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Hackathon Be Gone

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Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#91

Post by alt_rox_haxer »

gaius wrote: post #90
alt_rox_haxer wrote: post #86

The only thing i disagree with in this article is the whole "Everyone participated, everyone gets a prize" thing. Don't get me wrong, I understand these youngsters poured their heart and soul into these projects, but not everyone can win, and people should know this. It creates the young, entitled generation we have now. We dont need more of that running around.

The article says the wrong things are rewarded, we also don't need people thinking that slick presentation beats real work.

"Despite students pouring out their heart and souls, in the end, the majority do not win a prize. I am a staunch supporter of rewarding participation and effort. If this sounds like advocacy for mediocrity, instead of merit, it is not."

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#92

Post by stirner »

This has certainly been my experience. All the hackathons I've participated in have felt very geared toward corporate shilling, and most of the prizes are for "best use of [company's product]".

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#93

Post by ff_ »

caseysoftware wrote: post #21

In Austin, we started running an event called "Finish Up Weekend" or FU Weekend - http://fuweekend.com/ ;) We have some simple rules: * you can't start anything new; * you have to celebrate something being done - usually with a round of applause; * there are no prizes - only the satisfaction of being done. While there is plenty of coding, we've had designers finish their portfolios, screenwriters finish pilots, an ar…

Please do! This sounds like an AMAZING setting, can't wait to try it out in my city :)

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#94

Post by timwaagh »

Where i live i wish we had more of them and that they were more advertised so people are aware of these events. you don't have to go but the one hackathon i went to was a good event. I'd go again. it was small scale, there were few students there mostly people with jobs. half could not code, most were not very good. but it was cool. i impressed a few people with my skills met some interesting international people (who had flown in for this). one of the more memorable experiences of my life. I think the best hackathons are those which mix up the teams. other than that, please bring me more hackathons. people need to spend their free time on something, right? Although I'd not go if i had to be selected for them. the organisers need to be somewhat grateful for the fact people would like to attend and the atmosphere needs to be friendly rather than uber competitive.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#95

Post by UweSchmidt »

kamens wrote: post #84
jbarham wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually what your so-called "Healthy Hackatons" demonstrates to me is that not a lot of Khan Academy employees are married with kids. I know my wife would be annoyed if I was goofing off at the office until midnight for a week leaving her to feed our kids and put them to bed by herself. But, hey, it's all for the greater good of "disrupting" education! It's ironic that obviously very few Khan Academy employees have…

Not really worth arguing online with somebody who'd make a statement about the demographics of a company they know nothing about -- but for sake of clarifying your demonstrably false claim: we have lots of parents and family folk at KA, at all levels including senior leadership. We do not require that anybody stays at our hackathon until 11:45, but we do require that people get sleep. These decisions -- and the decis…

Can't make statements about things we don't know about, so we gotta go by what we read. It feels like this debate may set expectations and shapes culture about things like hackathons everywhere, so maybe this touches a sensitive spot for many.

So I read that your employees actually do have family (which makes the thing about staying late worse), that you don't "require" that people stay until midnight (as if that was a thing you could require), and patronizingly insist that people get sleep.

Maybe I just didn't read that correctly, language barrier and all that but... I don't know, these extra hours, are those paid overtime or is that a further erosion of the 40 hour work week?

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#96

Post by xyzzy123 »

callmeed wrote: post #75

>> Salesmanship is rewarded. The rewards are given strictly based on the presentation This is not a bad thing. I've won hackathons partly–but not strictly –because we had a team that could present well in front of judges and an audience. Public speaking, sales, and presenting to others is an important skill in business and entrepreneurship. The author would be wise to convey this to his students. A hacker who can bui…

Why don't they just call it a talkathon then? :p

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#97

Post by stared »

turkishrevenge wrote: post #69
mdxn wrote: post #53

The hackathon that they mention in the post (Mhacks) put up an application process and enforced a 50/50 gender ratio. In the weeks leading up to the event, I overheard many defeated conversations from fellow CS students over anxiety of getting rejected from this hackathon because they were male. The females didn't share the same anxiety, but it definitely made them feel down that they wouldn't be able to participate…

Just exploit the identity-political zeitgeist that's overtaken universities lately: claim yourself genderqueer, non-binary presenting as male. With the right incantation, the organizers will fold like a house of cards, lest they suffer the blowback to excluding a "righteous" participant.

I love collecting geek t-shirts. Once I asked for one but they said:

- "Well, but they are for girls only."

- "Do you have something against cross-dressing?"

- "Nope. Sure, take one!"

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#98

Post by shultays »

DGCA wrote: post #35

At my previous company, we had a hackathon where the theme was, more or less, bringing the company more together through technology. ~12 of us made 3 separate teams, came up with ideas, and worked like 12 hours on a Saturday hoping to be declared the winner. When all was said and done, the judges—all non technical—took about 30 minutes to decide that it was a 3-way tie. If you're going to make something a competition…

  the judges—all non technical—took about 30 minutes to decide that it was a 3-way tie.
in GGJ, we worked pretty much non-stop with like 5 hours sleep a day for two days and they decided not to make judges. hell, the GGJ ended around 5pm and we couldn't even check other project because everything was so rushed.

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#99

Post by shawabawa3 »

UweSchmidt wrote: post #95
kamens wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really worth arguing online with somebody who'd make a statement about the demographics of a company they know nothing about -- but for sake of clarifying your demonstrably false claim: we have lots of parents and family folk at KA, at all levels including senior leadership. We do not require that anybody stays at our hackathon until 11:45, but we do require that people get sleep. These decisions -- and the decis…

Can't make statements about things we don't know about, so we gotta go by what we read. It feels like this debate may set expectations and shapes culture about things like hackathons everywhere, so maybe this touches a sensitive spot for many. So I read that your employees actually do have family (which makes the thing about staying late worse), that you don't "require" that people stay until midnight (as if that was…

> So I read that your employees actually do have family (which makes the thing about staying late worse)

I think you're being overly negative.

Nobody is forcing anyone to go to these things. If you have other stuff to do, fine. If, like some people, you actually enjoy it, you can go. Maybe you even have an understanding husband/wife who understands that once in a while you might be out as late as 11:45pm

Re: Hackathon Be Gone

#100

Post by pritishc »

I've always wondered how people with chronic disorders/diseases manage themselves at a hackathon. That 24-hour non-stop insanity has always dissuaded me from attending one. Turns out there are people who see the downsides of one.
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