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Insights & Stories by Suhail Ameen

Whether you're building your first team or scaling culture across regions, Suhail Ameen's articles offer human-first insights rooted in real practice.

Hackathons

How we hosted one of the most memorable open source hackathons of 2018

definition-opensource; open source definition; definition-open-source

Small gestures can have a big impact. Create where it matters.

We at HackerEarth believe in it and have spent no single day without working toward the same.

Early 2018, we promised ourselves to create an environment which would bring a culture of positivity and change in the developer ecosystem.

We decided to create these footprints with a hackathon, a platform which helps you express your creative potential. And these potentials are the stepping stone to open innovation.

Open innovation is about combining internal and external resources to create efficient and beneficial solutions.” – Dr. Matt Chapman, Mindjet

When it came to attempting analyzing our hypotheses to standout amongst the most paramount open-source hackathons of 2018, there was no preferred choice over HackerEarth’s very own Djangothon. HackerEarth Djangothon is stepping to a culture of open innovation.

#Flashback

6 years ago when we started HackerEarth, Python and Django came to us as a natural choice. (This was more than intuition!)

Django gave us the tools and flexibility to build a platform that was flexible yet robust.

And this helped us built one of the largest developer communities in the world, with over 2.5 million developers.

Today there are millions of lines of code written in python and Django running in production. (This story is no way related to Dr. Strange)

In layman’s terms, Djangothon is a tribute to the Django web framework, a dedicated Django hackathon where we solely focus on enhancing, building, and adding to Django packages.

Our engineering culture embodies the essence of open source, and it’s a small contribution to the community － atoken of respect, a small payback.

So the question was, how can we make Djangothon worthy for developers? How can we create a greater impact on an open source community? And how do we make Djangathon more than just ‘another hackathon’? (Read this in Bill Pullman from Independence day voice)

In any case, how can we make Djangothon noteworthy and not just another hackathon for developers? The answer:

Let’s make it personal

#PresentDay

Indeed, even a normal hackathon accompanies dozens of challenges, and the chances of pulling off a trick like personalization was out and out a puzzle.

We had 24 hours to know each hacker present at Djangothon.

However, since every hacker was trying to utilize those 24 hours to the most, we realized that not all of them would be available for an up-close-and-personal discussion.

They would want to concentrate on their tasks.

At HackerEarth, we believe every hacker has an individual identity. Over the years, we have built a meaningful and lasting relationship with our community to show them they are valued, and we wanted to do just that even this time around.

We ensure that the hackers remember us for the way we made them feel, the time they spent with us, and conversations we had around the hacks they built.

So, to make this Djangathon a memorable and everlasting experience, tech and marketing created the most fascinating ally.

Hackers will remember the hackathon they attended. When they do, make sure they also remember how we made them feel. – Han Solo

From an organization’s perspective, we were aware that getting developers together in one place and asking them to make an open source contribution would not convey the experience we wanted our brand to offer.

That’s why our focus was to create an environment in which the participants could bond and socialize, infusing code with fun!

Providing travel reimbursements, free food, and other such things are important, but not enough. For example, an engineer who buckled down free food and did not win may go home. However, he/she may not be intrigued whenever you say, “Hey John, I hope you liked working at our office overnight and the free pizza. Would you like to join us for the next hackathon?.” I mean, c’mon, something extra needs to be done for so much of hard work!

Nothing piques the interest of a developer more than “Developer Swag!”

No matter how old or young you are, if you are a hackathon enthusiast, you unquestionably look forward to it. Some developers even carry the sentiment, “These swags can never be bought; you earn them.”
As hackathons are becoming increasingly popular, companies and organizers are coming up with many out-of-the-box ideas for swags. And being one of the industry leaders in hackathons, we had a reputation to uphold!

We knew, this is where personalization would come into the picture.

In this blog, I am going to share the factors that allowed us to stand out amongst the most anticipated open source hackathons of 2018.

