Comment by binarymax | Hacker News Reader

Comment by binarymax | Hacker News Reader

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I agree with some of these points and I understand why some folks don't like hackathons. I especially understand why some don't like company hackathons or PR hackathons.

I go to about one or two of them per year, am 36 years old, and here's what I DO like about 'generic' hackathons - that have no single sponsor:

    - It's a break from my daily routine (I work from home, so its good to mingle)
    - It's a lot of fun and I meet smart like-minded people.
    - I get to laser focus on learning new tech without any emotional commitment.
    - I know it's all for naught so I have no problem starting something and then not feeling 'guilty' about throwing it away afterwards.
    - Its a serious mental challenge.  I do it more for the personal competition (like golf) rather than competing against others

There are several other reasons, but those are the top for me. I never going in expecting to win (and I never do), so treating it like a weekend of nonsense probably helps.

That's all fine, but the author's points stand.

They are a bit like LAN parties. Don't expect much more than that, and if that's what you want then it's all fine. However, for getting stuff done they are not a good format and his criticisms are valid.

OpenBSD hackathons ( http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html )tick a few of the boxes though:

+ not competitive

+ for working on ongoing projects and known problems, rather than throwaway flashy toys

+ keep the "good" from regular hackathons

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- still overwhelmingly for a certain demographic (particularly non-inclusive as they are invitation-only)

- still likely to be not very healthy

I've been to one of these, and although I did win, I don't think it's particularly useful other than for entertainment, meeting people, etc. Which admittedly are good goals on their own. But anything other than young males will likely feel increasingly excluded in these events.

"still overwhelmingly for a certain demographic (particularly non-inclusive as they are invitation-only)"

Isn't the OpenBSD hackathons basically self-selected by being for people who contribute to the project.

"still likely to be not very healthy"

Given the trip reports from the last couple, they had a lot healthier (and funner) time than my last trip to Vegas. I seem to remember a hike as part of the events.

I think so, they look interesting but I haven't been to one so I cannot report. From the pics it seems to me that they're something like 90% male in their 20s-30s.

I realise now that my other post was not very clear. I went to a "hackathon" but not an OpenBSD one.

"From the pics it seems to me that they're something like 90% male in their 20s-30s"

That's not a problem of a hackathon, its the basic demographic of contributions to open source.

Yep well, it's the landscape of OSS and software development in general extending into the hackathon. Not something that should be policed IMO but many people would like a different landscape.

her, but anyway.

I agree. I think it really depends on expectations. If you go into the event with a desire to learn a new piece of tech or to try and experiment with a concept, then it's a great fun framework to build something with a well defined, externally set stopping point. And it's fun, esp with other smart people around.

However if you're trying to win, or worse forced to attend, then yeah that's a set up for a stressful, low value event.

Actually very reasonable

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