We’re often asked why the CodinGame challenges happen online and not in person / IRL, like hackathons.
Hackathons are great for atmosphere. Everyone gets together somewhere more or less underground, moving around amidst a mess of cables, sharing utterly unhealthy food while coding intensively – it’s electric, fraternal, and unifying.
Except that, to participate in a hackathon, you have to be able to get there. And that’s where things get complicated.
At CodinGame, we assume that it is better to create a space where developers can come to measure themselves against their peers across the world, and have a good time without the constraints of place, wiring, or any other logistics.
Online challenges have many other advantages, like being able to peacefully code in the warmth of home, in your socks / flip flops / pajamas /… ; to cook up your favorite snacks, even if they’re made of totally indecipherable ingredients; to meticulously prepare your war work station for optimal comfort (a regular confided us that putting talc on his fingertips allowed him to save precious hundredths of a second). There are others who use this opportunity to watch the kids from the corners of their eyes, while squinting with the other eye at the IDE. And there are also the summer CodinGamers who code while camping, laptop on their knees, hiding beneath the cypress tree. 😉
I can already hear the ayatollahs of non-virtual communities arguing that there’s nothing real outside of human exchange. That overlooks the fact that we’ve chosen a very traditional IRC channel (http://webchat.freenode.net, channel: codingame), where everyone can be found during the challenge. As a practice, it works very well.
The CodinGame platform has been designed to host several thousands of participants at the same time. To do that, we’ve done a lot of work on load capacity and scalability. So we’re ready.
Finally, the universal aspect of online contests suits us very well. In addition to having fun, the CodinGame philosophy is also to allow all talented developers, no matter where they are, to land a job with a company that is a good fit, no matter where that company may be.
To this end, we’d like to put together a brief best-of of your favorite photos taken during the forthcoming CodinGame on September 21. Please feel free to send us your pictures at [email protected] or by twitter @CodinGame or Facebook /CodinGame. Thanks 😉