Hackathons are nothing new but they’ve become increasingly popular in the last few years, with hundreds of events taking place all over the world on a regular basis.
In these events, you’ll spot developers, product managers, software engineers, and more, as hackathons are perfect for all tech lovers.
With digital transformation spending projected to reach 3.4 trillion USD by 2026, as well as a demand for innovation, hackathons have emerged as tools for promoting collaboration and problem-solving in this huge industry.
In this article, we explore the world of hackathons, including what these events entail, their history, their benefits, and a few tips to get you started.
What are hackathons?
A portmanteau of ‘hacking’ and ‘marathon’, hackathons bring together developers, programmers, and other tech enthusiasts to collaborate on solving problems or creating a new project in a short amount of time (typically, hackathons last from 24 to 48 hours).
The goal of a hackathon is often to create a functional prototype or solution for a specific problem, although it can also be:
- To provide a space for people to work on projects they may not have been able to focus on otherwise.
- To learn from and network with your peers.
- To identify new product ideas or test out a new API or feature.
- To address a specific social or environmental issue.
No matter the ultimate goal, the idea is always to promote collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
In the context of developer marketing, hackathons are a fantastic way to engage with your developer audience (since many developer personas attend these types of events). They’re also powerful marketing tools, so don’t miss out on the opportunities they provide.
“If you've ever done a hackathon, the idea is to actually tap into what's happening in the community and in the ecosystem, because there's so much more value.” – Melodi Kaya, Co-Founder & CMO of Stealth Startup
A brief history of hackathons
Hackathons can be traced back to June 4, 1999, when a group of programmers from Calgary, Canada, organized an event called “hack day” to collaborate on coding projects.
This event was later renamed “hackathon” by the open-source community and became popularized in Silicon Valley during the early 2000s.
Another big event was the “Yahoo Hack Day”, held in 2006, which attracted hundreds of developers who competed to create innovative new applications using Yahoo’s API. This set the stage for many more hackathons.
Today, hackathons cover a wide range of topics, from software development to social entrepreneurship and scientific research. They’re also hosted by tech companies, universities, and community groups.
In recent years, hackathons have gained even greater prominence, with major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook hosting their own hackathons and sponsoring events around the world.
Why you should host hackathons
Hackathons provide many opportunities and benefits for participants, organizers, and the tech sector as a whole. Here are some of the key advantages of hackathons:
- Opportunities for collaboration: Hackathons bring people with diverse backgrounds and skills together to work on a common goal. This fosters collaboration, networking, and the exchange of ideas, which can lead to partnerships, business opportunities, and more.
- Innovation: The competitive environment of hackathons is designed to stimulate innovation and creativity in the participants, as they have a short amount of time to come up with and develop new, unique ideas.
- Skill boost: Hackathons provide a platform for people to develop and showcase their skills in coding, design, project management, etc. Everyone who participates can also learn from their peers and mentors, gaining valuable experience and knowledge.
- Rapid prototyping: Events like hackathons allow you to test and refine ideas quickly, which can help you to identify potential issues and improvements in the development process.
- Grow your community: Hackathons can build communities and strengthen the tech industry by fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and creativity. They offer a platform for people to connect and share their passion for technology and problem-solving.
- Upskill developers: Another reason hackathons are popular is because they allow developers to learn new skills, leading to increased satisfaction; what’s more, in a hackathon environment, people are motivated to try your product and test it out, which can lead to product adoption.
5 top tips for successful hackathons
1. Define the problem at hand
The first step in organizing a hackathon is to choose a theme or challenge that aligns with your goals and values. This could be anything from creating a new app or website to building a functional prototype. Defining the problem allows participants to focus their efforts and creativity.
NASA’s Space Apps Challenge is one of the many examples of hackathons that provide participants with clearly defined challenges related to space exploration, climate change, and more, ensuring focused and relevant innovations.
“When they explored the Moon, NASA’s Apollo astronauts left behind several instruments to collect geophysical data near each Apollo landing site. Your challenge is to develop an app for the public that plots the seismic data these instruments transmitted back to Earth on an interactive 3-D digital moon globe.”
2. Identify your specific audience
Your audience might be developers but that’s a very broad segment. It’s crucial you identify your developer personas, whether they’re newbies or experienced developers, software devs, or engineers – this way, you can tailor the event to their needs and interests.
MIT’s Hacking Medicine is a great example. The hackathon focuses on healthcare innovation and its target audience includes medical professionals, biomedical engineers, and data scientists. The company PillPack (an online pharmacy service) was born out of this hackathon in 2012 and was later acquired by Amazon for nearly 1 billion USD.
3. Figure out the logistics and resources
Decide the format of the hackathon, as well as the date, location, duration, and number of participants. Other considerations include deciding whether to host the event online or in person and the resources that people will need.
For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosts hackathons such as the DeepRacer League, a global autonomous racing competition where people develop, train, and race their own machine learning (ML) models using AWS resources.
The goal is to make ML accessible and fun for developers, whether they’re still learning or are seasoned experts. The resources the company provides includes:
- $30 AWS credits to access the cloud platform,
- Access to the console that includes a 3D racing simulator,
- Tutorials and workshops,
- And mentorship from community members.
4. Foster a collaborative environment
Teamwork and collaboration are key in hackathons, so it’s crucial that you create an environment where participants feel comfortable sharing ideas and working together.
For instance, Facebook’s internal hackathons have been a significant part of the company’s culture since its early days. Typically, everyone from engineers to designers participate in them. One of the most famous outcomes of a Facebook hackathon is the “Like” button, which was created and launched in 2009.
Other contributions include the now-called Messenger app, the ability to tag friends in photos, and the concept of organizing profiles into a timeline.
5. Offer incentives and recognition
Many hackathons, if not most, provide attractive prizes, be they opportunities for career advancement or monetary rewards. These can motivate the participants to put in their best efforts.
One example is Uber. The company hosted hackathons with a grand prize of up to $10,000 USD for hackers who could find bugs in their system, as well as events where people had the chance to access Uber’s API to build creative and functional applications that could be integrated with the existing platform.
In short
Hackathons offer a unique opportunity for developers from different backgrounds to come together and innovate. Each hackathon will have its own challenge, from bug hunting to app creation, allowing participants to upskill or learn new skills, network with their peers, and bring groundbreaking ideas to life.
While these benefit participants, there are also many pros to your org, such as finding solutions to issues with your product and growing your developer community.
Speaking of community and the importance of developer engagement, have you downloaded our free ebook?
This guide offers you action points to help you create an engagement engine that’ll transform your current strategy and help you get the results you’re looking for.
Teresa Garanhel
