IronHacker Vancouver 2012 Review

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:55:10 +0000

Introduction

Last December I participated in the first Vancouver Iron Hacker. It was my second hackathon, and also was the first event I went to that had online programming challenges that you had to successfully complete just to register.

Interview opportunity

It turns out that hackathons are a great way of informally interviewing potential new hires. At the time I was the lead on PlayRank Basketball (iOS second-screen social sports app), and had one contract engineer helping me out. We needed another one, so Adrian and I thought participating in a hackathon would be a good way of getting a sense of the technical and collaboration skills a person has. I met Aaron in person for the first time (all the work on PlayRank was done remotely) at the event, and we worked together for our entry. The hackathon served as the perfect interview - we both had fun, and I could see first hand that he was a great candidate. This was proved in the months following the event, when we successfully shipped PlayRank together. (It also turned out we had lots in common, and collaborated well)

Interview on Karl Schmidt - Strategic Technology Advisor

IronHacker Vancouver 2012 Review

Introduction

Interview opportunity