This was by far the best hackathon I've ever attended. It was awesome seeing the people you admire like sama and Justin Kan hacking away with you into the early morning.
The event itself was well-managed as well. Big ups to Kat and Dave for their hard work. Looking forward to next year!
While I understand that it's done with good intentions, I don't think that the presence of a Bounce House and T-Shirt Cannon at the hackathon helps dispel the perception that Silicon Valley hackers simply behave like teenagers all the time.
Seems like the t-shirt cannon was actually a student robotics team (and it looks like they hire out the device for promotional events). I'd give them a pass.
I think that kind of thing demonstrates less that Valley hackers act like teenagers, and more that hacker culture is more open/informal than the typical rigid tech corporation.
So the best way to distinguish between "open" companies that are hip to "hacker culture" (whatever that means) and "rigid" corporations is to look for a bounce house or t-shirt cannon?
I guess you can't fool anyone with a foosball table these days?
It's not necessarily the best/only way, but it adds a sense of fun and informality that a larger corporation wouldn't want/need to have in order to attract employees.
I think I'm starting to understand. To attract desirable employees, startups don't need to be working on challenging problems or serving interesting markets, they just need to incorporate objects that you might find at a birthday party for children.
I didn't get involved with either of those activities as I was too busy hacking but I thought they added some more unique fun to the event. They were out of the way, behind the general hacking area so if you weren't seeking them out, you could have easily missed them.
I totally disagree; I absolutely loved the elementary school science fair approach. You could actually engage with the teams behind every interesting project, and skip past all the usual 2-3 minute bland, boring on-stage pitches from bleary-eyed and brain-drained builders.
It was pretty hectic and it was hard to hear the people behind the table. I don't mind the science fair style, just tough with so many people in that amount of space. Folks outside also seemed to get a lot less foot traffic.
The event itself was well-managed as well. Big ups to Kat and Dave for their hard work. Looking forward to next year!