Hack the system: how hackathons are useful for developers and city authorities

Why participate in competitions for programmers and is it possible to benefit the city at the same time?

A hackathon is an event lasting from one to three days, during which teams develop new services to solve the problem of a company, industry, city, or even country.

Massive hackathons began to be held in the 2000s, and gradually large IT companies and venture capital investors began to consider them as a way to quickly develop new programs and search for innovations. As hackathons have become more common, more non-technical professionals such as marketers, product managers, and designers have become involved.

How do hackathons influence the emergence of innovation?

Better Programming blogger Alan Helton believes that hackathons are a driver of innovation, and there are several reasons for this.

Lack of framework. Hackathon provides an opportunity that is difficult to see, working day after day according to given algorithms and rules. During the event, you can hear from the participants: “I never thought about doing it this way” and “What if instead we do it like this …?”. And since hackathon times are so limited, programmers cannot follow standard procedures and practices. Therefore, instead of doing the “right”, they are looking for non-standard approaches. Helton believes that this is how innovative solutions appear.

Eliminate bureaucracy and approval chainsthat accompany standard day-to-day development. A developer cannot make a change to a product or start a new project without the approval of management and colleagues. Hackathons provide an opportunity to quickly try out a new template or another programming language, or even change the entire development process.

Limited time. People tend to become active during a crisis. In addition, deadlines help you structure your tasks more effectively, which in turn leads to increased productivity. Therefore, when participants have only one to three days to develop a service prototype, they can come up with truly unusual products.

competitiveness. A hackathon is a competition in which a winner or multiple winners is chosen. Therefore, for those who are motivated by competition, this is an ideal environment for working and generating non-standard ideas that are different from competitors.

Why should developers participate in hackathons?

Scientists from England interviewed 150 hackathon participants and found out why they participate in such competitions. The main reason turned out to be training (86% of respondents agreed with this). This seemed obvious to researchers: technologies are constantly updated, new tools appear, so lifelong learning is an indispensable part of the life of any developer.

The second most common reason for participation is networking (82% of participants). At the event, you can get acquainted with representatives of large companies, experts from the jury, venture investors and participants from other teams who are simply interested in technologies. The quora.com survey on why participate in hackathons also frequently mentioned networking. Users noted that the hackathon is the best place to meet like-minded people.

The next most important reason is social change (38%). Initially, one of the goals of the hackathon is to make the world a better place through software development. This is especially true if the task that the participants are solving affects millions of people.

Claiming prizes turned out to be not the most important reason for participation – 28% of respondents voted for it.

Free pizza was the next most frequently mentioned (27%). At offline hackathons, participants often don’t have time to eat, so the organizers buy pizza and other snacks.

26% of respondents would like create a product during the competition. In the usual pace of life, it is difficult to find time and find motivation to develop your own project. Therefore, a hackathon is a chance for many to realize their idea.

For 21% of respondents, an important factor was слава. Some projects have indeed received a lot of attention from the media and investors. For example, developers assembled a test version of the MSQRD application in 2015 at the Garage48 hackathon in 48 hours. It quickly took first place in the App Store ratings in many countries, and in 2016 it was bought by Facebook.

For 20% team search was the motivation to compete. Most often, the organizers have the resources to find missing participants (for example, chat rooms, groups on social networks, mailing lists), so a hackathon is also a way to find like-minded people.

The other two reasons are job search and investment. The events are attended by representatives of customer companies and investors who are looking for promising solutions. For example, the creators of the Carousell marketplace developed it at Startup Weekend in Singapore. They won first place at the hackathon and received funding in the C round, which is estimated at $70-80 million.

How to prepare for a hackathon

Understand why you are involved. Motivation can range from networking to winning a prize, and it’s important to understand what works best for you and the team.

Think ahead to a solution. Usually, the tasks of a hackathon are known in advance, so you can study the available information, think about the concept of the project, its unique functions, install the necessary software.

Assign roles. Any team should have a manager who will organize the participants and monitor progress. Since the time of the hackathon is very limited, everyone should know exactly what tasks they will be doing in order not to waste time in vain.

Hackathons for cities

Hackathons solve problems not only for companies, but also for cities and even countries. In this case, the state department becomes the customer, and open data is taken as the basis for decisions. The objectives of such hackathons are often related to the introduction of smart technologies, solutions in the field of urban planning and sustainable development and affect the lives of millions of people.

Thus, state structures show that they are open to change. In addition, it speeds up the selection of the best project and its development.

Such events are held all over the world.

National Day of Civic Hacking hackathons have already become traditional and are held in different US cities. Every year, thousands of developers, designers, government officials, data analysts, and journalists participate in them. They solve such acute social problems as the coordination of shelters for the homeless or access to fresh, inexpensive food. In 2021 National Day of Civic Hacking will take place on September 12th.

In 2020, the Nordic Smart City Hack was held in Sweden, where participants solved five tasks related to the labor market in the country, improving the health of residents, transport, cultural life and neighborhood (creating public spaces, safety on the streets, and so on).

Last year, the Future City Hackathon was held in Jakarta, dedicated to solving urban problems in the post-COVID era. The participants worked, for example, on services for telemedicine, contactless delivery, and alternative tourism.

In June 2021, the Moscow City Hack online hackathon will be held, where participants, among other things, will have to solve problems from city structures.