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Hackathons just need to go away. I can't think of any other industry where people give aways thousands of dollars of their own labor (over a weekend), on the of

Hackathons just need to go away. I can't think of any other industry where people give aways thousands of dollars of their own labor (over a weekend), on the off chance they might win a negligible cash prize. Are there law/medicine/MBA-a-thons? Of course not! Those folks have professional conferences and networking events where they can meet new people and explore new ideas. What they don't do is give their time away. The only times I work without pay is when I'm working on my own projects or for a non-profit. Everyone else pays for my time. I don't work for free. And until the bulk of tech folks have the same attitude, tech folks will continue to be exploited.

caseysoftware 11y ago
Think of a hackathon as a musician's jam session. You get together with some people you know, some you don't, play with some ideas, experiment and fail, come up with some cool things, drink some beer, and don't sleep enough. The point is risk-free experimentation and a learning opportunity. The point of Startup Weekend is not to be the next big idea. * I've organized 3-4 Startup Weekends, attended a few more, organized dozens of hackathons, and attended more than that.
zem 11y ago
that sort of hackathon needs to go away. a hackathon used to be an event where people got together and worked on some cool open source project or non-profit initiative, and the main goal was to collaboratively build or advance the state of a project. possibly still is, outside of silicon valley culture.
MatthewMcDonald 11y ago
Counterpoint: I don't think most people at Startup Weekend attend because of the prizes. I've taken part in many events, and while I certainly tried to win, the prizes have zero influence on my participation. I never go in with the expectation of anything more than a fun weekend and new connections.
- sundaeofshock 11y ago
  I definitely understand all that. Might point is that we can get all that without giving away our time for free. The core of many hack-a-thons is that we are asked to do a quick prototype and validate an idea. We should be paid for that work! There are plenty of meet-ups and networking events to make new connections, as well as plenty of events where we can code and learn with like minded folks.
- carrja99 11y ago
  +1 I always go for the networking and the chance to be a "fish out of the water". This year I went purely for fun and wound up building a mobile chat app (which I had zero experience with) for my 5 year old daughter. It was a lot of fun!

caseysoftware 11y ago

Think of a hackathon as a musician's jam session. You get together with some people you know, some you don't, play with some ideas, experiment and fail, come up with some cool things, drink some beer, and don't sleep enough. The point is risk-free experimentation and a learning opportunity. The point of Startup Weekend is not to be the next big idea. * I've organized 3-4 Startup Weekends, attended a few more, organized dozens of hackathons, and attended more than that.

zem 11y ago

that sort of hackathon needs to go away. a hackathon used to be an event where people got together and worked on some cool open source project or non-profit initiative, and the main goal was to collaboratively build or advance the state of a project. possibly still is, outside of silicon valley culture.

MatthewMcDonald 11y ago

Counterpoint: I don't think most people at Startup Weekend attend because of the prizes. I've taken part in many events, and while I certainly tried to win, the prizes have zero influence on my participation. I never go in with the expectation of anything more than a fun weekend and new connections.

sundaeofshock 11y ago
I definitely understand all that. Might point is that we can get all that without giving away our time for free. The core of many hack-a-thons is that we are asked to do a quick prototype and validate an idea. We should be paid for that work! There are plenty of meet-ups and networking events to make new connections, as well as plenty of events where we can code and learn with like minded folks.
carrja99 11y ago
+1 I always go for the networking and the chance to be a "fish out of the water". This year I went purely for fun and wound up building a mobile chat app (which I had zero experience with) for my 5 year old daughter. It was a lot of fun!