Above: Hackers get into their groove at AngelHack Hong Kong, 2013
Between Chinese New Year and the end of March this year six hackathons will have taken place in Hong Kong. From the HK Budget Hackathon to the HKUST Hackathon right after our event, the MasterCard Masters of Code Competition, tis the season for hacks.
You’ve definitely heard the word “hackathon” if you’ve been paying attention to the tech industry over the past few years. You may not completely understand what goes on at one of these, but what you should know is it’s become a vital part of today’s tech culture.
To clarify, a hackathon is a gathering of mostly developers and designers coming together to pitch product ideas, try out a new coding language, network, collaborate and compete for prizes.
Hackathons, like anything in the tech world, change rapidly. When AngelHack started in the space almost three years ago, having a venue and some Red Bull was generally enough for a good event. As we expanded globally, we began to focus on making hackathons something special, events you came to because each one would be fun and spontaneous and memorable.
Now hackathons have become an artful science. We’re serving foods based upon university led studies to keep your mind focused and creating sleep schedules to keep your team running seamlessly through the night. We’ve had everything from massages to acupuncture at our events to keep attendees relaxed, and Sumo Wrestling and Nerf Battles to give brains some much-needed breaks.
All of this is needed so the art of coding and creation can take shape in just 36 hours.
Hackathons are used for a variety of things: to try out new ideas, meet new people, step outside of your comfort zone or to just get the creative juices flowing. When done right, incredible innovation happens; teams who met for the first time at a hack can and have gone on to do incredible things. A few examples:
– Appetas: What began as a simple hackathon project at our AngelHack Seattle event in 2012 turned into a company that became a Google acquisition in 2014. The project allowed restuarants to simply and easily create new websites that included integration to GrubHub and OpenTable.
– Cointr: These guys completely blew the judges away at the first ever MasterCard Masters of Code down in Sydney. Their use of FIVE different APIs in the app was mind-blowing and they’re now the first group headed to the Grand Finale in Silicon Valley this December.
But in a city like Hong Kong, with industry tied heavily to more traditional companies in banking, financial services, and commerce, why are hackathons taking off? And should these same companies get involved?
Yes for all the following reasons:
– Fast Prototyping: Done correctly, a hackathon brings together the best and brightest in your company or region to take an idea and turn it into a reality in just 24 – 36 hours.
– Team-Building: Want to see how your team handles the joys and pains of working together? Come to a hackathon! There are few exercises in life that can bring a team together (or explore their weaknesses) more than spending a day in a caffeine-induced frenzy of productivity and experimentation.
– Culture of Change: We strongly believe that coding = change. When you get a group of people into a room to work on a specific problem you’re making them accountable for the future of that problem. Whether it’s a problem in your company or a problem affecting your community, the collaboration found at a hackathon is one of the most powerful motivational tools to create real and lasting change.
You can take my word for all of these or come see it in action. Join us at the Mastercard Masters of Code on March 21st and 22nd right here in Hong Kong. And don’t forget to introduce yourself; I’ll be the loud one making announcements.
Brian Collins is the VP of Marketing for AngelHack, the world’s largest developer ecosystem. To find out more about AngelHack visit www.angelhack.com
