How we sequenced the hackathons or “the harder the work, the easier it is to settle on it”
Hakatons are different. And, before you call me Captain Obvious, let me take them apart to explain the mutation that we designed for the February 18 event.
The classic of the genre is the solution of complex tasks by programming teams in conditions of limited resources.
Just, for example, passed DeepHack , in which participants wrote algorithms that can beat the old Atari games. It is said that Pac-Man is the hardest given. Apparently, even harder than Go . Serious programmers are looking for new approaches and write serious modules to improve AI. If it were not for the informality of the format, you can imagine something very academic.
')
Appearing as a purely geeky entertainment, over time, the hackathons began to change under the influence of the capitalist model of society and initiative experimenters.
The IT industry is developing very rapidly and very expansively - therefore, observing it is like observing the evolution of fruit flies. Fast life cycles and measurability of results allow you to effectively check the tools for the development of the industry. And often it turns out that the tools developed or perfected for IT are excellent for other tasks, often completely “humanitarian”.
The most obvious example of such a product tool - Trello - kanban, which came from business management, was appreciated by the IT community for simplicity, visibility and efficiency, rethought as a software product integrated into an ecosystem of calendars, planners and other services. And now it is used even for the planning of personal life, and, in different ways .
So it was with the hackathons. When efficiency is measurable, and yes even vividly - MVP at the end of the event - it is unacceptable to ignore the format that allows you to achieve such results. And hackathons fell into the attention of other, yet related to IT, areas of activity. As examples of interesting thematic mutations, we consider JourHak, which holds ITMO and the activities that #tceh does.
The first is interesting because it combines such specialists as programmers and journalists. In fact, it brings together "physicists" and "lyricists." And the result of ZhurHak becomes not the utilitarian prototype, but the representation of the data. At the same time, all canons are observed and everything passes within the framework of the genre - goal, ideas, programming, presentation of the result.
The second example with #tceh events is also indicative. The teams include more specialists. Analytics, marketers, UX designers are involved in the development of the solution. Team building involves passing the Belbin test , the results of which are taken into account so that the teams evolve in a balanced way. And the most interesting thing is that when you save the algorithm: setting the topic and goals - the generation of ideas - work - presentation, the “work” stage is sometimes associated with the code , and sometimes not . In order to afford such flexibility - the guys even had to invent a format name - not to call all this directly “hackathon”.
If we disassemble the “engine” of the hackathon and its mutations as a format, it turns out that the fuel is “fun solution of interesting tasks”, where “fun” is determined by socialization, and “interesting tasks” are subjectively atypical tasks that must be fulfilled within the specified limits ( one of which is time). All this together inhales vigor and excitement, allows you to step a little further, to find answers to tasks that previously had no reason to solve.
In general, when we were sitting and discussing hackathons within our team, a UFO flew in and it dawned on everyone at once.
It turns out that the process associated with programming can be made more interesting by bringing elements of socialization into it, solving atypical tasks and setting limits, the scope of which, like the shrinking walls of the garbage compartment of the imperial cruiser, gives dynamics to the actions and stimulates focusing in the search for a solution.
This simple idea made us reconsider our approach to our business a bit and put forward a hypothesis that we want to test in four countries, in particular, in Russia - on February 18. The essence of the hypothesis is that it is more fun, more useful and faster than going through the forms of the site, sitting alone at home.
Therefore, we decided to launch the first of a possible series of events in which programmers solve interesting problems and communicate, and the result is 20 offers for salaries of $ 8,500 per month (100K per year) and a prize fund of $ 10,000.
At the meeting, you can spend time with colleagues in the workshop, share experiences and discuss topics of interest without pressing the "comment" button. There you can openly consider all the rumors about the Crossover. We believe that any doubt can be overcome by facts and communication with living people. Therefore, our CEO - Andy Tribe and the head of the technical assessment service - Luciano Bargman will arrive. There will be Russian guys - those who are already working with us - architects, developers, managers - will know their opinion from the first hand.
