[johnday]

People tend to compete in hackathons not for the prizes/job. They do it because you can spend a small amount of time producing something tangible which you can understand and be proud of. They are rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and fun.

In game design circles the equivalent of a hackathon is called a game jam. They are almost universal and are seen as an excellent opportunity to both try out ideas and socialise with other people that you wouldn't normally get an opportunity to work with.

> Almost everyone that attends says they are exhausted by the end [...]

Same is true of the gym. That's not an argument against.

> [...] you tend to consume unhealthy food & beverages in the process.

That's a function of planning. When we run such events we provide healthy food (fruit, primarily) for free. But we also have pizza, as we do at all of our other social events. That is more of a function of group events than of hackathons per se.

I think your concern for the well-being of hackathon participants is admirable, and if you ran such an event I think you would do it very well. Have you considered organising something?

[jaChEWAg]

I see your point of view and respect it. I think hackathons may not be everyone and my original thought was I felt companies using hackathons as a way to benchmark developers (as if we are machines) based on their output.

I could be wrong but that's just how I feel about it.

Lastly, if I were to organize a hackathon. I think the the first I would do would be making it at least a week long instead of 2-3 days. In addition, I would make it required to not allow participants to stay more than 8 hours each day. After all when I think of hackathons, I think it's a time to tinker with technology and come up with something cool. NOT staying up for 3 days straight to win some prize.

[malux85]

You’re correct in that there are some companies out there using hacksathons to benchmark and also steal IP (I’ve seen some where the participants are required to sign a document saying said company owned all intellectual property produced during the hacathon - hidden in small print)

It’s disgusting behaviour because a hackathon is supposed to be about freedom of ideas, intellectual stimulation and humour and fun - and these companies are just purely exploiting it. They should be named and shamed.

I would add that any halfway decent manager understands that while a developer can sprint, it is by definition an exhausting short term gain, and this is an unsustainable medium and long term strategy : and if your manager doesn’t understand something so basic about people management, it’s time to look for a new job

[johnday]

Yes, we have also been leaning towards running our sites for only "office hours" of 9-5, sometimes closer to 9-10 to allow for people who wake up outside of "human hours".

The downside of week-long events is that you exclude people who have to go to work or have other commitments, but might be able to make time over a weekend.