>Make the stretch longer. Let's say, three days, from Friday evening to Sunday night, so there would still be time if the participants slept through the night.
Like a hacker test match. What a pleasing image.
There should be tea breaks.
Hackathon No More
11–20 of 34 posts
Re: Hackathon No More
#12Game jam Melbourne pretty much does this. Friday to Sunday, facilities to sleep and shower. Food and drink (with healthy choices) available. Those that were most productive probably were those that went to bed at a reasonable time the first night.
Re: Hackathon No More
#13You've just described Rails Camp. I'm off to the next Rails Camp Australia in a couple of weeks: Friday afternoon to Monday morning in the beautiful Gold Coast hinterland. Anything goes - hacking, coffee, beer, exercise, partying or sleeping, and even camping.
Although rails camp isn't structured in a way to encourage people to complete projects. The opportunity is there, but it is also an opportunity to chill out with friends or get blind drunk of you are that way inclined, so different feel to a hackathon where everyone is feverishly working away on something.
Re: Hackathon No More
#14If you use that much Red Bull, you got 2 issues (at least): the sugar gives a rush, but the bloodsugar level will plunge. And each time you continue it plunges even harder and faster. Second, Red Bull or any caffinated beverage will attack your adrenal gland badly. Realy hard. Your adrenal gland is responsible for your adrenaline (duh) and gets triggered by the caffeine. So, it's not the caffeine that gives you a boo…
There's always sugar-free Red Bull which is preferable to the sugary default kind, but I like high-quality green tea. After you wean yourself off the hard caffeine spikes of coffee or Red Bull, you realise green tea contains trace amounts of caffeine, enough to get you over the hump after your body readjusts. It's also antioxidant-rich.
I agree with the sugar-free, but often they replace it with something worse.
Actually anything natural, organic food is stimulating the body, while anything artificial, fabricated food is destroying the body.
So if you want to hack along with a sharp mind, keep your mind in shape by replenishing the body with what it needs. Period.
Re: Hackathon No More
#15I've thrown some hackathons at work and this is the model we always use. Friday after work + dinner we brainstorm and figure out what to do and then we might prototype a bit. Saturday we meet again refreshed and hack, we dont stay up to late and might even go for beers. Then we meet for another 4-5 hours on sunday to make a wrap of it.
Personally I can enjoy both the 24-hour/whatever-hour stretch and the weekend-with-rest style, but I find the first one to require working with someone with whom we feed energy to each other so we can maintain progress — I've just met one such person in my life and he doesn't live in the same country as me anymore. So in the end I prefer the weekend style hackathon now as well.
Re: Hackathon No More
#16You've just described Rails Camp. I'm off to the next Rails Camp Australia in a couple of weeks: Friday afternoon to Monday morning in the beautiful Gold Coast hinterland. Anything goes - hacking, coffee, beer, exercise, partying or sleeping, and even camping.
Although rails camp isn't structured in a way to encourage people to complete projects. The opportunity is there, but it is also an opportunity to chill out with friends or get blind drunk of you are that way inclined, so different feel to a hackathon where everyone is feverishly working away on something.
This doesn't stop lots of people getting some really cool stuff done. Everyone who has completed something cool presents on the Sunday evening and it's awesome.
Generally it's a really well balanced mix of hacking, gaming, socialising and optionally drinking.
Re: Hackathon No More
#17This isn't rocket science, put explosive fuel in your body and you sprint for about 6 hours, and then you crash and need 5 days to recover. Ignore the warnings and drink these poisons/fuels several times a day and you'll burn yourself out after 3 to 10 months and decide that botany isn't as bad a career path as everyone says. Burn out is your body telling you that the red bulls are killing you.
Re: Hackathon No More
#18I absolutely agree with the article. Most people don't realize that their productivity will become shitty if you introduce little sleep, bad food and no exercise - so why would you artificially work with exactly these things to finish your product?
Re: Hackathon No More
#19I always leave for home at about 9 during hackathons, and am back at around 7 or 8 the next day.
There's certainly a clarity of thought I gain.
Re: Hackathon No More
#20If you use that much Red Bull, you got 2 issues (at least): the sugar gives a rush, but the bloodsugar level will plunge. And each time you continue it plunges even harder and faster. Second, Red Bull or any caffinated beverage will attack your adrenal gland badly. Realy hard. Your adrenal gland is responsible for your adrenaline (duh) and gets triggered by the caffeine. So, it's not the caffeine that gives you a boo…
Absolutely! A well rested body and mind will perform much better than one forced to the limits. Proper rest and nutrition will give you the ability to win the marathon. These hackathons are sprints which can be good to get going fast, and if approached with the right mindset, can provide inspiration but rarely will produce anyone's best work.
Hackathons have their place. They are a good place to meet people and test new ideas. If you're expecting anything more, like I suspect the author does/did, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.