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I see your point of view and respect it. I think hackathons may not be everyone and my original thought was I felt companies using hackathons as a way to benchm

I see your point of view and respect it. I think hackathons may not be everyone and my original thought was I felt companies using hackathons as a way to benchmark developers (as if we are machines) based on their output. I could be wrong but that's just how I feel about it. Lastly, if I were to organize a hackathon. I think the the first I would do would be making it at least a week long instead of 2-3 days. In addition, I would make it required to not allow participants to stay more than 8 hours each day. After all when I think of hackathons, I think it's a time to tinker with technology and come up with something cool. NOT staying up for 3 days straight to win some prize.

johnday 7y ago
Yes, we have also been leaning towards running our sites for only "office hours" of 9-5, sometimes closer to 9-10 to allow for people who wake up outside of "human hours". The downside of week-long events is that you exclude people who have to go to work or have other commitments, but might be able to make time over a weekend.
malux85 7y ago
You’re correct in that there are some companies out there using hacksathons to benchmark and also steal IP (I’ve seen some where the participants are required to sign a document saying said company owned all intellectual property produced during the hacathon - hidden in small print) It’s disgusting behaviour because a hackathon is supposed to be about freedom of ideas, intellectual stimulation and humour and fun - and these companies are just purely exploiting it. They should be named and shamed. I would add that any halfway decent manager understands that while a developer can sprint, it is by definition an exhausting short term gain, and this is an unsustainable medium and long term strategy : and if your manager doesn’t understand something so basic about people management, it’s time to look for a new job

johnday 7y ago

Yes, we have also been leaning towards running our sites for only "office hours" of 9-5, sometimes closer to 9-10 to allow for people who wake up outside of "human hours". The downside of week-long events is that you exclude people who have to go to work or have other commitments, but might be able to make time over a weekend.

malux85 7y ago

You’re correct in that there are some companies out there using hacksathons to benchmark and also steal IP (I’ve seen some where the participants are required to sign a document saying said company owned all intellectual property produced during the hacathon - hidden in small print) It’s disgusting behaviour because a hackathon is supposed to be about freedom of ideas, intellectual stimulation and humour and fun - and these companies are just purely exploiting it. They should be named and shamed. I would add that any halfway decent manager understands that while a developer can sprint, it is by definition an exhausting short term gain, and this is an unsustainable medium and long term strategy : and if your manager doesn’t understand something so basic about people management, it’s time to look for a new job