The Shape of Code

The problem with being a regularly hackathon attendee is needing a continual stream of interesting ideas for something to build; the idea has to be sold to others (working in a team of one is not what hackathons are about), be capable of being implemented in 24 hours (if only in the flimsiest of forms) and make use of something from one of the sponsors (they are paying for the food and drink and it would be rude to ignore them).

I think the best approach for selecting something to build is to have the idea and mold one of the supplied data sets/APIs/sponsor interests to fit it; looking at what is provided and trying to come up with something to build is just too hard (every now and again an interesting data set or problem pops up, but this is not a regular occurrence).

My resolution for next year is to only work on Wow projects at hackathons. This means that I will not be going to as many hackathons (because I cannot think of a Wow idea to build) and will be returning early from many that I attend (because my Wow idea gets shot down {a frustratingly regular occurrence} and nobody else manages to sell me their idea, or the data/API turns out to be seriously deficient {I’m getting better at spotting the likelihood of this happening before attending}).