5 ms·

There is no universal scale. Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everyth

There is no universal scale. Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everything in between. There are for sure better and worse companies in each category, but even within big companies there is huge variance and it depends what you are looking for. Though some generic observation: 1. Product companies tends to have better culture than software consultancies. 2. Companies which got strong technical leadership and software is a key component rather than add on (e.g. some banks). 3. Good litmus test is to ask employees, do they have hackathons/educational budget/internal tech talks. 4. Another litmus test is to ask how hard is to push feature to production/release or about developer tooling. Good companies tend to have convenient tools. Of course even those 4 points got exceptions.

nrjdhsbsid 10y ago
These are all very accurate in my experience, especially the first 2.
culturestate 10y ago
> Good litmus test is to ask employees, do they have hackathons I'm a designer rather than an engineer, but I've always been a bit puzzled by the popularity of intra-company hackathons. It seems like a great way for management to keep employees working longer hours for less pay – an overnight hackathon that results in, say, 80 hours of additional work from a small team only costs the company some pizzas.
- pmiller2 10y ago
  We had an internal hackathon at my company recently. It was a Thursday/Friday + optional weekend thing, but nobody was pressured to work excessive amounts of hours to get their project done.
  - Fnoord 10y ago
    > It was a Thursday/Friday + optional weekend thing, but nobody was pressured to work excessive amounts of hours to get their project done. If "everyone" does it individuals are less inclined to say "No."
- chii 10y ago
  it depends on what hackathons are geared to doing - if it's _actual_ client/business work that they'd be doing normally, then it's not a proper hackathon, and just an excuse to get more hours out of the employees. But if it's a free for all, do anything you want style, and participation is optional (truly optional, not fake-optional via management peer pressure), then it's a good sign.
  - culturestate 10y ago
    My hangup is that in either case, it's still extra work that benefits the company rather than the employee. It's performed on company premises with company equipment - gamified overtime, essentially. I suppose there's an argument to be made that a good employee can make it mutually beneficial (use the time to learn a new, marketable skill that can get them a raise or a better job), but still...
    - dack 10y ago
      In the situation the parent described, I find it hard to construe it as benefiting the company over the individual (other than naturally making the company more attractive to work for). We did this when I was at Guidewire and it was amazing. I explored Event Sourcing during a hackathon and eventually went on to build it into a product using those skills - it's a really happy memory. In another hackathon I built easter eggs into our internal seating chart application - the vibe of everyone hacking together was great. This was a hackathon where it was broad enough that "reading an interesting programming book" counted, and nobody really bothered you if you did something completely different.
    - jasonlotito 10y ago
      Explain simply how building something the company won't use or learning something new on company time is essentially gamified overtime when doing this on normal company hours.
- jakozaur 10y ago
  Heh, actually that is a good question, since answer will also tell you a lot about culture. It is an indirect question about working hours too. E.g.: 1. We do hackathon once a quarter during work hours. 2. We do 24h hackathons, but it's really fun! 3. Well we work so long that we don't have time for hackathon. 4. We care so much about work-life balance, that we don't do hackathons. Depending on what you are looking for, you may be satisfied with different answer.
  - SmellTheGlove 10y ago
    Serious question: Who out there isn't looking for #1 or #4? I'm failing to see anything positive about 2-3. Who's looking for those?
    - NiceGuy_Ty 10y ago
      Have you ever wanted to collaborate with a coworker on something outside of your job, but can't ever find good time outside of work to schedule it? Our company did a hackathon (time limit of 24 hours, but no one stayed overnight) and I got to work with one of the senior tech leads on a HipChat bot. I found that extremely fun and rewarding.
- mikekchar 10y ago
  Some people like 24 hour raves too. I personally can't understand it. A good hackathon is a party for people who like to party that way. If you have colleagues that you truly enjoy hacking with, it's awesome. Plus I like pizza. I understand that some people don't enjoy these kinds of things the way I do (and to be honest, I can't do 24 hours of anything any more). As programming jobs become more integrated in society I find that hacking culture is changing. There are many more 9-5ers these days than when I first started. As much as I understand it, and as much as I think it isn't necessarily bad, it makes me a bit sad.
- jasonlotito 10y ago
  You are misrepresenting internal hackathons. They are merely X days provided by the company where your regular duties are no longer your priority. Instead you are encouraged to learn and/or create. Some may work more hours. Some may work the normal hours. That's it. If it imposes restrictions on what can be worked on and limits creativity and doesn't put learning first, it's really not a hackathon.
- mooreds 10y ago
  I helped run a hackathon at a real estate brokerage, and we did it during normal business hours. (More here if you want details: http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/768 http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/768 ) Hackathons don't have to be free labor for pizza.
- BeetleB 10y ago
  Sometimes hackathons are for a social cause (i.e. not tied to a company's products). Even in those cases, they strongly suggest using the company's tools/products to solve said social problem. I see it as a win-win. You get to use your tech skills to solve a social need for some nonprofit (they are not required to buy anything for this solution) and the company gets some publicity.
- dntrkv 10y ago
  The company I work for runs a week long "hackathon" each quarter during business hours. Generally, you aren't allowed to work on anything but your hack week project.
IndianAstronaut 10y ago
>Companies which got strong technical leadership and software is a key component rather than add on (e.g. some banks) This is so crucial. I currently work at a bank and it is frustrating. The business side forces technical decisions on you, is generally not very understanding of technical challenges, is micromanaging, etc.
tyingq 10y ago
>Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everything in between On of the "in between" things I really like is working in the IT department of a non-tech company. In that space, there's opportunity to do really well, even if you aren't in the top echelon of tech talent. Typically, that's not because these companies don't care about technical expertise, but because they want developers with a good balance of tech expertise and business expertise. Someone that's willing to spend enough time with the the business side of the house and listen to their views is highly valued.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

nrjdhsbsid 10y ago

These are all very accurate in my experience, especially the first 2.