1. The kickoff — How we kick-started Djangothon

The first impression has a significant impact on the participants. A warm greeting and welcoming smile was step one in making the developers feel at home. In addition, we got one of our founders to address the developers, share the origin story, and tell them why we continue to host such hackathons.

Djangothon registration-desk opened at about 10:00 am and we formally commenced the hackathon at 11:00 am, with Vivek Prakash (CTO HackerEarth) delivering the keynote. He spoke about Django, what it means to HackerEarth, and how it has helped build a robust and scalable platform for one of the largest developer communities in the world. Vivek spoke about how 20 developers in 2013 built the foundation of HackerEarth on Django, the first Djangothon (2015), and how far we have come.

2. Informative session — Djangothon lightning talks

Hackathons are a great platform to engage and learn. Informative sessions like tech talks are a great way to engage the developers. For some developers, this is an opportunity to learn something new, and for others, it acts as a refresher. It is always wise to invite local experts who are well versed with the topic. Rolling out proposal application for these talks helps one being prepared in terms of the content of the speech and making sure this content aligns with the agenda of the hackathon. The speakers can also step ahead, making time for answering the queries and speaking with participants about their ideas, challenges, and approaches

open-source-hackathon; open source hackathon, open source

At Djangothon we invited speakers who could deliver lightning talks (15 mins duration) around Django. We had 4 amazing speakers, and they spoke on topics such as “Python and Community” (by Kumar Anirudha, CEO Acyclic Labs) and “How to showcase your hack using storyboarding?” (by Anagaha, Software Engineer from Suki). The developers then went on to discuss their ideas and clear their doubts with the speakers.

3. Entertainment break — Stand up comedy

Everyone needs a break from work, something that can cheer people up, lighten the mood, and breeze away from the stress. Introducing things like stand-up comedy, indoor game tournaments, etc., can make the hackathon experience enjoyable and truly memorable.

standup-comedy-hackathon; comedy hackathon; open source; opensource

We invited comedians to perform at Djangothon. Prasad Bhat (comedian) wowed the audience and everyone had their stomach hurting from all the laughter. This served two purposes, it gave the audience something to laugh about and remember and it also helped soften the mood.
It was the perfect opportunity to interact with the hackers and become acquainted with them.

4. Personalization — Personalized goodies

They say, actions speak louder than words. And what better way to say, ‘You’re special to me’, than a thoughtful gift. A personalized token of appreciation will not only be something unique you can give someone, but it will also carry a magnitude of positive effects. It has a strong sentimental value and but also acts as a happy reminder of the event.

When our team was conversing with the developers present, we secretly took notes about every individual, what they are working on, if they are actively part of any open source project, where they came from, etc. We also used Polaroid cameras to click photos of the teams present.

Using the notes, we wrote personalized messages and stuck everyone’s photos on their respective cards. People do not get a printed photo of themselves every day! We made sure we got great photos of everyone.
We added these cards in the swag bags along with all other goodies. This was something unique and unexpected for everyone, something no one ever received at a hackathon before. From the looks of it, every hacker present at Djangothon loved it!

The outcome

We ran a survey post Djangothon, and the results were unlike any other hackathon feedback we have ever seen.

We received a ton of love and appreciation on social media. More importantly, it was one of the best in-action demonstrations we had seen about the value of personalization and how it could build lasting relationships with an organization’s users and community.

open-source-hackathon-appreciation; open source hackathon appreciation; open source

At the end of it, our mission at Djangothon was accomplished and we also made some cool contributions to Django.

Hackathons

10 things to keep in mind while conducting a hackathon

A hackathon can be the wind in the sails of your business. Regardless of your industry, conducting a hackathon is an excellent way to generate new ideas and encourage innovative thinking.

At HackerEarth, we’ve conducted over 2,000 hackathons for enterprises, startups, non-profits, universities, and more. Over the years, we’ve been asked for tips on organizing hackathons—and we’ve gathered some key insights along the way.

