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Some Hackathon Hustlers Make Their Living From Corporate Coding Contests (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the such-is-a-life dept.

Some coders go from one marathon hacking session to another, subsisting on prize money and schwag. From a feature article on Bloomberg: Peter Ma looked around his San Francisco condo and realized he'd won everything in it. His flat-screen TV, home theater system, 3D printers, phones, tablets, computers and furniture were either hackathon prizes or purchased with hackathon earnings. Stashed under his leather couch -- which he'd bought with an Amazon gift card -- was a thick stack of 2- and 3-foot-long cardboard checks commemorating his most cherished wins. "The only non-schwag I have are shoes," he said. With his gray hoodie and close-cropped goatee, 33-year-old Ma looks like any of the thousands of computer programmers roaming the city, but he's part of an elite corps. He and about a dozen friends travel the hackathon circuit. They build apps, connected devices and other products during all-night, fiercely competitive programming contests where sleep is scarce and caffeine is plentiful. The sessions are usually sponsored by corporations, and top prizes mean serious cash. Some of the hackers have jobs. Some do contracting work. Some have corporate sponsors. Almost all of them are working on a pet startup idea. For Ma and a few others, hackathons are a job. Ma knows he would make more money if he had a more traditional career. He just doesn't want one.

7 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. The Gig Economy... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... were sleep is scarce and caffeine is plentiful.

    Ah yes, "The Gig Economy". Hope he's saving some of that cash-ola because that scarce sleep and lots-o-coffee is going to get old and he's going to run out of steam with no healthcare and no retirement savings in a "Gig Economy" where he's no longer in the desirable / hirable age bracket regardless of his uber-leet hacking skills...

    Ma knows he would make more money if he had a more traditional career. He just doesn't want one.

    Please, tell me more!

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    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:The Gig Economy... by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      Having no experience in the IT/computer/beep-boop industry or bay area, I'd assume he's got to be impressing some people who could offer him a more steady job. From what I can tell, having a computer, clothing, and a space to sleep near the bay area is enough for a bunch of monied morons to fling cash at you.

      This is not a defense of the gig economy or his choices, just this guy in particular in that particular location doesn't seem like he's disadvantaged in the slightest.

  2. Re:It's still work! by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

    If you spend 100 hours to earn a $5000 prize, is that really any different than working for a real company at $50/hr?

    Yes, you don't get healthcare and benefits. But you have FREEDOM!

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    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  3. Re:It's still work! by beekums · · Score: 2

    I think there's something to be said for variety. If you start a side project to make money you have to commit to spending time on that project. With a hackathon they can just drop something before getting bogged down by things like technical debt. Hackathons are the perfect job for someone who can't commit to one thing. It's like being on a skunkworks team, but most companies don't staff a permanent skunkworks team.

  4. Re:It's still work! by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, what you're really saying is "healthcare and benefits" are a form of slavery. Keep that in mind when you vote next year.

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    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  5. I can relate by Verdatum · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I once won a hackathon in my category, snagging $2k in prize money for me and a couple friends. We were doing a hardware project, and spent so much on materials that we didn't come close to anything rembling a profit. But we weren't trying to profit or even trying to win; we were just making something we would've made on our own anyway. But the experience made me wonder about the possibility for this. I think the biggest issues are that you'd need to be in the bay-area with the lowest rent you could find, or learn to travel really cheap. My area doesn't have nearly enough events. But after attending my 2nd event, it quickly became obvious that there are things you can do that would enable you to gain an edge, potentially allowing you to win a category despite not having the best submission in that category. The larger sponsors are frequently judges, and PR is obviously an important thing. So frequently, it's more about doing a project that has a feel-good narrative with the potential to make headlines than it is about writing quality code, or writing code that does something genuinely novel, as opposed to code that just has the appearance of novelty, or about making a product that's actually feasible.

    The implications sort of alarmed us. We don't particularly like the idea of competing against people exploiting these potentials, acting like they are doing a community service, when really motivated by fame & fortune. But we also decided that we don't really care about winning. For us, a hackathon is a motivation to get off our asses and work really hard on something cool we want to create instead of just wasting yet another weekend on YouTube and video games. If we win, any prize money is just gonna go into the next crazy project we want to see exist.

  6. Re:It's still work! by HockeyPuck · · Score: 2

    If you spend 100 hours to earn a $5000 prize, is that really any different than working for a real company at $50/hr?

    For a real company, I'm guaranteed the $50/hr even if I'm sick that day.