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This kind of hackathons outlined by the OP indeed sounds like trouble. In the current company I work at, we have every 6 weeks, 2 full days to hack on whatever
by brunojppb 4y ago
This kind of hackathons outlined by the OP indeed sounds like trouble. In the current company I work at, we have every 6 weeks, 2 full days to hack on whatever we want. Zero expectations.
This has been really cool because:
- it’s during normal working hours. 9 to 5. No weekends or all nighters.
- you are entitled to cancel all your meetings
- you can work on product-related ideas or experiment with a new language. It’s 100% up to you. No expectations or strings attached.
A few cool features in our app eventually started out from days like that, but so far it has been more like a side-effect than a requirement per se.
I see a lot of positive things coming out of this. And the company for sure gets benefits. So far it has been a win-win from my POV.
- pocketarc 4y agoDoes it have to be work related? Also, do you end up showing off whatever you did during that time, or is it really a "do whatever" day where you could just do nothing?
- brunojppb 4y agoIt needs to be something that helps you to level-up somehow. But it does not force you into specifics, so it’s up to you to choose. At the end of the second day, there is usually a little show-off session where folks that got something interesting at the end and want to share, they can. But you are not forced to. It’s still normal working hours, so you are expected to do something.
- piva00 4y agoI kinda dislike the "level-up" corporate jargon but I understand what you mean. At the company I work for hack days can even be used for you to read technical literature, so if you'd like to take these 2 days to grok through a technical book you haven't found the time for you can do so. Is that encouraged where you work or does one need to "build" something out of these hack days?
- brunojppb 4y agoThat is right on. Same situation here.
- blue039 4y agoEnjoy it while it lasts. It sounds pessimistic of me to say but once the company catches wind of you enjoying yourself it'll be taken away. They'll realize after some careful spreadsheet analysis that participation in this hackathon is an all time high. You know it's because you guys can do what you want. They don't. They just see the distilled numbers. So, the C-levels will order everyone to instead work on a work-related project with a mandatory demo (for "fun" time constraints!) and everyone will be miserable. Participation will drop, and then it will become a routine where they get all the engineers to do a song and dance once a year for them. That's all "demos" are, anyway. Of course that'll be sold as "giving the engineers an opportunity to improve their speaking skills for conferences" or some trite bullshit typical of sub-zero IQ C-levels. I dont participate in any kind of hackathon or after work in-office "fun" event because they almost always turn into extra work hours. If you want to hang out you can find me at the bar.
- brunojppb 4y agoThat would be a bit depressing if this eventually happen. But I do understand where you come from. I would also not accept if I had to do this during off hours. And it's also very different from hackathons where you have a company agenda. Hopefully this does not change, but we never know.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- data_maan 4y agoDo you work 5 days a week during those 6 weeks? If yes, 2 days off is nice - but not generously nice. There are companies (but not FAANG) that by default have a 4-day week, so there you'd have in 6 weeks essentially 6 days off.