There are a lot of new words floating in the air and most often than not, you find yourself in a position when you feel slightly embarrassed because you cannot tune in a conversation. Due to the fact that our world works at a fast pace, you should be ahead of new trends in order to live efficiently in the 21st century. In recent years on the event scene, there are special types of events called – Hackathons. If you are not aware of this term continue reading this short summary!
In its core meaning a Hackathon is a gathering where programmers collaboratively code in a competitive way over a short period of time – a few days or over the course of only one day. While working on a particular project, the idea is for everybody to have the freedom to think and work on whatever they find important. The goal of a hackathon is to create usable software or hardware with the initial idea of creating a functioning product by the end of the event.
There are speculations whether OpenBSD or the JavaOne conference from June 15 to June 19, 1999, were the first to organize their work by the principals behind a hackathon. However, starting around the mid to late 2000s, hackathons became significantly widespread and were used by companies as a quick way to develop new software technologies. Nevertheless, it was not only narrowed to technological development. Many business ventures used hackathons to locate new areas for funding or innovation.
Structure
The structure of a hackathon is something diverse; you can play with in order to truly match your interests. Anyway, they typically start with one or more presentations about the event. Then participants suggest ideas and form teams, based on individual interests and skills. For hackathons that last 24 hours or longer, especially competitive ones, eating is often informal and participants often chug on food like pizza or fizzy drinks. Sometimes sleeping is informal too and participants sleep on-site with sleeping bags. Yet again there are hackathons where everything is sponsored and quality meals are served or proper housing is provided. At the end of a hackathon, there are usually demonstrations, which each group presents. The event is often accompanied by postings on social media, blogs, vlogs and hashtags. There is sometimes a panel of judges made up of organisers and sponsors. Usually, the winner/winners receive an award and it can vary from a fun trophy to more serious awards such as money or a contract.
How this can help your internal innovation and motivation?
If you have a company and you are stuck on a problem/you want to develop a new product, but you need the whole process to be fast enough so as to avoid losing precious time, then the Hackathon is the perfect remedy for your concerns. As you understood Hackathons are part of tech culture. But they are a playground for exploring new and exciting possibilities. With hackathons, you can take the market insights you have noted, translate them into themes and problem topics, and start producing ideas and valuable insights followed by a prototype development. As a conclusion, we are able to provide you with a hackathon that you will never forget! You can contact us if you need our help. And don’t forget that Facebook’s Like button was conceived as part of a hackathon!
