What is this word - Hackathon all about?

Hackathon

Why this topic all of a sudden:

I have been coming across two extreme sets of candidates.  One who has the hobby of offer collection and one who doesn’t have a job also for months & years?

I, being in recruitment feel frustrated when a Computer Science Engineer says he has never heard of Hackathon. (And this is not restricted to CS students; I just took this example because of some obvious reasons)

I also feel jealous if a fresher Computer Science Engineer is co-founder of some app or app development company.

I always felt there is a huge gap.  Offers are not distributed equally.  The one with multiple offers frustrates the 2 to 3 companies where he is been an interested candidate and about to join and on the day of joining just makes himself not reachable on his mobile or switched off the phone or for a week or so missing from all.

Where as the other set of sincere candidates keep on attending interviews but just couldn’t make it to the offer stage.  Reasons are many, not arguing on that.  But he may prefer to talk well with his computer than infront of HR in the pre-screen stage (initial screening level), or makes grave mistake without his knowledge because of his lack of understanding or talking good English language.  But at home, he is the one who keeps on coding different stuffs.  Just doesn’t know how to sell self.

There are smart, decent speaking freshers I have come across who are quite bright.  But just that they have never heard of the term Hackathon.  They have never been exposed to the latest trends in hiring by their college. 

I myself had this challenge when I was searching for job.  Till my graduation I never heard about IIT.  After my graduation or after joining this profession of recruitment is only when I came to know about IIT.  Where did I study? Just less than 100 kms distance to Bangalore i.e. Tumkur.  Less than 100 kms distance and the word on IIT have not reached.  (Hope it is been heard by the students in these cities now atleast).

So the word hackathon also not reached the mass.  In Bangalore itself not all are aware of this method of getting hired also.

There are professionals who keep on attending hackathon after hackathon and other set not even heard of this terminology.

My intention of this blog is to spread the awareness on this concept and making my friends from non-hackathon world to get exposure to this concept and to generate better and better coders.

I strongly argue now that the days of copy pasted profiles are fading.  Time has come to check the real coders.  So the purpose of hackathon is to decode the coder.  Put the individual on task under time pressure with available resources.  Check how well he / she comes out of it.   And hire based on the performance / attitude / flexibility & availability of that requirement with the participating companies.

Here is my attempt to address few frequently asked questions (would love to take feedback also on things where little correction is required from the SMEs of hackathons):

What is the purpose of Hackathon?:

Hackathons are conducted for multiple reasons like – Branding, Hiring, Decoding certain challenges in the project or to get a part of the module of the project to execute in this way than outsourcing the same to third party. 

Then what is this hackathon all about? : - Its nothing but marathon of coding.  An event where passionate coders get-to-gether and just code and code and code.

Who can participate?:

Any body.  It’s mostly a team event but not just restricted to team; an individual also can participate.

What happens in such events?:

All the passionate coders or passionate individuals come together, form a team and start designing an app or website or solve a problem statement. 

What is an ideal team for such events?:

An ideal team consists of a front – end designer, a coder (language is not an issue), a passionate guy with some brilliant idea for execution, a marketing guy also sometimes joins the team.  Ideal team size would be between 3 to 5.

How it all starts on the day?:

Participants join with like-minded team.  Take up the challenge.  Assign the task to the team based on their strength.  Define their task.  Execute the same.

How does it end?:

With their own method of addressing the problem statement, they will be given specific time by the judges and the team has to present their solution & approach to the problem statement with the technical solution.

Keep in touch; be with us (Dexter Talent Labs) for continuous learning on Hackathons and awareness on the events happening around.

Like us at facebook/ Dexter Talent Labs

Follow us on Linkedin / Dexter Talent Labs

Drop us your interest to participate in the up-coming hackathons either as volunteer or as participant or as hiring company or even to execute the same with your expertise. 

We are reachable at write2us@dextertalentlabs.com (I can promise of an immediate response – guess how, have put a customized auto response ;-), however I will also respond seriously – trust me J.)

Learn hackathon

Join coding in marathon

Get placed easily there-on

J

Current Hiring Trends

Current Hiring Trends

Interesting!!!!!! Instead of current hiring trends, it is nice to say the current trend is hiring J.

Yes you got it right.  Go for a walk and come back with an offer.

Hey hold on, hold on, it also comes with a star.  Yes terms & conditions applied.

Hiring is on in MNCs

Hiring is on in IT Services Companies

Hiring is on in Non-IT Companies

& most importantly it is very much on in startup companies.

Interestingly I am part of few groups in facebook.  Seeing the comments in both the groups, I feel like quitting my work and becoming a full time counselor.

There are groups for job seekers & there are groups for talent seekers.  Just that they don’t talk to each other often. 

There are also opening for..

Freshers above 70% marks

Between 70% - 60%

And below 60%

Hold on this doesn’t stop for pass outs, even smart guys with arrears also have a fair chance to get employed and prove your worth to your parents and nose-poking sister J

Then where is the gap?  There are opportunities.  There are freshers.  Again as mentioned in my earlier post, learn to sell your profile.

Unless you check other useful sites than facebook & free streaming movie sites, you will be missing something seriously great.  Explore and see how enlightening it is to know the vast Internet world for job opportunities.

Please research on such sites.  Sites like Meetup.com, github.com, coursera, etc.

Be flexible, flexible & flexible interms of accepting the opportunities.  As said earlier don’t go by MNC tag or big campus or big salaries job.  Look at long-term growth. Study on the scope of the projects or offering in the startup & blindly accept the offer.  And mostly good startups don’t take money from you; instead they ask you to work for free or at some reasonable money in the initial few months.  Rest all fall into place later on based on your performance.

