What is this word - Hackathon all about?
Hackathon
Why this topic all of a sudden:
I have been coming across two extreme sets of candidates. One who has the hobby of offer collection and one who doesn’t have a job also for months & years?
I, being in recruitment feel frustrated when a Computer Science Engineer says he has never heard of Hackathon. (And this is not restricted to CS students; I just took this example because of some obvious reasons)
I also feel jealous if a fresher Computer Science Engineer is co-founder of some app or app development company.
I always felt there is a huge gap. Offers are not distributed equally. The one with multiple offers frustrates the 2 to 3 companies where he is been an interested candidate and about to join and on the day of joining just makes himself not reachable on his mobile or switched off the phone or for a week or so missing from all.
Where as the other set of sincere candidates keep on attending interviews but just couldn’t make it to the offer stage. Reasons are many, not arguing on that. But he may prefer to talk well with his computer than infront of HR in the pre-screen stage (initial screening level), or makes grave mistake without his knowledge because of his lack of understanding or talking good English language. But at home, he is the one who keeps on coding different stuffs. Just doesn’t know how to sell self.
There are smart, decent speaking freshers I have come across who are quite bright. But just that they have never heard of the term Hackathon. They have never been exposed to the latest trends in hiring by their college.
I myself had this challenge when I was searching for job. Till my graduation I never heard about IIT. After my graduation or after joining this profession of recruitment is only when I came to know about IIT. Where did I study? Just less than 100 kms distance to Bangalore i.e. Tumkur. Less than 100 kms distance and the word on IIT have not reached. (Hope it is been heard by the students in these cities now atleast).
So the word hackathon also not reached the mass. In Bangalore itself not all are aware of this method of getting hired also.
There are professionals who keep on attending hackathon after hackathon and other set not even heard of this terminology.
My intention of this blog is to spread the awareness on this concept and making my friends from non-hackathon world to get exposure to this concept and to generate better and better coders.
I strongly argue now that the days of copy pasted profiles are fading. Time has come to check the real coders. So the purpose of hackathon is to decode the coder. Put the individual on task under time pressure with available resources. Check how well he / she comes out of it. And hire based on the performance / attitude / flexibility & availability of that requirement with the participating companies.
Here is my attempt to address few frequently asked questions (would love to take feedback also on things where little correction is required from the SMEs of hackathons):
What is the purpose of Hackathon?:
Hackathons are conducted for multiple reasons like – Branding, Hiring, Decoding certain challenges in the project or to get a part of the module of the project to execute in this way than outsourcing the same to third party.
Then what is this hackathon all about? : - Its nothing but marathon of coding. An event where passionate coders get-to-gether and just code and code and code.
Who can participate?:
Any body. It’s mostly a team event but not just restricted to team; an individual also can participate.
What happens in such events?:
All the passionate coders or passionate individuals come together, form a team and start designing an app or website or solve a problem statement.
What is an ideal team for such events?:
An ideal team consists of a front – end designer, a coder (language is not an issue), a passionate guy with some brilliant idea for execution, a marketing guy also sometimes joins the team. Ideal team size would be between 3 to 5.
How it all starts on the day?:
Participants join with like-minded team. Take up the challenge. Assign the task to the team based on their strength. Define their task. Execute the same.
How does it end?:
With their own method of addressing the problem statement, they will be given specific time by the judges and the team has to present their solution & approach to the problem statement with the technical solution.
Keep in touch; be with us (Dexter Talent Labs) for continuous learning on Hackathons and awareness on the events happening around.
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Drop us your interest to participate in the up-coming hackathons either as volunteer or as participant or as hiring company or even to execute the same with your expertise.
We are reachable at write2us@dextertalentlabs.com (I can promise of an immediate response – guess how, have put a customized auto response ;-), however I will also respond seriously – trust me J.)
Learn hackathon
Join coding in marathon
Get placed easily there-on
J
