Hello!

Today we will talk about hakatons and everything connected with them, namely:

• Hackathon as a solution to major problems;
• Why is it time for your company to invest in a hackathon;
• Why take part in such events;
• How does the hackathon: view from the party;
• How is hackathon: a view from the organizer.

Information will be most useful for PR / HR-managers of companies and interesting to developers.

Look under the cat!

Hackathon as a solution to major problems

Small meetings with subsequent brainstorming have long become an integral part of the working life of developers. It doesn’t matter what you design: a logo for a noname company, another Linux-based build, or the most important opensource solution. Any approach to solving the set task is either already automated or is variable.

Today, modern solutions based on AI are trained in a certain sample, as a result of processing of which they can suggest or even make a certain conclusion. This helps if you do not want to burn out in a bookmaker or reduce the chance of getting into an accident. But solutions for global problems, unfortunately, have not yet been proposed by AI.
Thus, we smoothly come to the conclusion: humankind still has to solve problems, and it’s too early to give such questions to outsourcing machines, and today the computer remains just a tool.

And since the variability is still the advantage of the human race - why not gather a lot of people with the most advanced logic and not pose a problem for them to solve it?

Approximately along such a branch of logic, many communities come to the organization of the hackathon. Problem solving is the main goal pursued (well, or at least should be pursued) by the organizers of such events. Home, but not the only ...

Why is it time for your company to invest in a hackathon?

Above, we looked at the main goal of the hackathon. But no matter how great a solution to a major problem would be - your company is unlikely to invest in an event unless it benefits.

Therefore, we will consider it:

• PR company

  
  

  A major event on a great site, where only your company logos will be visible. What could be sweeter? And the remaining cream can be removed from the reports on TV and in news sites. A real gift of fate for a PR-manager!

  
  

• Target frame search

  
  

  Just imagine: fifty, a hundred, or even a whole thousand developers with the most diverse stack of technologies work right in front of you, and even sometimes check-out changes in a project on checkpoints. Your HR has never experienced such ecstasy!

  
  

• Solution to a big problem

  
  

  Dozens of teams led by their team leaders with the support of mentors are thinking about solving your problem. Not only that: they will also present a whole bunch of solutions to the deadline, and you and other members of the jury will only have to choose the most rational of them and award these modern geniuses. I wonder: how many hours would it take to develop a similar product from your staff? And there can be any problems: from the development of an entire IT infrastructure to the fastest possible matrix sorting algorithm. By the way, the problem for the hackathon has long been detached from IT, and now the hackathon members are thinking about a much more extensive range of tasks in the field of bioinformatics , geography and even space. It is important not to forget: the developed solution remains the intellectual property of the developers themselves. If you need to use it in your work, you will have to agree with the team about the conditions for using their project.

  
  

Thus, we found out the main motivators of investing companies. Some organizations may be guided by other reasons, but this is not important.

Why should you take part in such events

In the actual field of information technology, the days have passed when the pay of a programmer was converted based on the number of lines of code. Everything inexorably rushes forward, as well as the requirements for the modern employee. Today's HR manager handles your life story better than many security services and credit offices. This means that any of your activity will be taken into account when applying for a job, whether it is a victory at the largest hackathon or a drunk party at your friend's demobilization. The higher your interest in any area - the higher your rating from HR.

Also, do not forget that the hackathon for you and other participants is a great chance to prove yourself, try your hand (on average, hackathons are held from 1 to 3 days, sometimes without a break), as well as learn something new for yourself. After all, when there is nothing left before the deadline, you have to quickly look for ways to solve the problem. This is a great skill for a modern developer.

Well, as a bonus: you can earn extra money on the hackathon. Many such events pay out a good cash prize to the prize places, even after sharing with the team that will not be insulting. Do not even think about coffeebreak, which by default is included in the slightest events. So even if you win nothing, at least you won't get hungry.

