Why Do Bootcamps Have Hackathons?
So in this article, I’m not going to tell you things like —
Hack is a smart solution to a complex problem,
Hacking + Marathon = Hackathon, etc.
Because you already know these generic definitions. What we’ll be discussing here is more focused and important. We’ll try to answer some not-so-generic questions like,
Why are hackathons the hottest events in coding bootcamps?
Are hackathons even worth it?
What are the pros and cons of committing to a hackathon?
Why do Coding Bootcamps conduct Hackathons so religiously?
Hackathons are like the Olympics but with computers. It’s a code sprint with a lot of other tracks that participants get to discover and explore. They may last for anywhere between 10–48 hours (some hackathons even last for weeks altogether). But one major misconception is that hackathons are all about coding, they’re not. These events aim at building. Building what you ask? Building team skills, problem-solving skills, technical skills, presentation skills, and what-not skills.
Having bootcampers participate in hackathons is like deploying soldiers in the field before the battle. Because hackathons help developers understand the market of innovation and technology better. It gives them the environment where they can discover problems and explore their solutions under solid mentor-ship.
Are Hackathons worth your time and energy?
TLDR; yes.
While coding bootcamp hackathons are aimed at the development of the students and not necessarily producing an industry-ready product, it may not be all fun and games after all! It gets serious (in a good way) when your hackathon prototype has the potential to become a full-fledged start-up, and there are people taking notice of it. By the way, that’s how Twitter was born.
Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone started working on their new product during an office hackathon. Noah Glass (the co-founder of the company) took notice of it’s potential and the four of them decided to take it further. Look where it got them. Twitter had a revenue valuation of $3.46 billion as of 2019. Many other successful startups like EasyTaxi and GroupMe are also products of hackthons.
Bottom line is, your idea could be serious or you could be just playing around, it’s still all worthwhile.
“Toys are preludes to serious ideas.”
Charles and Ray Eames
Lets weigh the pros and cons of attending Hackathons
PROS
• Tickles your innovative-bone.
• Forces you to solve complex problems on the go.
• Helps you grow as a team player.
• Gives you on-field experience while building your own idea.
• Helps in networking with some very important people. (Trust us, it’s crucial.)
• Lets you discover your strengths and shortcomings in a healthy competitive environment.
• Helps you come up with out-of-the-box ideas.
CONS
Little Trivia
Facebook’s Like button was developed as part of a hackathon. Just saying 😉
Here are some brilliant bootcamps that invest their time in hackathons —
‣ Software Guild
‣ Epicodus
‣ Code Fellows
‣ Tree House
Get yourself a coding bootcamp that pushes you beyond limits with hackathons, meet-ups and interactive events. After all, a developer needs to develop as well.
You can check out all such awesome coding bootcamps on Bootcamps.tech.
Hope you hack your match!
Yours technically,
Team Bootcamps.tech
