least.

Re: I hate Hackathons

#26

Post by pocketarc »

brunojppb wrote: post #21

This kind of hackathons outlined by the OP indeed sounds like trouble. In the current company I work at, we have every 6 weeks, 2 full days to hack on whatever we want. Zero expectations. This has been really cool because: - it’s during normal working hours. 9 to 5. No weekends or all nighters. - you are entitled to cancel all your meetings - you can work on product-related ideas or experiment with a new language. It…

Does it have to be work related? Also, do you end up showing off whatever you did during that time, or is it really a "do whatever" day where you could just do nothing?

Re: I hate Hackathons

#27

Post by jokethrowaway »

Makes perfect sense.

The trick is attending hackathons, munching on free food and trying tech you're interested in with your friends. Don't think about winning, half ass everything.

For company ones, hey work your normal schedule and at least it's a change of scenery and not the usual crap.

That said the crazy schedule doesn't cut it for me anymore, I need proper sleep and I have no time nor friends.

Re: I hate Hackathons

#28

Post by ajmurmann »

The_Colonel wrote: post #18

I work in a company which does hackatons without any goals. You can do something cool on the product, or you can attend some course or if you really want, you can keep working on features (there's no pressure to do so). It's essentially just 4 weeks in a year when you're free to choose your work. There are also some small prizes which for me do nothing, but for somebody might bring extra motivation. I think it's grea…

While it's great that it's working out, it does feel like a smell about our ability as an industry to prioritize. I feel similarly about "bug bashes".

Re: I hate Hackathons

#30

Post by jrumbut »

When I went to some hackathons 10-12 years ago they were essentially parties with networking and light coding, from time to time someone might get into an idea and actually make something but it was mostly a social event and the goal was (a very peculiar type of) fun.

Eventually they started to appear on resumes and I thought "what a strange choice, listing the times you were given beer and pizza by various tech companies." Then I went to one more recently and it was like the worst work shift I ever experienced, at least I get why they're on resumes now.

Post reply on HN