How does the hackathon: view from the party

The experience of participating in various hackathons shows that their general algorithm is approximately as follows:

1. Register . She can use a competitive basis if the organizers are afraid of a strong overflow of applications. But in most cases registration is free for everyone. Often, during registration, you can apply as a member of a ready-made, formed team. You can also get acquainted with the speakers, topics / issues, prizes and schedule.
2. Registration at the venue . A sort of local authorization . The organizers will mark you as coming to the hackathon. Useful for statistics.
3. Reports from the speakers . Entirely individual item. Subjects of reports depend entirely on the perspective and technology stack used. Also, speakers or organizers should consecrate the issues and tell the participants more about what problem they will have to fight for N hours.
4. Brainstorm . This is where participants include a creative approach and come up with dozens of ways to solve the problem. Often, before or after the brainstorming, there is a break, during which you can find a team that is suitable for the stack of technologies.
5. Hachathon . When all the decisions have been made, and the teams are formed, the marathon begins. The teams decide who will be their team lead, after which they discuss the solution architecture, Git and other working moments. From now and until the deadline, your work will be interrupted only by need, thirst, hunger or time to go home, if the hackathon does not provide for a local location on the site at night. Also, long hackathons can be broken by checkpoints, during which you need to tell something about the success of your team, expected completion dates, architecture and other nuances.
6. Deadline! . Just say the word several times. Sounds weird, doesn't it? It is at this point that the teams should be ready both the project itself and the presentation on it. After all, every team that has lived up to this momentous moment will have to go out and show everyone what they managed to achieve in such a short time. The jury at this time evaluates the project (and sometimes the report itself, so follow the course of your own speech and do not skimp on the creative in the presentation). Then comes the summing up, rewarding and other joys.

So, we have considered the general algorithm of hakatons from the point of view of the participant. Of course, there are small deviations from this plan. For example, in online hackathons there will be no coffeebreak (it sounds logical).

And we have the last point, which we will talk about.

How is hackathon: a view from the organizer

People who organized major events have long known that the earlier they start, the fewer problems they will have to solve at the very beginning of the event. Our time is our enemy, and therefore the organization must begin at least two months before the expected date. Let's look at how to organize a small hackathon, say, about fifty people.

1. Problem statement . As mentioned above: the hackathon should solve the problem. It is important to at least roughly calculate how many people are affected by this problem, how many people on the same team will be able to develop a solution and for how long.
2. Elaboration of the script, schedule and site. Before attracting third-party sponsors, you need to think over everything that does not depend on them. And you need to think a lot: technology, placement of tables on the site, evaluation criteria, playlist, prizes and more. What is worth the study of the schedule, because it is important to calculate absolutely everything, even the approximate time for the presentation of projects. It is also necessary to develop an event website, because the main stream of participants comes from the Internet. But the script hackathon gives complete freedom of fantasy. You can make your own "highlight": for example, the light turns off exactly at midnight, and the team of animators in ghost costumes begins to flicker and eerily howl near the participants. Such an addition, if it does not defuse the situation, it will certainly wake up sleepy programmers and give them an interesting experience. It is important to remember: the hackathon is fashionable, youthful,
3. Search site and sponsors . Here it is important to know only one thing: the more sponsors - the better the prizes for the winners, the more delicious the lunch with the coffee break and the bigger the event. It is necessary to look for the most optimal variant of cooperation within the framework of the event, beneficial to all, including the participants.
4. Site preparation . When all the prizes have been bought, the contracts have been drawn up, the site has been rented and the list of participants has been approved - it's time to start preparing the site. First of all, you need to think about technology: it will be a lot. At least one laptop per participant. And if the event takes more than a day, then mobile phones are also taken into account. Therefore, it is very important to worry about the outlets on the site in advance. Do not forget about the Internet: fifty members will constantly use Git, load packages from Nuget, respond to messages in the social. networks or listen to music online. And well, if Windows does not start to pump out a fresh build, and Visual Studio does not consider itself old. But you need to be ready for everything, so it is important to worry about the bandwidth of the Internet channel for participants.
   Here you need to set up a coffee break, a projector, acoustics, a registration desk, a table of stickers and other items necessary for a successful hackathon. You should also take care of the places for the jury (find a place, put some water, print the forms with the evaluation form). One person will never cope with such a load of tasks, so a team is simply necessary when preparing a hackathon.
5. Relax and watch . If, when preparing for the hackathon, everything was thought out to the last detail, then you can safely breathe out and retire near the coffee break while listening to the speaker. But this is utopia: there will always be questions that will have to be solved. And you need to be ready to race around the site or to constantly communicate with your team of organizers.

In custody...

Today we talked about the hackathon as such, studied some of the features of the participant, the organizer and the sponsor. Of course, to participate or not - definitely yes. To organize or not - the answer is the same.

Stay always up-to-date specialists and follow the trends!