2018 Hack Week photo recap

Last week, we celebrated our ninth Hack Week with the theme: Designing enlightened ways of working, inspired by our mission. For five days, Dropboxers put aside their day-to-day activities to unleash their creative energy and focus on projects that help remove the boundaries of the creative process. Offices around the globe celebrated with both office and employee-led activities. But instead of telling you about it, we’ll show you!

Opening ceremony activities

Opening ceremonies were held in our San Francisco HQ and live-streamed at all of our locations. We welcomed back early Dropbox employee and original Hack Week organizer Jon Ying to interview CEO Drew Houston on what makes Hack Week at Dropbox special and to find out what Drew is working on this year. Following the ceremony, Dropboxers received kits that included the key attributes of an enlightened way of working: awareness, focus, humanity, and co-creation.

(left) Jon Ying & Drew Houston (right) Hack Week kits doubled as decor.

Office decor & installations

Upon arriving at work on Monday morning, Dropboxers were greeted with Hack Week decor and installations all over the walls (and floors!) throughout the office. Some installations were up all week while others were pop-ups meant to be enjoyed in a day.

Lobbies across our offices were transformed with Hack Week decor and installations. The flip disc (left), with the Hack Week logo was a kinetic screen, made up of thousands of flipping discs that reacted and captured movement of those in front of it. (right) Hack Week word search path

‘Paint by number’ walls were setup in multiple offices

(left) LED dance floor, with rotating games & activities (right) Deep Focus, our usual dimly lit quiet work space transformed into a neon arcade

It wouldn’t be a Dropbox event with out some cupcakes!

Photo highlights of employee and office events

Virtual reality experiences in Seattle, Austin and New York

(left) Bonsai tree trimming workshop in San Francisco, (middle) Terrarium class in Austin (right) Flower arrangement 101 in Seattle

Enjoying the summer sun with (left) rooftop Tai Chi in San Francisco and (right) a rooftop picnic in London

Opportunities to paint were abundant!

(left) Hack Week bake off in London (right) Tel Aviv spent the week constructing their own electronic claw arcade game, the eventual prize were Beanie Babies!

Employees gathering around CEO, Drew Houston as he works on his Hack Week project. Could this be the future of Dropbox?

Closing ceremonies & awards

The closing ceremonies celebrated all of the hacking that took place over the course of the week. There were many opportunities, including video submissions, for judges and employees to see the projects. There were a total of 10 award categories and more than 30 winners as well as some honorable mentions across participating offices.

Even though Hack Week is over, some of the projects will continue to be worked on and implemented. Over the last nine Hack Weeks, many projects have made an impact — like Pied Paper, Smart Sync, File Requests, and other internal tools that Dropboxers today can’t imagine living without!

Closing ceremony scene

(left) Head of Product, Robert Baesman and CIO Sylvie Veilleux dressed the part to introduce the “Better Together” award category (right) The award category trophies in the Dublin office

Want to participate in our next Hack Week? We’re hiring! Visit dropbox.com/jobs to see opportunities.