culturestate 10y ago

> Good litmus test is to ask employees, do they have hackathons I'm a designer rather than an engineer, but I've always been a bit puzzled by the popularity of intra-company hackathons. It seems like a great way for management to keep employees working longer hours for less pay – an overnight hackathon that results in, say, 80 hours of additional work from a small team only costs the company some pizzas.

pmiller2 10y ago
We had an internal hackathon at my company recently. It was a Thursday/Friday + optional weekend thing, but nobody was pressured to work excessive amounts of hours to get their project done.
- Fnoord 10y ago
  > It was a Thursday/Friday + optional weekend thing, but nobody was pressured to work excessive amounts of hours to get their project done. If "everyone" does it individuals are less inclined to say "No."
chii 10y ago
it depends on what hackathons are geared to doing - if it's _actual_ client/business work that they'd be doing normally, then it's not a proper hackathon, and just an excuse to get more hours out of the employees. But if it's a free for all, do anything you want style, and participation is optional (truly optional, not fake-optional via management peer pressure), then it's a good sign.
- culturestate 10y ago
  My hangup is that in either case, it's still extra work that benefits the company rather than the employee. It's performed on company premises with company equipment - gamified overtime, essentially. I suppose there's an argument to be made that a good employee can make it mutually beneficial (use the time to learn a new, marketable skill that can get them a raise or a better job), but still...
  - dack 10y ago
    In the situation the parent described, I find it hard to construe it as benefiting the company over the individual (other than naturally making the company more attractive to work for). We did this when I was at Guidewire and it was amazing. I explored Event Sourcing during a hackathon and eventually went on to build it into a product using those skills - it's a really happy memory. In another hackathon I built easter eggs into our internal seating chart application - the vibe of everyone hacking together was great. This was a hackathon where it was broad enough that "reading an interesting programming book" counted, and nobody really bothered you if you did something completely different.
  - jasonlotito 10y ago
    Explain simply how building something the company won't use or learning something new on company time is essentially gamified overtime when doing this on normal company hours.
jakozaur 10y ago
Heh, actually that is a good question, since answer will also tell you a lot about culture. It is an indirect question about working hours too. E.g.: 1. We do hackathon once a quarter during work hours. 2. We do 24h hackathons, but it's really fun! 3. Well we work so long that we don't have time for hackathon. 4. We care so much about work-life balance, that we don't do hackathons. Depending on what you are looking for, you may be satisfied with different answer.
- SmellTheGlove 10y ago
  Serious question: Who out there isn't looking for #1 or #4? I'm failing to see anything positive about 2-3. Who's looking for those?
  - NiceGuy_Ty 10y ago
    Have you ever wanted to collaborate with a coworker on something outside of your job, but can't ever find good time outside of work to schedule it? Our company did a hackathon (time limit of 24 hours, but no one stayed overnight) and I got to work with one of the senior tech leads on a HipChat bot. I found that extremely fun and rewarding.
mikekchar 10y ago
Some people like 24 hour raves too. I personally can't understand it. A good hackathon is a party for people who like to party that way. If you have colleagues that you truly enjoy hacking with, it's awesome. Plus I like pizza. I understand that some people don't enjoy these kinds of things the way I do (and to be honest, I can't do 24 hours of anything any more). As programming jobs become more integrated in society I find that hacking culture is changing. There are many more 9-5ers these days than when I first started. As much as I understand it, and as much as I think it isn't necessarily bad, it makes me a bit sad.
jasonlotito 10y ago
You are misrepresenting internal hackathons. They are merely X days provided by the company where your regular duties are no longer your priority. Instead you are encouraged to learn and/or create. Some may work more hours. Some may work the normal hours. That's it. If it imposes restrictions on what can be worked on and limits creativity and doesn't put learning first, it's really not a hackathon.
mooreds 10y ago
I helped run a hackathon at a real estate brokerage, and we did it during normal business hours. (More here if you want details: http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/768 http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/768 ) Hackathons don't have to be free labor for pizza.
BeetleB 10y ago
Sometimes hackathons are for a social cause (i.e. not tied to a company's products). Even in those cases, they strongly suggest using the company's tools/products to solve said social problem. I see it as a win-win. You get to use your tech skills to solve a social need for some nonprofit (they are not required to buy anything for this solution) and the company gets some publicity.
dntrkv 10y ago
The company I work for runs a week long "hackathon" each quarter during business hours. Generally, you aren't allowed to work on anything but your hack week project.

IndianAstronaut 10y ago

>Companies which got strong technical leadership and software is a key component rather than add on (e.g. some banks) This is so crucial. I currently work at a bank and it is frustrating. The business side forces technical decisions on you, is generally not very understanding of technical challenges, is micromanaging, etc.

tyingq 10y ago

>Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everything in between On of the "in between" things I really like is working in the IT department of a non-tech company. In that space, there's opportunity to do really well, even if you aren't in the top echelon of tech talent. Typically, that's not because these companies don't care about technical expertise, but because they want developers with a good balance of tech expertise and business expertise. Someone that's willing to spend enough time with the the business side of the house and listen to their views is highly valued.

deleted 10y ago

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