I much prefer regular meetups if you're looking to branch out and meet new devs. The hackathon style of coding isn't really all that practical - even if you work at a mismanaged company that's constantly in "crunch time", coding for the purpose of writing a 5 minute demo takes a very narrow skillset.
Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
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Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#12I think they're a good way to try something new on company time, and to have the chance to experiment with potentially crazy ideas you wouldn't have done in the past.
Some of my favourite projects I've made during hackathons
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#13In the university environment, hackathons are really excellent. They are usually student-run but very well funded, well organized, and well attended. I have gotten a job and other opportunities from hackathons, I have won small prizes, but the reason I go is because its a fun way to spend a weekend with my friends.
That said, if I was forced to participate in that environment instead of choosing to, or if it was for work or some other purpose that restricted my choice of projects and collaborators, then I would of course resent it, but at that point its not really a hackathon anymore, its a different kind of event stealing the name in hopes of stealing the same energy.
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#14Many forms of competition are unhealthy. (think marathons)
But they're a good way to figure out what is important, and what you can do. And you probably can take the lessons learned and apply them elsewhere (in more sane/moderate ways)
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#15Many forms of competition are unhealthy. (think marathons) But they're a good way to figure out what is important, and what you can do. And you probably can take the lessons learned and apply them elsewhere (in more sane/moderate ways)
Very interesting point of view. I like your thinking :)
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#16All the Hackathons I see are sponsored by some corporation trying to exploit devs for some free work/ideas related to their business/api.
The only exception are Game Jams. If hackathons were like Game Jams where you could use any tech you wanted but had to compete on a vague theme I’d be interested. The thing is that’s never the case. Private spaces cost money, prizes cost money, any sponsors are going to want a return on their investment. So that’s why Hackathons suck. IMO it has nothing to do with the food or long hours.
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#17I agree your point. It has to be fun and not commercial.
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#18Unpopular opinion? Nah. It's fairly well known that they're problematic at best, in that they epitomize the practices of an industry obsessed with exploiting younger workers, crunch time, and gender imbalance.
I'l bite - how do Hackathons "epitomize gender imbalance"? Anyone can go to a Hackathon and compete.
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#19Unpopular opinion? Nah. It's fairly well known that they're problematic at best, in that they epitomize the practices of an industry obsessed with exploiting younger workers, crunch time, and gender imbalance.
I'l bite - how do Hackathons "epitomize gender imbalance"? Anyone can go to a Hackathon and compete.
From my experience, I see that usually hackathon events have more male attendees than female. I am sure there might be hackathons where that's not the case but I don't think it would be very inviting for any female to go to an event that's full of the opposite gender. Just imagine if you were one of 5 males in an event of 100 attendees and the rest were females. I think you would be a bit uncomfortable/out of place even though that's not the case.
Re: Hackathons are not a good way to bring the best out of engineers
#20Our team has essential engineer who has great potential [to become very rich person and do very creative and interesting things] and he is wasting his time and pushing on customer schedules because of his participation in stupid hackathons.
I think for some in some ways it's an effort to compensate for lack of self-esteem and prove yourself that you're worthy of praise and rewards.