DailyPost 1147
HACKATHONS – ENERGY, PRECISION AND VIBRANCE
While Hackathons have become an everyday affair at least in the tech capital of this country and spreading beyond as well, the structure, process and deliverables seem to be frozen in time. On the face of it, the technical platforms and the cloud gives a modern state of art feeling. In reality the need of the day has completely transformed and we have to operate at a different trajectory. Participants attend more on the lines of a debating competition and the like but here the behavioural traits and mindset required is totally different.
That is what differentiates between a programmer and a software engineer. What we are producing are programmers at its very best and not software engineers. The solution provider to real life problems. We don’t even grade the Hackathons nor do have any system of regulating the standards. While huge effort and money goes into it, commensurate results or conspicuous coding solutions not are coming out at the end of this assembly line. The missing link is the energy, precision and vibrance.
Energy has to be build up and that happens with precision and when you are made to believe by actual deliverables that only talent / skills count. The entry format / procedure makes its intent not only clear but drives seriousness deep into the participant. The online preselection if done diligently on an intelligent application questionnaire is able to deliver the right teams to the final round.
Enthused with buoyancy of the first round, all the coding teams start believing that they have the talent to succeed. This mindset and vibrancy decides the frame of mind, singular focus and the killer instinct in the final round at a physical venture. The precision and vibrance is reflected even before registration, is taken to a different level during briefing, the way mentors guide the teams and in every interaction the team has at venue. The final evaluation process of a few rounds, totally transparent, makes you vibrant enough finding the goal within your reach. This is the crescendo, 40-45 coding teams battle for the moon. The code you can proud of.
CHANGE THE FEEL, MOOD AND THE BUILD UP, YOU WILL GET THE APPROPRIATE CODERS & THE PRODUCT.
Sanjay Sahay