I can also relate to the article because some hackathons that I have been to feel like you're building this thing that you know you are going to throw away. And events where you are able to use a new language you're under time pressure to just get it working rather than understand it. I'd rather spend a whole day on my own projects.

I've been to two other hackathons that are focused on attracting girls and women into the STEM arena (http://www.stemettes.org/events) but they don't exclude guys. The idea is more around splitting the participants into groups of different ability and helping them build something. I really enjoyed that the event is about learning/mentoring more than about wining prizes and I found it really rewarding to help kids that had some interest in coding.

The events are quite different from the 48 hour hacks because they are also catering for 6 year olds with short attention spans, but it felt like I was helping to show that coding is accessible to anyone of any age.

If you're a coder in London I highly recommend volunteering with them.