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Thanks for your view. However, it is important to see this event also for what it is. It is a way for Arcelor to think out-of-the-box, and get input from people

Thanks for your view. However, it is important to see this event also for what it is. It is a way for Arcelor to think out-of-the-box, and get input from people that are not directly linked to their business. Secondly, it is a way for students to get a glimps of what the corporate projects and challenges are. Additionally, for us, as professionals, it is a way to show, although in a very rough fashion, what is possible, and where we can help. We saw this event more as a team building than work. The result we got at the hackathon is a very rough prototype, not a finished product. In no way, this can directly be implemented on the floor. As such, input from experts is still required, either us, or other experts in the field. Therefore, these hackathons are useful, in my opinion, not only to the company, but also the participants :)

csmattryder 9y ago
> It is a way for Arcelor to think out-of-the-box, and get input from people that are not directly linked to their business. And there's nothing wrong with that, so much so, that we created a title for these people: Consultant. They're highly paid, and available to bring years of domain experience to a business. How much value did ArcellorMittal get in exchange for 8.5k and some pizza? How much would <leading AR firm> charge, in comparison? (Man, programmers desperately need someone to tell them that no, not everyone just "gets" programming. You have a skill, charge for it!)
corford 9y ago
Really agree with this. Not everything is about money, if it was we wouldn't have squid, postfix, apache, nodejs, python and the millions of other open source software that I and everyone else here relies on daily. Ask the maintainer of GnuPG if he was ever given $10K by a company (prior to the Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative grant).
- peterbonney 9y ago
  This is the distinction I was getting at - something like GnuPG provides tremendous value to society as a whole. Saving ArcelorMittal some money in its manufacturing process doesn't benefit anyone except ArcelorMittal's executives and stockholders. So I stand by my point. There's no doubt the participants got a lot out of this Hackathon, but I'd wager that ArcelorMittal got significantly more.
  - corford 9y ago
    I see your point but I assume the producers of the hack own the rights and IP to their work i.e. there's nothing stopping them releasing what they did as open source and building a community around it (at least that's been the case with every hackathon I've ever participated in). If the above assumption is true then I don't see the problem. ArcelorMittal get some buzz and maybe some ideas to pursue, the hackers get a fully paid fun weekend and a little cash for their efforts, society potentially benefits from the seeds that were planted.
- valesco 9y ago
  Oh but this was about money. Saving money for a multinational corporation that crushed its rivals in Europe. Nice job.

csmattryder 9y ago

> It is a way for Arcelor to think out-of-the-box, and get input from people that are not directly linked to their business. And there's nothing wrong with that, so much so, that we created a title for these people: Consultant. They're highly paid, and available to bring years of domain experience to a business. How much value did ArcellorMittal get in exchange for 8.5k and some pizza? How much would <leading AR firm> charge, in comparison? (Man, programmers desperately need someone to tell them that no, not everyone just "gets" programming. You have a skill, charge for it!)

corford 9y ago

Really agree with this. Not everything is about money, if it was we wouldn't have squid, postfix, apache, nodejs, python and the millions of other open source software that I and everyone else here relies on daily. Ask the maintainer of GnuPG if he was ever given $10K by a company (prior to the Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative grant).

peterbonney 9y ago
This is the distinction I was getting at - something like GnuPG provides tremendous value to society as a whole. Saving ArcelorMittal some money in its manufacturing process doesn't benefit anyone except ArcelorMittal's executives and stockholders. So I stand by my point. There's no doubt the participants got a lot out of this Hackathon, but I'd wager that ArcelorMittal got significantly more.
- corford 9y ago
  I see your point but I assume the producers of the hack own the rights and IP to their work i.e. there's nothing stopping them releasing what they did as open source and building a community around it (at least that's been the case with every hackathon I've ever participated in). If the above assumption is true then I don't see the problem. ArcelorMittal get some buzz and maybe some ideas to pursue, the hackers get a fully paid fun weekend and a little cash for their efforts, society potentially benefits from the seeds that were planted.
valesco 9y ago
Oh but this was about money. Saving money for a multinational corporation that crushed its rivals in Europe. Nice job.