It's that magical time of the year - our hackathon is back! Twice a year, we set aside the day-to-day and dive into an exciting 48-hour innovation whirlwind of rapid development. It's a chance to play on the leading edge of cloud technology, and we have a lot of fun doing it. We are also excited to share that our hackathon will be online again. We hope you'll follow along with our journey!
Our theme this time around is building your own machine learning model. With the rapid adoption of machine learning into every industry, from legal to streaming to retail, it is imperative to understand what is possible with machine learning and what challenges can be solved with all the data. Since providing value is one of our core values, this gives us the opportunity to explore and unlock new and innovative ways to harness and gather data that benefits current and new customers. If you'd like more details about Metal Toad's approach to machine learning, take a look at this blog post.
We chose the machine learning theme for our online hackathon to build on our experience, innovate our existing practices, and share our lessons learned with businesses optimizing their machine learning workflows.
What's a hackathon?
At Metal Toad, our online hackathon is two solid days of innovation and creativity. Toads form teams, develop something they want to create, and use AWS tools to build an actual working piece of software in just 48 hours. Hackathons are just one of the ways we invest in our people's professional growth—not to mention R&D—while having a blast!
Here's how it works:
- We choose a theme that reflects the leading edge of technology and our clients' top business needs
- The Toads divide up into teams and outline projects that respond to the theme
- Bright and early on Wednesday, the hacking begins! The teams spin up and launch into collaboration and creation
- The teams have until Thursday night to complete their working products (yes, much coffee is consumed)
- The teams present their projects on Friday—and then it's time to relax and celebrate
Our Q4 online hackathon begins bright and early on Wednesday, December 15. It concludes with team presentations on Friday, December 17—followed by a party, of course!
What's the value of a hackathon?
Hackathons are more than just a great time—we invest in them twice a year because they add significant value to our business. Here are the top benefits:
- Exploring and building expertise with rapidly evolving technologies
- Growing team relationships and collaboration skills
- Driving skill development and sparking new insights into AWS cloud potential
- Enhancing fast, creative problem-solving skills
- Delivering fresh new prototypes for emerging use cases
How can you follow the action?
- Join us on social media—LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram—to get the latest updates and catch our videos of Toads in the midst of creation (follow #metaltoad so you don't miss a thing!)
- Check out the summary of what the Toads created—we'll post it after the hackathon is complete
- During the two weeks after the hackathon, get the deets from the Toads themselves (we'll post on social channels and our blog) about their hackathon experiences
How can you put on your own online hackathon?
If you're feeling inspired to host your own hackathon, we encourage you to go for it! Here's a few hints on planning your own:
- Take a look at our blog post on how to get the most out of your hackathon
- Explore the incredible projects the Toads have built during past hackathons
- Drop us a line! We'd be delighted to help you push the envelope with your own innovation marathon