Organizations can run internal hackathons with employees around specific challenges. These collaborative events can lead to innovative products, workplace improvements, and continuous productivity.

hackathon-registration

Hackathons are also widely organized for external communities, bringing in fresh ideas and new perspectives. The first event titled a "hackathon" took place in 1999 during the OpenBSD event in Calgary. These events often serve as powerful methods of crowdsourcing innovation. One famous example is GroupMe, which didn’t win the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, yet later sold to Skype for $85 million.

Whether internal or external, a successful hackathon can drive brand recognition and innovation.

Top 10 Things to Keep in Mind Before Conducting a Hackathon

1. Define the agenda and outcome

Why do you want to organize a hackathon? What is the desired result? Who is the target audience? Whether the goal is innovation, branding, or recruiting, having clarity helps define success metrics.

2. Allocate a budget

Budget planning is essential. Determine how much funding is required and whether it will come from internal sources or sponsors.

hackathon-budget

3. Define the name, timeline, and themes

The hackathon name should be relatable and community-centric. Avoid naming it directly after your organization. Choose themes that will excite the target developer demographic. Avoid holidays and provide clear timelines.

hackathon-name-suggestion

hackathon-theme

4. Plan and promote in advance

Set aside 4–8 weeks for planning. Collaborate with influencers, use social media, and consider paid ads. Sponsors can assist with cross-promotions.

5. Arrange venue and sponsors

Secure a venue with enough space, strong Wi-Fi, plenty of power outlets, and rest areas. Offer tiered sponsorship packages with branding or API exposure. Major expenses include venue, food, and prizes—sponsors can offset these costs.

hackathon venue

6. List rules and FAQs

Clearly state all rules and FAQs on the hackathon page. Include information on judging criteria, IP rights, and reimbursements to maintain transparency.

7. Prizes and rewards

Prizes motivate participants. The value depends on problem complexity and audience. Offer special prizes for Best UI, Presentation, or Lone Hacker. Don’t forget participation goodies!

hackathon prize

8. Bon appétit

Hungry hackers are unhappy hackers. Provide good, sufficient food. It’s better to over-order than under-serve.

9. Ensure communication and connect

Create a collaborative atmosphere. Facilitate networking between hackers, sponsors, and mentors. This openness encourages innovation and idea exchange.

10. Judges and judging

Build a judging panel of credible industry experts. Their feedback and visibility can encourage participation and validate the effort of hackers.

After the event, showcase the top projects online. Share photos, thank sponsors and attendees, and highlight all innovative efforts, not just the winners.

Hackathons are inclusive platforms for creativity and collaboration. Ideas like GroupMe, Flutter, Zaarly, and Facebook’s News Feed were born at hackathons.

If you’re not ready to host one, consider sponsoring. Either way, you’ll gain valuable insights and become part of something inspiring.

Download our Hackathon Guide to learn more.

Developer Insights

World Music Hackathon: Re-engineering Music

Music is the universal language of mankind—a great uniter. It’s astonishing how music can connect souls, overcome barriers, and bring people closer. It is something that people who differ on anything and everything can have in common.

The World Music Hackathon is a festival of music, innovation, and creativity. We are pushing down the boundaries between “hacking” and “music” to bring the music and tech world together. There are no limits to what you can create; we encourage hacking of music in the broadest conceivable sense, for example, through instrument-building, data visualization, collaboration, improvisation, or any other way you can imagine.

There are craftsmen, researchers, and other music programmers who are doing great work in the field of music, however, they are not getting the consideration they merit for whatever reason.

This is your platform to change the future of the underserved music community and is by no means is limited to young and old, regional or cultural genres or gender identity. It is a platform that can induce diversity across backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities to drive personal growth through creation, collaboration, and communication.

Music is becoming more digital every day. What's more, the World Music Hackathon is the phase to explore different avenues regarding its progression and create thoughts for the future of music and music groups.