At this first meeting, we are looking for leading developers of Java and Ruby on Rails for the position of Chief Software Architect.
If you want to become a leading developer, technical team (aka in Crossover “Chief Architect”) - this is a good chance to try your hand.
Well, if you are confident in the strength - then come and get an offer.
When you are ready - please take a laptop.
The requirements for hardware and software are simple - you need to work:
for java
JDK 8
Maven
Preferred IDE
Zip compressing app
for ruby
Ruby 2.4
Preferred IDE
Zip compressing app
The meeting will be held on February 18 .
At the intersection of Yauza and Sadovy - Serebryanicheskaya embankment 29.
Start at 10:00 .
Mandatory registration here
And for those who are interested in how everything will be arranged there, I’ll now tell you in detail.
And you will reveal the meaning of the second part of the title of the post.
So, it all starts at 10 am Kanonichno - with the formulation of the problem and immersion:
And after the “lyrical” introduction - the fun begins with tests, code, blackjack and all the rest.
The first key difference between our meeting from the hackathon is that the competition is taking place in the individual competition . At first we wanted to create teams and thought about the reasons for the presence of participants. It turns out that everyone came to check his personal skill and get a job. Not the fact that several participants of our meeting will work on one project. It turns out that the team motivation does not increase internal and does not even contradict it.
We did not immediately decide on such a radical change. They did this only because the main fan factors of the hackathon still remain. Nobody forbids anyone to communicate either during tests or between them - so that we retain an element of socialization. Well, the tasks for solving become more and more difficult with each new stage.
The general logic of the event is that passing a series of tests (from simple to the most difficult) - each participant scores points, the amount of which is reflected in the leaderboard. All those who have scored more than a certain amount (how many - we will announce on the spot) get access to the interview, according to the results of which an offer is made.
We are the first to pass tests for general logic and technical mentality. Yes, of course, 99% of those present - surely will be people tested and adequate - we are sure of this. But there is always 1% of uncertainty.
If we draw an analogy with seminars and conferences, then there is always one person at them whose personal task is not to agree with the speaker in full accordance with the statement: “the last word will remain for me”. Yes, you probably met these.
In addition to this reason, we decided that fairly simple tests would allow everyone to warm up and wake up.
After the first series of tests - a short break.
Updating the leaderboard, we communicate, we answer questions.
The second test is English. Since you need to work with international clients, this is important. Most likely, you already know the language well. At the very least, you can read technical literature, so you can certainly handle the dough.
Again, a short break, after which we proceed to the long-awaited technical part.
The third test is the knowledge of programming languages. It will be different for Java and Ruby, but the general structure is the same:
After this test - a break for lunch. For an hour to eat, discuss with your colleagues and others decisions, share your impressions and build future plans.
As part of this break, the first Q & A session will be held with Andy, Lucciano and other decision makers from Crossover. There are no closed topics at this session - we are ready to discuss with you any details you are interested in. Cook tough questions!
Then, with intervals of 15 minutes, followed by more and more complex tests for algorithms, for which, it seems to us, you are going to this meeting. Problems will be difficult and, perhaps, unexpected. So I will not write about them in detail. Let them remain a surprise.
When you cope with these tasks - you will find a “king test”. At this stage, you can score the maximum number of points, which makes it possible not only to catch up with someone, but literally shoot at the leaderboard.
After the king-test we make the second big break for food, communication, questions and answers.
And smoothly proceed to the interview. Interviews will be both personal and online. We calculated that without the involvement of our colleagues, who will be able to talk to you on Skype, the waiting queue could take 3–4 hours. Too long for Saturday, in our opinion.
And finally, after the announcement of the winners and the division of the prize fund, we will part for a short time to meet again in the working environment - remotely and within the framework of selected projects, and live in our coworkings, as well as in bars.
Duplicate the link to the registration . See you!
The classic of the genre is the solution of complex tasks by programming teams in conditions of limited resources.
