What is a hackathon?

A hackathon is an event organized by a company or organization with the goal of producing a high-quality solution through expert collaboration. Typically, a hackathon is a competitive event. The success of the hackathon format is because of the freedom to be creative.

Types of hackathons

On June 4, 1999, the open-source community in Calgary, Canada, invented the hackathon, also known as a hack day or hack fest. The goals and themes of hackathons vary. These are hackathons that are organized as a platform for developing applications such as mobile apps, operating system variations, and web and video game upgrades. Altruistic hackathons are those in which participants collaborate to solve problems such as public transportation, education, and disaster response.

Hackathons are devised and organized by companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to encourage their employees to participate in new product development. Similarly, language or programming hackathons are events dedicated to the development of applications in a specific programming language or framework, such as C++ or .NET. Some hackathons are restricted to a specific demographic, such as students or women, while others are restricted to developers with specific skill levels and experience.

Structure of a typical hackathon

The following is a typical hackathon structure:

Introductions

• A description of the event (including hackathon rules, regulations, and expectations).
• Project pitch presentations (participants can pitch ideas and form teams).
• Hacking (collaboration on a project in a team format).
• Displaying a finished product or unfinished work (this happens more often due to time constraints).
• The jury chooses the winners and awards the prizes.

The structure of both online and offline hackathons is usually simple for participants. Even if newcomers do not know what happens at a hackathon, they quickly adapt to the format.

In a nutshell, hackathons bring talent together to solve a common problem. The organizer creates a welcoming, relaxing, and conducive environment for productive collaboration and competition. Meanwhile, participants use the format to solve problems, learn, network, and find better career opportunities.

Advantages and disadvantages

Hackathons bring people with technical backgrounds together to form teams to solve a problem or develop new ideas.

Hackathons can help participants hone their IT skills, meet people and work with others in their field. Corporate hackathons encourage employees to innovate, foster team building, and provide opportunities to cross-collaborate across departments.

Hackathons can potentially create more stress for employees. The ideas typically generated through a hackathon can also prove complicated because there is often no formal way to sift through or evaluate the ideas. 

Hackathons also involve time, cost, and other resources to produce, with no guaranteed return on investment.

Key Takeaways

• Hackathons are quite popular in a variety of businesses. 
• They inspire invention, produce ideas, facilitate networking, and expand horizons. 
• All participants, including sponsors, partners, and hosts, reap several benefits from these events.
• A successful hackathon may help you increase internal team communication, promote innovation, build new products, find new talent, and boost your company’s bottom line.

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