Your ideas can connect the artist with his or her audience, on- and offline, real-time or over time. Your ideas will interface the path in rethinking and re-engineering music for the digital age.

Here are the primary focus areas:

Enabling music for the disabled: For people with disabilities, technology has the potential to unlock new possibilities. Technology can enable communication, navigation, and independence of disabled people while learning and creating music.
Anti-piracy: According to Woolley, about 12.5 billion dollars are lost due to file sharing and music piracy, and 5 billion of that is profits lost from the music industry directly every year. Innovative technology can minimize and discourage music piracy.
Improving music recommendations: With the advent of technology, the glory of Radio DJs has passed, replacing musical gatekeepers with personalized algorithms and unlimited streaming services. With listeners now interested in a very diverse genre of music, content recommendation is at the heart of most subscription-based streaming platforms to enhance user experience and increase user engagement.
Ease of learning and playing music: New innovations provide fun and creative ways to enhance the learning experience. Apps and online tools can ease the more unsavory aspects of learning an instrument through gamification and progress tracking which help the learner stay motivated.
Innovate (reengineering music for the digital age): Innovate solutions that can make a difference in the world of music. You are only limited by your own imagination of what you can create.

We wish to bring together creative developer, designers, musicians, and product visionaries to test ideas and create products with the potential to change the world of music. There’s a lot that can be done here, so let’s unpack those beautiful ideas.Also, in addition to being good for humanity, this also helps foster innovation.

Hackathons

Are hackathons for beginners?

Hackathon Beginner: A term used in this blog to define someone who is new to the world of hackathons and is thinking of participating in one.

Are you a hackathon beginner? Does that make you feel worried or anxious? To be frank I was very nervous thinking that amidst all these experienced hackers, a beginner like me would not stand a chance.

I will talk about what worked for me and what didn’t at both online and offline hackathons.

However, I am not going to tell you, if as a beginner, hackathons are for you, but I will share my story. You can decide later if you still want to attend a hackathon.

On-site hackathons are usually hosted over the weekends and they last over 24–48 hours. This is a place where you meet a lot of like-minded people, learn and discuss new things and create a project per the themes or problem statements provided during the hackathon. Honestly, being an introvert and not being some sort of a genius or coding pro, I was not too excited by it.

I’ve participated in tons of hackathons now, and I believe everyone should attend at least one hackathon in their lifetime! Here’s why it’s awesome to go to these events, and why you shouldn’t be scared of taking part as a hackathon beginner.

What happens when you arrive at a hackathon

When you arrive at a hackathon, you will be greeted at the registration desk by a cheerful and friendly organizing team. The team can be university students or company professionals who are as passionate about learning and sharing amazing experiences like you are. The welcoming crowd at the registration desk may vary according to the size of the hackathon. There is a big chance that your welcome kit would include cool t-shirts, stickers, and other swags which are provided by the hackathon team and the sponsors.

You will then have to head to the venue where they will begin with the inaugural talks and the organising team will explain the rules of the hackathon. Then, you will have the sponsors talking about their products and API; they will tell you if the company is going to provide any special prize for teams that build apps using their products or APIs. Sometimes, somebody famous might come to talk to you!

During this time, you would probably want to put aside your gear and start talking to a few people. When I started talking to people at my first hackathon, I realised that for a lot of people it was their first hackathon as well. So, you do not want to miss an opportunity to talk to people and find out a bit more about them. You can discuss what they are planning to build over the next couple of days and what kind of technology stack they are going to use.

The hacking begins with the countdown timer. You will either have your own team or you can form a team on the spot (Which is why talking to people is important). You will find people working on similar ideas and technology stacks. You can build whatever you want as long as it is aligned to the hackathon problem statement. Remember that the best part of hackathons isn’t winning prizes. It’s about playing with awesome tech and meeting people who believe in crazy ideas like you do.

