I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
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I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
1–10 of 97 posts
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#2You have a point, but doing it every once in a while doesn't hurt (I do it once or twice per year), since it's a great way to meet new people (and opportunities)
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#3Developers go to hackathons because they like to build things. What could be simpler to understand?
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#4You have a point, but doing it every once in a while doesn't hurt (I do it once or twice per year), since it's a great way to meet new people (and opportunities)
I still would steer clear of things like TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathons and the like. They're just a way for media orgs to get page views and generate buzz.
Yes, a couple folks at those kind of events get a lot of press and attention, but everyone else just wastes their time.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#5Developers go to hackathons because they like to build things. What could be simpler to understand?
I understand that. It doesn't mean they're not being used though. If you want to build something, it's much better to get your friends together for a private session, then something put on by an events company or an incubator. As someone who used to put on events, I can speak with authority on motives: most Hackathons are just an attempt to sell more tickets to an event - not a genuine opportunity for Developers to build things.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#6>> "I have a Computer Science degree, but it’s been five years since I’ve written a line of commercial code, so now I employ very talented Developers to build product."
Where did you find these talented developers? Was it a hackathon?
While there may be some opportunists out there looking to exploit young coders, the vast majority are seeking to legitimately employ bright young/old talent. Well at least I thought so?
Has anyone had experiences of being exploited? Please share.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#7I appreciate the sentiment greatly, and I'm only in the valley about once a month or so (and not in the startup circles) so I can't speak to how intentional the exploitation is, but from the other side:
At 34, I can hardly be considered the youthful optimist he casts us at. I have a life, and a family, but I really enjoy the occasional hackathon. In fact, I'd suspect that a lot of my best code is done without the distractions of the house and family -- without worrying about whether or not the lawn is getting too high, or needs watering, or if the dogs need feeding, or whether my kid needs help with her homework, or if there's a spider that my wife needs me to kill.
Lock me up in a room for a few days and give me root on a server and I'll bang something out, and I'm happy to do so. Working at home is rife with distraction, but working at the office is even worse, but while there are certainly hackathon environments that aren't conducive to productivity, most of them at least free the developers of any responsibility that isn't 'code production'.
In short, they're enjoyable if they're done correctly, and they're horrible if they aren't... but I've never felt exploited by them, so either it's unique to the valley or I've just done a good job of avoiding that sort of thon.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#8I don't think you can tar and feather all hackathons. Some of the events I support are where groups unite to help charities or civic hacking that supports communities.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#9>> "I have a Computer Science degree, but it’s been five years since I’ve written a line of commercial code, so now I employ very talented Developers to build product." Where did you find these talented developers? Was it a hackathon? While there may be some opportunists out there looking to exploit young coders, the vast majority are seeking to legitimately employ bright young/old talent. Well at least I thought so?…
I found our Chief Product Officer by tweeting. Then he's recruited our entire Product Team through friend's recommendations.
Re: I’m tired of the opportunists and their hackathons
#10> They’re probably just trying to cash in on your youth and optimism.
It is the nature of optimistic youth that they rarely notice. And when they do, they quickly become old codgers (like the person typing this comment.)