Just, for example, passed DeepHack , in which participants wrote algorithms that can beat the old Atari games. It is said that Pac-Man is the hardest given. Apparently, even harder than Go . Serious programmers are looking for new approaches and write serious modules to improve AI. If it were not for the informality of the format, you can imagine something very academic.
')
Appearing as a purely geeky entertainment, over time, the hackathons began to change under the influence of the capitalist model of society and initiative experimenters.
The IT industry is developing very rapidly and very expansively - therefore, observing it is like observing the evolution of fruit flies. Fast life cycles and measurability of results allow you to effectively check the tools for the development of the industry. And often it turns out that the tools developed or perfected for IT are excellent for other tasks, often completely “humanitarian”.
The most obvious example of such a product tool - Trello - kanban, which came from business management, was appreciated by the IT community for simplicity, visibility and efficiency, rethought as a software product integrated into an ecosystem of calendars, planners and other services. And now it is used even for the planning of personal life, and, in different ways .
So it was with the hackathons. When efficiency is measurable, and yes even vividly - MVP at the end of the event - it is unacceptable to ignore the format that allows you to achieve such results. And hackathons fell into the attention of other, yet related to IT, areas of activity. As examples of interesting thematic mutations, we consider JourHak, which holds ITMO and the activities that #tceh does.
The first is interesting because it combines such specialists as programmers and journalists. In fact, it brings together "physicists" and "lyricists." And the result of ZhurHak becomes not the utilitarian prototype, but the representation of the data. At the same time, all canons are observed and everything passes within the framework of the genre - goal, ideas, programming, presentation of the result.
The second example with #tceh events is also indicative. The teams include more specialists. Analytics, marketers, UX designers are involved in the development of the solution. Team building involves passing the Belbin test , the results of which are taken into account so that the teams evolve in a balanced way. And the most interesting thing is that when you save the algorithm: setting the topic and goals - the generation of ideas - work - presentation, the “work” stage is sometimes associated with the code , and sometimes not . In order to afford such flexibility - the guys even had to invent a format name - not to call all this directly “hackathon”.
If we disassemble the “engine” of the hackathon and its mutations as a format, it turns out that the fuel is “fun solution of interesting tasks”, where “fun” is determined by socialization, and “interesting tasks” are subjectively atypical tasks that must be fulfilled within the specified limits ( one of which is time). All this together inhales vigor and excitement, allows you to step a little further, to find answers to tasks that previously had no reason to solve.
In general, when we were sitting and discussing hackathons within our team, a UFO flew in and it dawned on everyone at once.
It turns out that the process associated with programming can be made more interesting by bringing elements of socialization into it, solving atypical tasks and setting limits, the scope of which, like the shrinking walls of the garbage compartment of the imperial cruiser, gives dynamics to the actions and stimulates focusing in the search for a solution.
This simple idea made us reconsider our approach to our business a bit and put forward a hypothesis that we want to test in four countries, in particular, in Russia - on February 18. The essence of the hypothesis is that it is more fun, more useful and faster than going through the forms of the site, sitting alone at home.
Therefore, we decided to launch the first of a possible series of events in which programmers solve interesting problems and communicate, and the result is 20 offers for salaries of $ 8,500 per month (100K per year) and a prize fund of $ 10,000.
At the meeting, you can spend time with colleagues in the workshop, share experiences and discuss topics of interest without pressing the "comment" button. There you can openly consider all the rumors about the Crossover. We believe that any doubt can be overcome by facts and communication with living people. Therefore, our CEO - Andy Tribe and the head of the technical assessment service - Luciano Bargman will arrive. There will be Russian guys - those who are already working with us - architects, developers, managers - will know their opinion from the first hand.
At this first meeting, we are looking for leading developers of Java and Ruby on Rails for the position of Chief Software Architect.
If you want to become a leading developer, technical team (aka in Crossover “Chief Architect”) - this is a good chance to try your hand.
Well, if you are confident in the strength - then come and get an offer.
