The Hackatopia Story
One gets the feeling that hackathons have been around for a long time, in one form or another. And despite that, I didn't encounter one until iPhoneDevCamp in the summer of 2009. It was amazing, 50 or so teams working for two nights to build and then demo their applications. There was a competitive energy, but at the same time, a sense of cooperation as well. People asking questions, openly sharing their progress with each other. It was as if everyone knew it was more important to be in the game than it was to win. I don't remember who won, but I remember that energy.
Fast-forward 2 months. My friends Tim Courtney and Andy Angelos were in the early stages of planning SocialDevCamp Chicago 2009 when I asked if they planned on having a hackathon contest. I was actually interested in competing in one. His reply was that there would be a hackathon, if I would put it together.
Fast forward again, this time to the weekend of the SocialDevCamp Chicago 2009 competition. The weekend was a blur. A mix of really bad food and tons of coffee. By the night of the demos, everyone involved sensed that something interesting had just taken place. The conference attendees that stayed for the demos said as much by the looks on their faces. No one there seemed to have a handle on how much a developer could do in 30 hours. From idea to demo. To be honest with you, I don't remember who won that one either. But I do remember that as I was handing out prizes, I could sense that the hackathon developers would have done it for nothing, because that's the way they're molded.
The picture above was taken at SocialDevCamp Chicago, 2009.
After running a couple more events, I thought it would be useful to create a platform that makes it easier to manage the contests, find upcoming events, document the results, and give lasting credit to the developers that make it all happen. So I set out to build Hackatopia to do that and hopefully more. It's a work in progress and I'd love your input.
Pete Morano
Founder