Done right, a Hackathon can be a fantastic place to be a programmer - you get time and space to build and learn, in a room full of like-minded people, with swag and prizes to sweeten the deal. It's a great way to pick up new ideas and run with them. But done wrong it can be a waste of time. What's the difference between a good hackathon and a bad one? What do the good ones do right, and what can we learn from that? This week we're talking about the Joy of Hacks with Major League Hacking Co-Founder Jon Gottfried. He's got over 10 years of experience building a Hackathon network that provides the right environment for "structured mucking about with computers", so we're going to pick his brains. If you're ever attending a Hackathon, organising one, or looking for a way to build or contribute to your local programming community, Jon can help guide you to events that work. -- Major League Hacking: https://mlh.io/ Major League Hacking's 2024 Event Calendar: https://mlh.io/seasons/2024/events Games Week: https://events.mlh.io/events/10848  Jon on Mastodon: https://hachyderm.io/@jonmarkgo Jon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmarkgo Jon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonmarkgo Kris on Mastodon: http://mastodon.social/@krisajenkins Kris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisjenkins/ Kris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/krisajenkins Bonus link - The Great American Baking Show 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlWLSAKEedk -- #software #podcast #programming #hackathon