Why are Hackathons an all-night event?

Posted by zxcvvcxz on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @06:59PM
from the self-post dept.

Why not over 2 days (a weekend) so people can get some rest in between? Am I just being soft here because I don't like the idea of staying up all night anymore? The culture of all-nighters and ridiculous caffeine/sugar consumption is overrated. And absolutely terrible for your health.

This is coming from someone with a day job who's interested in Hackathon-like events but generally unwilling due to the logistics.

Disclaimer: I am a college student who's been through the exact typical "hacking" conditions.. Staying up 72 hours before a big deadline to put together a project was the norm. I suppose the biggest argument in favor of this are the unique social experiences you get under this kind of duress.

What are your opinions on this?

( 2 comments | on HN )

Re:Why are Hackathons an all-night event? by realize on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @07:26PM (#4320218)

If there was a period of rest in between two sessions then some teams would keep working and get an unfair advantage. It would effectively turn into a 2-day hackathon rather than a 1-day hackathon.

And isn't an extremely big effort kind of the meaning of "-athon"?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why are Hackathons an all-night event? by lunita on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @07:24PM (#4320205)

Not all Hackathons are all night events - most in my opinion are throughout the weekend, but the hacking is usually 10-7 on saturday

[ Parent | on HN ]