The Hackathon Isn't a Real Race...
The recent debate makes it clear that many people don't actually know what hackathons are for. A hackathon doesn't produce real projects, and that was never the goal. Here are the six real objectives most organizers and participants miss.
This post is a translation of the original Arabic article.
It's clear from the volume of comments on the recent hackathon debate that a lot of people genuinely don't understand what a hackathon is for, and the reason is usually poor organization and a real lack of experience on the organizer's part.
The first and most important thing everyone needs to understand: a hackathon does not produce real projects, and that was never the goal. It's a format for bringing people together, exchanging ideas, and encouraging innovation.
That's exactly why, when people focus only on winning (which is really recognition and encouragement, not a race to be won), they strip the hackathon of its real value.
These are the actual objectives, and any organizer who isn't accounting for them simply isn't doing their job properly. And the organizer is usually not the sponsoring entity, but the executing one:
1. A space to show your skills
People need a space to test their skills and creativity. So the experience has to be designed to help them show what they've got. Giving people a problem and a general context is what sparks the creativity and lets the skills show.
2. Introductions across worlds that never meet
In general, people don't talk to each other within organizations, and even less so across organizations. Creating opportunities and moments for talent to mix, connect, and build a multi-skilled community is one of the most important goals of a hackathon. I often meet a technical person who says "I don't know anyone in sales or business," and a business person who says "I don't know any technical people." The hackathon solves exactly this. It introduces you to different worlds.
3. It forces you to learn
People generally put off learning and keeping up with what's new. When you attend a hackathon, the context and the atmosphere force you to sit down, research, learn, ask questions, and exchange experience with the people around you.
4. A seed for real projects
I did say the goal isn't to create real projects. But very often, a seed does come out of a hackathon that becomes the start of a project, usually in the form of an idea or a team coming together.
5. Practicing an entrepreneurial mindset inside a job
Most jobs don't give an employee enough room to practice an entrepreneurial mindset: solving problems and building products with sustainable business models. When an employee attends these events, they learn and practice that skill.
6. Neutral ground for women
One last point, and one that a lot of women complain about but that rarely gets discussed in the media: women's difficulty accessing men's gatherings, particularly the culture around sports groups, "istiraha" gatherings, or the cafés that are everywhere here. Attending events like this offers neutral ground with a degree of professionalism, while still being an informal context for collaboration.
A successful hackathon isn't measured by how many projects "graduated" from it. It's measured by how many people walked away knowing more, knowing more people, and having tried out a version of themselves they didn't know before. Any organizer who forgets this turns the hackathon into a farce.
