What happens when techies want to party? They host a ‘hackathon’

It could be the 'problem solving' factor. There are many reasons why tech professionals love hackathons so much. Some describe these events as "fun", "exciting" and "stimulating". Others have described it as a way of "telling the computer what you want it to do, figuring out how to tell a computer how to solve problems, how to make it happen. It's creating something. It's very much like being an artist."

Microsoft, in collaboration with Tech Spark will be hosting its 2013 Hackathon between Friday 6th and Sunday 8th December at its Microsoft Innovation Center. The event which starts on Friday at 6pm will be a chance for all participants to interact with other people, participate in games and other networking opportunities, attend team presentations and recieve advise from mentors present during the weekend.

This year's innovation is that all proceeds from this event will go to the Istrina charity campaign. In fact, a minimum donation of €20 per team is being sought whilst corporate teams will be invited to donate a minimum of €50. The competition will end on Sunday 8th at 9pm.

Besides non-stop coding and hacking for nearly three days, lots of food, music, drinks and opportunities to network, participants are in for a couple of nice prizes. The Hackathon will be a qualifying round and the final event will take place in January. Those who manage to publish their app on the Windows store by the 16th of January 2014 will enter the chance of winning a Nokia Lumia 900 windows phone or an HTC 8S.

"We are delighted to host this event and proud to actively raise some funds for a notable cause such as Istrina Campaign," Edward Portelli, Business Development Manager at Microsoft's MIC, said.

"Hackatons encourage participants to think about innovative ways of solving day to day problems through coding. Although software development is central to the hackaton, it also provides an opportunity for non-software developers to contribute their ideas and work with other members of the team to develop their idea. Hackatons are also a way of learning from peers during the event in a fun and enjoyable way. By working within a team, participants will practice teamwork skills."

"Such hackaton initiatives are in line with the values and mission of the Tech-Spark user group, which promotes the sharing of knowledge between the technical community and encourages networking between peers. It is also a way of using the immense talent of the local ict community for a good cause," Jonathan Cassar from Tech Spark added.

The event will end with a Christmas party for the software developer and IT professional community.