What I've Learned Failing at Hackathons

I love to code and have grown to enjoy code contests and hackathons, but, for the most part they break my heart. This talk outlines some of the life lessons I've learned from hackathons.

Given as part of CrossTrain 2013 in Dallas, TX. (http://crosstrainevents.com/)

Transcript

1. What I’ve Learned Failing At Hackathons Mark McSpadden! ! Crosstrain Morning 2013! January 2014!
2. Mark McSpadden twitter.com/markmcspadden github.com/markmcspadden markmcspadden 
 most everywhere else
3. I Work at Sabre technology that powers travel agencies & distribution! airline software! hotel software! travelocity
5. I Founded a Conference for Rubyist in Dallas Big Ruby February 20-21, 2014! bigrubyconf.com
6. i code
7. i code contests
8. i hackathons
10. ❤️
12. 2010 Google Code Jam Sabre Internal Hackday ! 2011 O’Reilly/FluidInfo Writable API Contest Donors Choose Hacking Education Google Code Jam Evernote Developer Challenge ! 2012 LivingSocial Hackathon #1 Google Code Jam LivingSocial Hackathon #2 Harvard Business Review Data Visualization Contest ! 2013 Techcrunch Disrupt Hackathon Sabre Internal Hackday Tnooz THack HACKATHON ROSTER
13. 2010 Google Code Jam
 Sabre Internal Hackday ! 2011 O’Reilly/FluidInfo Writable API Contest
 Donors Choose Hacking Education
 Google Code Jam
 Evernote Developer Challenge ! 2012 LivingSocial Hackathon #1
 Google Code Jam
 LivingSocial Hackathon #2
 Harvard Business Review Data Visualization Contest ! 2013 Techcrunch Disrupt Hackathon
 Sabre Internal Hackday
 Tnooz THack HACKATHON AWARDS
14. 4 lessons learned
15. #1 Understand the Problem
16. Hackathon Example www.flickr.com/photos/jepoirrier/10893929834
17. Hackathon Example Roller coasters are so much fun! It seems like everybody who visits the theme park wants to ride the roller coaster. Some people go alone; other people go in groups, and don't want to board the roller coaster unless they can all go together. And everyone who rides the roller coaster wants to ride again. A ride costs 1 Euro per person; your job is to figure out how much money the roller coaster will make today.
 
 There roller coaster can hold k people at once. People queue for it in groups. Groups board the roller coaster, one at a time, until there are no more groups left or there is no room for the next group; then the roller coaster goes, whether it's full or not. Once the ride is over, all of its passengers re-queue in the same order. The roller coaster will run R times in a day.
 
 For example, suppose R=4, k=6, and there are four groups of people with sizes: 1, 4, 2, 1. The first time the roller coaster goes, the first two groups [1, 4] will ride, leaving an empty seat (the group of 2 won't fit, and the group of 1 can't go ahead of them). Then they'll go to the back of the queue, which now looks like 2, 1, 1, 4. The second time, the coaster will hold 4 people: [2, 1, 1]. Now the queue looks like 4, 2, 1, 1. The third time, it will hold 6 people: [4, 2]. Now the queue looks like [1, 1, 4, 2]. Finally, it will hold 6 people: [1, 1, 4]. The roller coaster has made a total of 21 Euros!
18. STATED PROBLEM is ALMOST NEVER the REAL PROBLEM
19. Real Life Example www.flickr.com/photos/joelmontes/4792344008
20. #1 Understand the Problem
21. #2 Understand the Competition
22. Hackathon Example
23. YOUR COMPETITION is REAL
24. Real Life Example
25. #2 Understand the Competition
26. #3 Understand your Limits
27. Hackathon Example www.flickr.com/photos/n28307/8594027694
28. the LIMIT does EXIST
29. Real Life Example
30. #3 Understand your Limits
31. #4 Understand Success
32. Hackathon Example
33. 2010 Google Code Jam Sabre Internal Hackday ! 2011 O’Reilly/FluidInfo Writable API Contest Donors Choose Hacking Education Google Code Jam Evernote Developer Challenge ! 2012 LivingSocial Hackathon #1 Google Code Jam LivingSocial Hackathon #2 Harvard Business Review Data Visualization Contest ! 2013 Techcrunch Disrupt Hackathon Sabre Internal Hackday Tnooz THack HACKATHON AWARDS
34. 2010 Google Code Jam
 Sabre Internal Hackday ! 2011 O’Reilly/FluidInfo Writable API Contest
 Donors Choose Hacking Education
 Google Code Jam
 Evernote Developer Challenge ! 2012 LivingSocial Hackathon #1
 Google Code Jam
 LivingSocial Hackathon #2
 Harvard Business Review Data Visualization Contest ! 2013 Techcrunch Disrupt Hackathon
 Sabre Internal Hackday
 Tnooz THack HACKATHON SUCCESS
35. YOU DEFINE ! SUCCESS
36. Real Life Example picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Nlil7sQ0fFROaEtxbfk
37. #4 Understand Success
38. #1 Understand the Problem #2 Understand the Competition #3 Understand Your Limits #4 Understand Success
39. Thanks markmcspadden@gmail.com! ! @markmcspadden