It's a hackathon. The whole point is to push yourself.
I don't have enough karma to downvote this comment, so I'm going to upvote every comment underneath it.
Hackathons are bad for you
61–70 of 128 posts
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#62Large-scale Hackathons are the best thing that's ever happened. I've learned new languages/frameworks, tools, platforms, and even learned nearly everything I know about programming at hackathons. Its hard to find a better environment for learning than one in which you are building something you are passionate about and overcoming obstacles like nobodys business with a hard external deadline and plenty of incentive wi…
Wow you conjured images of cocaine addicts in my head. Or the less ominous 'sugar rush'. Hackathons should be peaks of activity / motivation / energy, not THE place where you learn 'nearly everything'. You need to find a way to motivate yourself in a calm and relaxed environment.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#63The most serious problem with hackathons is that many of them create the misconception that anyone can build a product in a weekend. Most cannot. A few can build a great prototype; an even smaller miniscule few can build a product. But most hackathon participants produce either no code at all or terrible code. This is fine if all you want is to make friends or build working relationships or make a throwaway prototype…
I don't think anybody expects to build a great product during just the hackathon and I'm not sure where you got this impression.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#64The best piece of advice that no one ever seems to give about hackathons: -- Hackathons may or may not be for you. Try it once. Don't stay the whole time if you don't want. If they aren't for you, don't go again. If they are, great, have an awesome time. -- For some reason, they're touted as this end-all be-all social event that if you don't go to YOU ARE MISSING OUT AND YOU WILL NEVER RECOVER. As many people posted…
> Case in point: I grew up in the rural midwest, but had computers. So computers are something I deal best with in situations with little to no people around. Hackathons are the opposite of that. Took me like, 2 attendances to realize that, and now I just avoid them. Hell, I even avoid career situations that put me in that environment, because I don't work well there.
Sounds familiar. I think there's basically two types of developers (and people): extroverts and introverts. Hackathons, 'social' coding, pair programming and whatnots are for the extroverted category; external stimulation (in the form of other people, the ability to bounce ideas off of them) is what stimulates them, while introverts don't need that to become stimulated; they can, in fact, be overstimulated and end up trying to filter out the excess of impulses, which is draining to them, not to mention distracting.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#65...said by someone that is no good at hackathons. :) Honestly though, hack on something you can finish in a few hours and go home and come back the next day to tell people about it. I'm still running twickery.com from the last F8 opengraph hackathon I went to. Spent a few hours and still use it now. Hackathons give you an excuse to scratch an itch, learn something new and challenge yourself.
I find it odd that internal motivation could be so low that someone would need to wait for an external motivation, like a hackathon, in order to do something they wanted to do, like learn something new or challenge themselves.
Sometimes it's about having an excuse to make the time. I like the idea of building small games but I can never find the time until I specifically book a weekend "off" to do Ludum Dare.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#66Health isn't everyone's first priority. It certainly shouldn't be viewed as a first priority in every context.
And more specifically, even to those of us where it is a high priority, it doesn't have to be 24/7. Like going partying at the weekend is for many "healthy" people, so things like hackathons and Red Bull binges can be for hackers too.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#67All of these are valid criticisms, but in my mind a hackathon is a treat: pizza, soda and staying up all night is fun sometimes, regardless of whether you play Halo, watch movies, or write a cool app. I agree with a lot of the comments that say you can't get much done; it's mostly a case of connecting existing libraries and data sources to create a sort of 'mash-up'. That said, being able to prototype quickly is an a…
Hackatons are fun. I don't get the point of saying that hanging out with people with similar, drinking beer and eating pizza is somehow bad for you. Maybe is about seeing it less as a competition and more like a regular social event.
When I moved to SF I knew next to nobody. I worked freelance at a coworking place and went to hackathons. Most of my SF friends are from these social environments.
Having peers and friends that you can share your experiences with has some health benefit even if the thing you’re doing is scientifically proven to end your life http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=social+benefits+of+smo....
edit: format
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#68I think Hackathons are still a good way to meet like minded people and find co-founders.
I agree. I'd trade some stomach pain (due to junk food) to get the opportunity to meet someone like minded, or with skills complementing mine, so that some friendship/collaboration/startup) can start.
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#69Disclaimer: I have never been in a hackaton.
That said, I simply don't think it's something people do every day, or every week, or frequently enough so that can severely alter one's lifestyle.
The author makes some good points, but they really apply to a more general day-to-day lifestyle.
There is nothing inherently damaging in a hackaton if you normally get enough sleep, eat healtily etc...
Re: Hackathons are bad for you
#70All of these are valid criticisms, but in my mind a hackathon is a treat: pizza, soda and staying up all night is fun sometimes, regardless of whether you play Halo, watch movies, or write a cool app. I agree with a lot of the comments that say you can't get much done; it's mostly a case of connecting existing libraries and data sources to create a sort of 'mash-up'. That said, being able to prototype quickly is an a…
I went to my first hackathon last weekend, and I'll agree, it definitely is a treat! It's a lot of fun to practice something you don't normally do, but I definitely think it's not something to do for the result. The process and crunch time is what really makes it any fun.
What surprised me the most is how much time I needed alone. A lot of my best design decisions come to me when I'm holed up in the shower, and the hustle and bustle of a hackathon isn't anything close to that. I couldn't make any sound design decisions while really "at" the hackathon. I ended up repeating the same pattern: I'd hole up in a corner for a bit, or wander off for a walk. Then with a little focus, I could figure out what I was actually coding!
Coming "back" to the hackathon, however, was really important, as it kept my work ethic honest. I have a problem with premature optimization (not to just mention laziness), and the environment made me want to get back to work. You don't want to be the odd kid out just staring at browser tabs all day!
Sometimes, you gotta churn out code after you've made all the sexy design decisions, where the work is really just laborious idea-to-code elaboration. That's usually really hard for me to do, but a hackathon is a really good place for that sort of work.