Why Hackathons Are Awesome
Hackathons, depending on who you ask, can be described any number of ways. As an opportunity to work alongside other developers for some common goal. It's a personal quest to take an idea and make it real, immediately. As a chance to go heads-down for 30 hours to see what you come up with. As a chance to be a social coder. The contests, often competitive in nature, can also be an opportunity to go head-to-head with other coders. Regardless, the end result is something real, something people can touch and click and interact with.
The idea is to spark creativity by being forced to go very fast, utilizing the more intuitive part of your brain. The developer strips away the unneccesary, boiling the idea down to its simplest form.
Some of today’s most innovative companies have recognized and embraced the value of these events for rapidly bringing new ideas to life. Some companies even sponsor external contests to give their developer communities an incentive to explore and implement their technology. The end result is a demonstrable prototype of the idea, which may have a better chance of getting that product onto the roadmap than a PowerPoint on the idea.
We expect competitive programming’s value proposition to wide gain acceptance in communities and companies of all sizes. As more people begin to recognize and leverage the innovating-power of these competitions, we’ll provide them with the tools necessary to streamline the process.
But don't take our word for it. Take a look at some of the articles below:
Facebook Hackathons and innovation capabilities
Is Innovation in Short Supply at Your Company? Hold a Hackathon
Hacks/Hackers Brings Techsters and Journalists Together
Hacking Your Way to a Mobile App At Social Summer Camp
Hackers Show What Can Be Done
Hacking for Humanity: Random Hacks of Kindness Takes New York
Hackathons and 21st Century Programmers