This might be controversial but I have come to HATE hackathons in recent times. I'm not arguing that these atrocities happen everywhere. Rather, there are at least a few players in the market who are guilty of this sin.
I've classified hackathons into three types:
Internal Corporate Hackathons: These are only open to internal employees of a particular company or a section inside the company.
External Corporate Hackathons: These are open to the public, but participants must build around software provided by the corporate host (University Hackathons also fall here).
No Objective Hackathons: Sometimes, you might find hackathons without prizes, sponsors or objectives. These are the best places to hack.
Hackathons are a cheap way to prototype Ideas
Internal Corporate hackathons are a nightmare. The joy of normal hackathons is that you get to pick what you want to create. But in corporate hackathons, the Management has already decided what you'll build. They give you a pre-selected pool of ideas to give you an illusion of choice. Then, they expect you to have their experimental projects fully built in just one day. Also, participation is "encouraged".
Product Managers - Get their experimental ideas built out fast.
Managers - Get to play their political games.
Software Developers - ???? Get to work themselves to exhaustion.
The key point is that both PMs and Managers can complete their hackathon tasks in a short span of time, while also advancing their careers. Meanwhile, developers have the honor of getting free pizzas and backbreaking labor.
Hidden Agendas in Hackathons
One of the main issues I have with external corporate hackathons is the hidden agendas that often come along with them. These agendas include:
Training users on their technology: Companies want people to be familiar with their products, so the next time they encounter a problem, they will think of the company first. Sounds reasonable at first before you realize the product is an obscure CRM with no use made by empire builders for their promotion.
Debugging and testing their products: When launching a new service, it's wise to have lots of people try it out and report any bugs or issues. And why pay actual QA testers when you can offer pizza and coffee and a paltry sum to few individuals over a weekend. It's fast, convenient, cheap and you can act like a community supporting saint.
Gathering Valuable IPs: Sometimes people build products in hackathons which actually catches crowd’s attention. Instead of the competing with them in a fair market, their IP is captured and they are legally barred from building on their own idea.
Hackathons are an Excuse for Crunch
Lots of Companies disguise crunch as hackathon. The value proposition is you get to solve the problem of their business partners and in return you get brownie points LITERALLY.
Here’s an excerpt from Internet:
“My company just sent out an email about Hackathon where you spend two weeks crunching to solve complex problems for the company. Followed by a two week Hackathon where we're supposed to test/bugfix the software built during the Hackathon.....”
This is legal because programmers are generally salaried and are exempt from overtime pay. But why people agree to do this is beyond me.
Hackathons puts bad Expectations in Management's Head
When managers with little technical knowledge see people building amazing demos in 48 hours, the gears in their heads start turning. they start to think that their employees are lazy and need to be put on a stricter schedule. Chances are they will commit to a horrendous deadline and then try to extend hackathon culture from 2 days to 2 years.
Alas, the “Startup culture” and "Fast Paced Environment" is born.
The Hackathon Name is WRONG
Lastly, I’d like to refute the name Hackathon. "Hack" means to make a makeshift solution and "Marathon" means to run slowly for a long time. There is nothing slow about hackathon. I would've liked Hack-Sprint but "Sprint" is already taken by companies for tasks (since you can't do them at a leisurely pace).
I suggest using one of these terms: Blitz, Dash, Burst, Bolt, Flash, Mach3, Warp Speed, Escape Velocity (Tell me if you have a better word).
Thank you for Reading!!
Edit: You can find Hackernews discussing on this here.