TECH HACKATHONS: INSPIRING INNOVATION

 The technological industry is by far the fastest-growing industry in the world. The evolution of technology is characterized by the expansion of human knowledge and understanding. Advancements are also easily adopted, and this is because, due to technology, the world has become a "global village." It only takes a few calls here, some text messages there, a couple articles and video tutorials, and a new concept will have been mastered by the majority of the world’s population within hours of being launched.

To develop brilliant concepts, it is vital that a lot of people with different ideas come together and merge their creative thoughts. One way in which this has been made possible is through the organization of tech hackathons.

A tech hackathon is an event that is organized to bring together computer and software engineers, as well as other interested people, with the aim of creating a new software program or improving an already existing program within a short period of time. The term "hackathon" was coined by Niels Provos of OpenBSD. Ten computer programmers had joined hands to come up with ways to curb legal problems that would arise in cryptographic transactions in the USA.

"Hackathon" is a combination of two English words: hack and marathon. Often, the mention of the word "hack" would make one instantly think of an activity involving illegal access to another person’s devices or accounts on the internet. Well, it turns out that this word may be used to refer to the act of writing code or adding one to a computer program in order to make slight changes in a hurry. The word "marathon" refers to an endurance contest. Therefore, during a tech hackathon, people would compete for a short period of time while trying to bring forth the best possible computer program.

There are various types of tech hackathons.

There are companies and organizations that have multiple branches and departments in different countries, for instance, Meta. Such companies may organize internal hackathons aimed at introducing a concept by combining the ideas of their employees. These also promote creativity and critical thinking and expand the scope of thinking among them. In addition, through these hackathons, employees who emerge as the best in hacking and programming gain recognition and professional fulfillment. 

At times, an organization may want to involve non-members in a hackathon. This hackathon would be referred to as an "external hackathon." External hackathons are mainly organized for the purpose of recruiting new talented and creative members. Some external hackathons are organized in order to increase human resources with the aim of speeding up software development. Such hackathons are also good for interaction and the exchange of ideas between members and non-members of an organization.

When there is a new invention in the tech world, for example, an upgrade of the Android operating system, it is important for applications to be upgraded too or to be created anew in order for them to remain relevant to the market. A company owning an application would therefore organize an app-specific hackathon for this purpose. This is another category of tech hackathons.

Tech hackathons may be conducted physically or virtually through online collaboration tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Virtual sessions became popular during and after the COVID-19 pandemic period, with the declaration of lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.

Kenyans have been actively involved in tech hackathons. Last year, three groups from Kenya, Team Sahara, Team Relic, and Team FedhaPay, participated in a hackathon, "Hack the Mara," organized by the Mara Foundation. This hackathon lasted a week and was aimed at coining business proposals that would be beneficial for social and environmental change within the Maasai Mara, Africa, and beyond.

Africa’s Talking, a web development organization that also does mentorship in Kenyan universities, conducted a hackathon on March 31 this year. The winner, @Kipkiruidjango on Twitter, expressed his wish to mentor his schoolmates by organizing a hackathon focusing on the functioning of WhatsApp chatbots, USSD, and SMS.

Get ready for the age of tech-savvy programmers solving the world's problems in a matter of hours...or at least try to.

Valerie Moraa Manyenga is a law student at the University of Nairobi, who loves interacting with people and material from various professional fields. She enjoys learning new things and writing informative pieces about them.

Email- val.moraa261@gmail.com

Phone number – 0796779674