How hackathons sharpen your business- AND technical skills
HACKATHONS. You have probably seen them on your notification feed.
They occasionally pop-up every now and again on your social media feed, stealing your attention as a targeted ad, or as a post from a very, VERY, enthusiastically entrepreneurial friend, that friend who send you an invite, asks for a “Like” or slide into your DMs, begging you to fill out a customer survey.
But what are these so called hackathons? What kind of people attend these events?
And consequently, how can the hackathon experience further develop you as a business professional?
“…teams go as far as possible to design, prototype and deliver concrete results in a time-boxed marathon.”
What is a hackathon?
Before I continue, I would like to share with you what I think is a suitable definition,
“…a hackathon is a 1 to 3-day workshop where attendees form teams to build solutions together.
In a mindset of positive competition, teams go as far as possible to design, prototype and deliver concrete results in a time-boxed marathon.
At the end of the event, teams present their results to others or a panel of judges.”,
as defined in a study by Convidencia, a Belgian consultancy.
Hackathons usually take place over the weekend, because, let’s face it, as a student or a professional, who has the time and capacity otherwise!?
In general, hackathons are competitive and time limited creative workshops that are focused on finding business and/or technical solutions to a given problem. And every hackathon is special due the many variables defining each one such as the organizing team, attendees, sponsors, venue, and so forth.
The hackathon theme could be anything, such as Sustainability, Education, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, etc. Literally anything, for instance, I was once told about this Wood-themed sustainabilities hackathon going on in the Baltics. So, just like the emojis on your smartphone, the combinations are endless and they happen anywhere!
On a personal note, I have always preferred the open- and community based ones. Because I have experienced them to be more creative, educational and impactful, like those of Techstars’ Startup Weekend. That being said I must confess that I am a bit biased since I organized one :)
Although weekday hackathons do occur, they mostly happen under the guise of as a closed, but somtimes open, corporate intrapreneurship workshop, mostly populated by their employees.
When corporations do organize one, more often than not, it’s a marketing gimmick, but still I find it exciting to see the creative outcomes, join-in on the the cross-section collaboration, and for the outsiders these hackathons also act as an excellent arena for recruitment. Many interesting concepts evelove at these corporate hackathons, but from my experience the organizing companies rarely follow up on these and attempt to further develop (ahem… “steal”) other people’s hackathon concepts.
People come from all professions, with varying levels of experience, and many countries.
The people
Attendees come either as an individual or as a team. Some people might even have pre-existing business ideas and some might get an Eureka moment on the spot.
People at hackathons come from all professions, with varying levels of experience, and many countries. Literally. I was once part of a small team of engineers, consultants, designers and developers who originated from England, France, Norway, the Philippines, Peru, Russia, Spain and Slovenia!
Working as a newly created ragtag team, preferably a multidisciplinary one, set to change the world over the weekend, you’ll will have the chance to help and complement each other. I always learn new things with each new team and view challenges from different perspectives thanks to my peers. I’ve seen people who’s did not have an idea prior a hackathon set up their first business model canvas, or a bio-chemist who created her first landing page with the help of experienced developers who loved her business idea.
There are those who come as pre-existing teams, but if there are decent facilitators at the hackathons, they usually force a pre-existing team to break up and instead team-up with strangers, just to get everyone out of their comfort-zone in order to improve their communication skills and increase their learning curve. This sort of team management is supported by a Norwegian adage that that goes something like; “Children alike have the most fun, but they learn nothing from their play sessions.”, translated from a less wordier “Like barn leker best, men de lærer jo ingenting.”
The common thread(s) among all the new attendees is that they are all curious; they are curious
- about the hackathon process
- to know how a hackathon can help grow their network
- to see if their ideas are feasible
- to know if they have a skillset to help others.
But first of all, most are curious to experience what it takes to bring forth something tangible and impactful.
So putting it mildly. Hackathons are great arenas to meet new and exciting people, increase your business network and learn new skill.
…you need to bring your A-game!
The business side of things
Hackathons create a sense of urgency for you and your team. It is a business competition after all, where your team’s deliverables must be more commercially- and technically viable than the other team. In other words you need to bring your A-game!
Your problem-solving approach could become more efficient in such a fast-paced environment, through teamwork and by working against the clock to solve a specific business case.
Your team must find a minimum viable product and discover a good business model.
You will learn to test hypothesis’, validate assumptions, be adaptable and kill your darlings as you pivot when confronted with hard facts.
You will learn how to get an in-depth knowledge of a specific business area and be exposed to different industry while you are at it.
And at the end of it all, you will have to pitch your findings in such a convincing manner that have everyone wondering where your solution has been all their life!?
Good team collaboration, rapid-prototyping and concept validation takes precedence before learning how to build things from scratch.
The tech bit
Hackathons are great environments to discover and try out new technologies. But most hackathons though are concerned with designing software prototypes, such a mobile- or a web application.
Tech people, such as designers and software developers, are given the opportunity work to on challenges that concerns them the most, or just they simply think you business idea is cool. Because how often does anyone get to choose the project or the team to work with?
A hackathon is also a good place to build up your portfolio and work with experienced and talented people. I have noticed that many attending developers, with a proven track record, are more than happy to tutor novice developers, because it helps solidify their hard earned knowledge.
Hackathons are specially educational for people with a non-technical background and novice developers, where most acquire a better understanding of the different tech tools and their dependencies.
To hack, or not to hack: that is the question
Although a hackathon is a great place to learn new skills, it is still very much a competition. So in due course, good team collaboration, rapid-prototyping and concept validation takes precedence over learning how to build things from scratch.
A hackathon at the very least provide you with a good overall introduction on what it takes to take your business idea to the next level. But foremost it’s an intensive and creative undertaking, a weekend experience I believe you won’t regret.
See you at the next hackathon!