You will be able to work on your idea for the next 24–48 hrs. I have noticed some crazy people who work non-stop for almost the entire duration. You can always choose to take a break and eat some of the free food they have at the venue or take a power nap. My first hackathon venue had provisions for fun activities like foosball and table tennis. You can have a nice break from working and check on other teams and what they have built. People take turns at night to get some sleep.

Don’t rush to finish your hackathon project. Plan your project per the duration of the hackathon. Proper product planning and listing features that you and your team are going to work on are critical to your doing well in the hackathon and winning. If you rush it, you might just end up with a buggy product which will leave you frustrated with a lot of last-minute debugging.

Hacking is over and now it’s time for you to demo whatever you have crafted. At smaller hackathons where there is less participation, all teams demo their projects in front of everybody else. It really does not matter if you could not build a polished product or if you think whatever you build was stupid. It’s all about sharing how you built what you have built so far, what unique insights, ideas or approach you had towards solving the problem, and what you learned overall during the time you spent at the hackathon.

If you are at a bigger hackathon, then as it would take too much time for the demo, the judges usually split and walk around to cover more ground. Remember the science fairs we used to have in schools? That is exactly what happens. Then, the best teams are shortlisted by the judges to demo in front of everyone. It’s amazing to know how people took so many different approaches to solve the same problems.

This brings us to the closing ceremony where winners are announced and prizes are distributed. You will be thanked for coming and invited to come again if there is a next time.

Common myths most hackathon beginners harbour

You have to be a super coder

This used to be my biggest nightmare about hackathons. It is also the most common hackathon beginner myth. I used to believe I would be crushed like a cockroach by all these amazing super-coders. But after attending the first hackathon itself I realised, the super-coders don’t necessarily win hackathons. The teams with decent programmers and the best-laid plans always have better chances. It’s not just about programming in a hackathon, but it’s also about your idea and approach to solving the problem, the product planning, the pitch deck/presentation, and so much more. Every team has an equal chance of winning.

It’s expensive

Ninety-nine percent of the hackathons are free of cost. The only expense you might have are the travel expenses to go to the hackathon venue. Focus on the “might” because sometimes the organising team reimburses the travel expense for you. And if you are taking part in an online hackathon, you can work on your idea from the beach if you like.

I am such a fan of online hackathons now because of the flexibility and freedom this format offers.

It’s all about winning

That’s what I used to think in the start. As time passed and I attended more and more hackathons, I started caring more about meeting people with similar ideas, having fun, discussing creative ways to solve the problem, and, most importantly, learning and growing personally. Don’t believe me? Try it out yourself. Sometimes you do win and get amazing prizes in the process and sometimes you don’t. But the experience you gain is priceless. You don’t have to take my word for it.

Here is the StackOverflow developer survey 2018

Discovering the world of Online Hackathons

A whole new dimension of possibilities opened up after I discovered the world of online hackathons. Online hackathons give you certain degree of flexibility in terms of duration and people you can collaborate with; the very fact that I didn’t have to miss my university lectures was great. I started participating in more hackathons than ever before. I could code from my bed late at night, at university, near the pool, on the terrace, and just about anywhere I could carry my laptop with access to the internet. Initially, I had my fair share of initial doubts about connecting with people and discussing like we used to do in on-site hackathons and have fun. But who am I kidding in this generation of internet and connectivity? This never became an issue, and I could talk with fellow hackathon participants over dedicated hackathon slack channels and other similar mediums.

Over the course of time, the hackathon experience became so much better because the geographies and borders meant nothing. I could sit in San Francisco collaborate with hackers from Chicago and Montreal and participate in a food waste hackathon hosted by a New York based organisation.

It meant I get to work with people from all over the world and learn about them and their ways, and this has made me learn and grow multiple folds as an individual.

Now, what are your thoughts on hackathons? Would you like to give it a shot?

Yes, I understand that you might still have your reservations as a hackathon beginner, so here is beginner-level hackathon you can get started with. Once you are confident enough, you can go ahead and take part in other hackathons listed here.

All the best.