Supporting community machines with Facebook Developer Circles’ AI Hackathon
London’s Facebook Developer Circles begun in early April 2019 by Sebastian Kotur, Facebook Developer Circles Lead and Founder of Curvestone AI. Sebastian decided to start the community after graduating from Facebook’s Deep Tech accelerator called LDN_LABs. From humble beginnings the community has grown to host over 1000 members not just in London but worldwide. Student’s and professionals connect monthly to share, ideate and embrace the true meaning of community. With a strong focus on artificial intelligence, the community wanted to create something amazing together to help strengthen the sense of belonging and provide key skills to members. This direction inspired Sebastian’s “AI for Messenger” hackathon that bought together the community, industry heavy hitters and impactful technologies.
Professional growth through community 💼
Often the challenge with hackathons is finding a healthy balance between creating problem sets and frameworks that both challenges participants and creating an environment where participants feel capable and excited to develop skills. Sebastian and his team nailed it on the head with their AI for messenger hackathon. Whether participants were marketing experts or data scientists, Sebastian’s team utilised a broad challenge structure that different experts could develop a range of skills with other passionate community members. For example, seasoned data scientists with experience in using PyTorch were interested in increasing their skills by challenging themselves to integrate the library with different Facebook messenger use cases. The relaxed but competitive atmosphere of the hackathon was the perfect facilitator of professional growth for all that attended.
“We found that preparing members early and giving them resources early so that they can learn and prepare in advice…basically the more prepared you are the most likely you are to have fun on the day”
Community therapy 😃
It can be difficult for both technical and non-technical professionals to truly have confidence in the workplace. The AI for messenger hackathon provided a platform for both the Facebook Developer Circles community to convene and discuss issues of imposter-syndrome, anxiety and more. Sebastian’s commitment to nurturing community couldn’t have shined through more than it did in the hackathon. His secret was having a diverse team of organisers that understood both the technical requirements of hosting a great hackathon and the interpersonal conditions needed to make the community feel comfortable.
“We changed the copy on our sign up page to encourage people not from a technical background but have experience or have ideas to join.”
Social change-makers 👍
The impact the AI for messenger hackathon had on the Facebook Developer Circles was clear from the level of engagement at the event. Participant were curious and excited to broaden their horizons. This was not only an intentional effort of the organisers but the mentors were also committed to the mission of fostering community. Mentor, Laura Lebrovic, totally supported the hackathons aim to make participants feel comfortable that they have the ability to pursue whatever dream they had. By fostering a supportive environment participants of every level could ideate without fear of ridicule which is important for innovative solutions.
“No matter where you are at in your career if you feel that you’re interested in something and want to dive more into a subject just go for it. Go to local meetups, go to hackathons, go to conferences to learn more and if you feel like your super passionate in it you can even make it your job.”
