Looking back over the last couple of days, I cannot believe how much was achieved in such a small amount of time. It was my first Hackathon, I wasn't quite sure of how these events go... but after the this weekend, I'm certain that it will be the first of many!
Firstly, I would like to send out a huge big thank you to everyone involved with the weekend, especially the people organising it! Even though it was the first event from Markco Media (http://markcomedia.com), it was run impeccably. The generosity (so much free food and drink, let alone the chance to treat an amazingly cool office that is just a minute's walk away from Tower Bridge as my own for the weekend), the enthusiasm and the general fun-loving spirit of the people at the event was truly awesome. Nothing was too much trouble, and nothing was asked for in return.
There was also the chance to be utterly inspired and work with some of the great successes within the industry. Having those people on tap to give you advice and direction while you are creating is just something you could not get anywhere else, and it left me just itching to get out there and achieve!
The hacking itself was just so much fun. We created a tool which I genuinely think could grow into something useful that people would like to use - all based on the ideas of two entrepreneurs I was lucky enough to chat with. With out team of 3 developers and 3 multi-talented individuals in the areas of business, marketing and design, I was really pleased with just how far we got and what we achieved. OUr software also utilises the Pusher API to interact with their awesome service of pushing data, in real time, to clients concurrently - the chance to work with the direct support of one of their guys was great and helped us no end in incorporating their technology effectively into what we were building.
It wasn't only our hack which I got to get a good look at, either. There were a lot of other people developing other software which I found just as cool. Ranging from money management systems to music discovery systems based on colour, to a service ensuring 100% safe QR-codes - there was loads to look at and loads of great people behind the ideas! I'm really hoping to see some of these ideas develop into something great and being able to say - "I was there at the start!"
So after 3 days with 4 hours sleep, an unlimited supply of a hacker's favourite kinds of food, brilliant ideas, equally brilliant chances to meet new people with the industry and, probably most importantly, caffeine on tap, I really feel that this experience has been one of the greatest I've had in some time.
I really hope that Mark and the other guys at Markco Media decide to put on another event - I would be first in line to sign up!
(Also, I should be posting some photos of the weekend at some point when I'm not on a train!)
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