When you are ready - please take a laptop.
The requirements for hardware and software are simple - you need to work:
for java
JDK 8
Maven
Preferred IDE
Zip compressing app
for ruby
Ruby 2.4
Preferred IDE
Zip compressing app
The meeting will be held on February 18 .
At the intersection of Yauza and Sadovy - Serebryanicheskaya embankment 29.
Start at 10:00 .
Mandatory registration here
And for those who are interested in how everything will be arranged there, I’ll now tell you in detail.
And you will reveal the meaning of the second part of the title of the post.
So, it all starts at 10 am Kanonichno - with the formulation of the problem and immersion:
- Andy, CEO of Crossover, immerses himself in the context of the event - talks about the company and, perhaps, reveals some of the burning questions that you yourself would like to ask;
- Luciano comes next. He introduces you to the algorithm of the event.
And after the “lyrical” introduction - the fun begins with tests, code, blackjack and all the rest.
The first key difference between our meeting from the hackathon is that the competition is taking place in the individual competition . At first we wanted to create teams and thought about the reasons for the presence of participants. It turns out that everyone came to check his personal skill and get a job. Not the fact that several participants of our meeting will work on one project. It turns out that the team motivation does not increase internal and does not even contradict it.
We did not immediately decide on such a radical change. They did this only because the main fan factors of the hackathon still remain. Nobody forbids anyone to communicate either during tests or between them - so that we retain an element of socialization. Well, the tasks for solving become more and more difficult with each new stage.
The general logic of the event is that passing a series of tests (from simple to the most difficult) - each participant scores points, the amount of which is reflected in the leaderboard. All those who have scored more than a certain amount (how many - we will announce on the spot) get access to the interview, according to the results of which an offer is made.
We are the first to pass tests for general logic and technical mentality. Yes, of course, 99% of those present - surely will be people tested and adequate - we are sure of this. But there is always 1% of uncertainty.
If we draw an analogy with seminars and conferences, then there is always one person at them whose personal task is not to agree with the speaker in full accordance with the statement: “the last word will remain for me”. Yes, you probably met these.
In addition to this reason, we decided that fairly simple tests would allow everyone to warm up and wake up.
After the first series of tests - a short break.
Updating the leaderboard, we communicate, we answer questions.
The second test is English. Since you need to work with international clients, this is important. Most likely, you already know the language well. At the very least, you can read technical literature, so you can certainly handle the dough.
Again, a short break, after which we proceed to the long-awaited technical part.
The third test is the knowledge of programming languages. It will be different for Java and Ruby, but the general structure is the same:
- language task series
- a series of tasks on the knowledge of architecture
- a number of tasks on technologies (Database, AWS cloud, containers, message queues, TDD)
After this test - a break for lunch. For an hour to eat, discuss with your colleagues and others decisions, share your impressions and build future plans.
As part of this break, the first Q & A session will be held with Andy, Lucciano and other decision makers from Crossover. There are no closed topics at this session - we are ready to discuss with you any details you are interested in. Cook tough questions!
Then, with intervals of 15 minutes, followed by more and more complex tests for algorithms, for which, it seems to us, you are going to this meeting. Problems will be difficult and, perhaps, unexpected. So I will not write about them in detail. Let them remain a surprise.
When you cope with these tasks - you will find a “king test”. At this stage, you can score the maximum number of points, which makes it possible not only to catch up with someone, but literally shoot at the leaderboard.
After the king-test we make the second big break for food, communication, questions and answers.
And smoothly proceed to the interview. Interviews will be both personal and online. We calculated that without the involvement of our colleagues, who will be able to talk to you on Skype, the waiting queue could take 3–4 hours. Too long for Saturday, in our opinion.
And finally, after the announcement of the winners and the division of the prize fund, we will part for a short time to meet again in the working environment - remotely and within the framework of selected projects, and live in our coworkings, as well as in bars.
Duplicate the link to the registration . See you!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/321736/
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