Take a bus to the hackathon

Teams and individuals assemble for hackathons from across the state, country, or even the world. In order for attendees to show up refreshed and ready to compete, there needs to be professional, reliable, comfortable, and safe transport that they can count on.

Booking a bus online has never been easier than it is now with Bus.com’s “Book Now, Pay Later” feature. Also, our 24/7 bus experts will help you choose among the variety of convenient vehicles.

According to the Hackathon League, charter buses are by far the most popular mode of transportation used by experienced hackathon organizers. There are rational reasons for it: by taking the the hassle out of transportation, it makes it easier for guests to attends events like hackathons because it saves them the trouble of arranging their own transportation, or even the hassle of parking. Accommodating one bus is much more manageable than 30-40 individual vehicles. When you make an event easy to attend, potential guests are much more likely to attend it. 

Think about hackathons this way: instead of meetings where we discuss how to tackle the world’s problems or conferences where we listen to the stories of others solving it, hackathons assemble brilliant minds to take the problems on right there and then. For the few days a hackathon lasts, contributors will team up around a specific problem and create a product or solution to address it. Sometimes, companies arrange hackathons for a change of pace or a massive influx of new minds to get out of the bottleneck. For example, one of the most well-known Facebook features — the “Like” button — was first created at an internal hackathon. 

A hackathon is an exciting and challenging event by design. It can help communities solve difficult problems in a single break-through or give the company a new product idea. What does the experience look like? Attendees get to the venue, assemble teams, get the equipment, and, within just a few hours, they are already working on their project. Most hackathons last between 24 to 48 hours. Hackathons are famous for their adrenaline-infused atmosphere, very little sleep, and a lot of food and caffeine. In this short timeframe, the teams start from scratch and finish with a rough working prototype of an application or technology. During the last part of the hackathon, teams present what they have built and compete for prizes.

Hackathons allow students or professionals to revisit their skills under pressure and with a team, to learn something new, try to translate purely technical skills into viable business ideas, and to network with peers and experts.  For students, Hackathons are perfect for networking outside the university. The participants get to spend time with their peers and experts from various backgrounds, see them in action, and get a sense of their approach and skills. All they need afterward is to exchange their contacts. Participating in a hackathon instantly increases the knowledge and skill level. Over a day or two, attendees learn new technologies, try different angles, and put every bit of their theoretical knowledge into practice.