| I really think it depends on what you want to get out of a hackathon. At the end of the day you get out what you put in. After graduating from college I spent some time going to hackathons, some of which were of the type you described. But I didn't care because I just wanted to go somewhere where I could hone my ability to think fast and ship. I got to do just that while also meeting awesome dev evangelists, eating free food, and occasionally going home with some prizes. I also don't think the following is necessarily the right thing to do: "Restrict to those who are there to code, design, or build something, not to write a business plan" especially if the intent is to create "better builders, better collaborators, and better teachers." Learning to work with the MBA type that a lot of people vilify can be a valuable skill. I think the ability to dilute business speak into features you can program or being able to communicate your complex programming ideas to someone less experienced are super valuable. And that's where I've seen a lot of hackathon pitches fall apart. Someone creates something so technical and awesome, but can't break it down into something that non-technical people or new programmers can understand. And that sucks, but being able to do so is a necessary communication skill. I also think hackathons are a great place to find future co-founders. Maybe that's another programmer, but maybe it's someone who can help you sell your product and has a more developed business sense. Again, it all depends on why you're at the hackathon in the first place. |