And very importantly I feel the freshers should take opinion of experienced people in the industry than just going by their fresher friends or parents – both are less aware of industry trends.

Wake up, catch up & grow up.

And till you get placed, please do some courses. (ofcourse free of cost courses are available on line in any of the skill of your choice). 

Trending skills are Android, Xamarin, iOS, Python, Web Development, UI Designing, Selenium Testing, Java, Automation Testing, etc. 

Sell your talent & not your CV - Get Hired

Want to get hired?

Sell your talent & not your CV

ü Select one or two skills you want to chase to get hired

ü Research on trending skills (Please don’t take more than 2 days time for this)

ü Do one small online free course on those skills (loads of free online learning places are available like Coursera, Youtube, etc)

ü Become member of GitHub to start sharing your knowledge.  Also learn further on the skill you have chosen in the same forum. And similar website also not just restricted to GitHubs.

ü Also be a member of MeetUp groups (www.meetup.com.  Register in the groups where you would benefit more on your technologies)

ü Attend the meetups regularly whether you know or not.

ü Network with similar skilled people.

ü Attend number of Hackathons (first 1 or 2 would be an experience, later it will make you expert)

ü Express your interest to get a job  -  ONLY WHEN YOU ASK then PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. 

ü Don’t chase salary in the beginning.  Chase good work.

ü Be flexible to join for less salary or no salary for the first 2 – 3 months (case to case basis, based on the assignment & company you take the call)

ü Don’t look for flashy campus, as some companies may not have offices in big campuses, even if it is home just go for it.  Give weightage only to the work you would be doing, rest all are not counted for any job change.

ü Try to design an application or two on the skill you have learned.

ü In your profile talk only on the work you have done (even if it is 1 assignment) & clearly explain the skill you have learned and what is your proficiency in that skill.

ü Get hired & do well.

As long as you have a good skill in your hand your percentage, year of pass out, communication skill doesn’t matter.  What matters is how you sell your talent & the place where you sell it.

A sample profile format:

Full Name:

Mobile Number:                                                eMail ID:

Primary Skill:

Self Rating (Scale of 1 – 4, 4 being the highest):

GitHub Gists:

Member of ______ (Names of the meetups – restrict to 5)

Number of Hackathons attended:

A 2 – 4 liner brief on your role in those hackathons:

Blogs you have written (if any):

Applications Designed / Developed (Put the numbers):

Name of the App:

Brief about the App:

Technologies Used:

Your Role in that skill:

Reference to google playstore / iTunes(where you have uploaded your app):

Your linkedin Profile Link:

Education (For documentation purpose only):

An average student’s one of the small struggles

An average student’s one of the small struggles.

I scored 120 out of 125 in Mathematics in my 1^st year graduation i.e. B.Sc (Bachelor of Science).  I scored 114 out of 125 in Sanskrit.  I was one of the toppers in the college in these two subjects.  Yes I was also a topper.  But ONLY IN THESE TWO SUBJECTS.

My friend has scored 97 out of 100 in Accounting in PUC.  He has also scored 82 out of 100 in English (Definitely a good score for a tier 2 city’s student).  He was one of the toppers in these subjects in his school.  Yes he was also a topper.  But ONLY IN THESE TWO SUBJECTS.

Both of us are average students as per our records.  Our overall subject’s average score is around 60%.  As our marks in other subjects are very very average ;-) (Earlier days I was hesitant to share this truth now doesn’t make any impact on my life style in any angle J). 

I struggled to understand other subjects.  I struggled to remember the notes.  I struggled to remain awake while reading those boring subjects.

I some how survived all my struggles of studying.  Yes for a student who is already been tagged as Average at studies, education is a big struggle.  Especially the era I studied 80’s & 90’s, if you don’t study then you are tagged as good for nothing.  If you fail you LOST ONE VALUABLE YEAR.  Hold on hold on, losing one year is not a big deal.  There are worst things than this.  That one year of your life am sure would be equivalent to one decade.  That’s how society treats you rather treated you.  As though you don’t have future at all.  You are done.  You are a big burden on your family.  You are a shame to the family (society’s perception).  So passing with those notions in mind for an average scoring student am sure is an achievement than for some one who gets rank.  We deserve more honors I guess ;-).

Where is the problem?  I have scored wonderful marks in Mathematics & Sanskrit.  Where is the problem when my friend has scored such a nice marks in Accounting & English.

Is there a problem in our education system?  Though I respect a lot for Indian education system, which generated and still generating wonderful engineers, doctors, professors, etc which are 20 – 30% of the population I guess.  There are still people like us who scored average in villages or remote places who stopped continuing studies only. 

What problem am I realizing now?  One simple example

Mr. Manjul Bhargava, Indian origin mathematician who was recently awarded Fields Medal / Nobel prize for Mathematics chose Maths & Saskrit as subject to study.  I think he did not have Physics, Chemistry & Biology also to study & pass.  I guess his score was not calculated on the scores of all these subjects.  If they had then he is also an average student???

Hope the guessing is on you now to rethink and make sure our present & future generation don’t get affected by this Super Man / Women expectation from their studies.  Let the new students be not averaged based on all the subjects that you hardly use in your life.  Excecpt H2O for water & CO2 for Carbon Dioxide I don’t remember any other chemical formulas & I don’t think it is needed for me to make all my candidates to get thru and join the companies I propose them for.