<aside>
💡
This reflection falls under Praxe I.
</aside>
This article documents my experience from a two-day hackathon where my classmates and I actually don’t hack anything but the system. Maybe not even that. We go through the full loop of design (discover, define, develop, deliver) and end up with a tested prototype. I am the only remote person in our team of five. Wish me luck 🍀
Tears & Cheers
- Wake-up time. If the first activity starts at 6 am (yes, 6 am), I only need to get up at 5:55. And you know, every minutes counts at that time of the day.
- Missing all the fun. I did not attend unofficial dinners and could not sleep over at the university library. No coffee chats for me either.
- Confusion. We should meet after the break at 9.30. It’s 9.40 and no sign of any online activity. Aaaah, what’s happening? Did I miss the link to join? Are there technical issues on the spot?
- Tech glitches. Half of my energy is wasted on asking people to move closer to the mic, solving frozen videos and apologising for delays in transmission. Exhausting beyond belief.
- Group energy. It’s way harder to share the excitement with the in-person team. In later hours, all the in-person people energised each other, whereas I was falling asleep behind my screen.
- On-screen time. Doing a 32h hackathon in person is exhausting. Doing a 32h hackathon online is plain insane. Because suddenly, it’s a 32h online meeting.
- Participation is tough. Contributing from the screen does not flow as the rest of the conversations on the spot. There’s no eye contact. People don’t see you want to say something. I share about 12 % of my thoughts compared to what I would usually express in person.
- No activities. The rest of my team moves around, sorts stickies, builds prototypes from paper, changes locations. I sit at the computer and the most exciting activity I do is clicking on things.
- Burden. Your offline teammates need to speak louder, carry your 2D face around and keep the device plugged in. Although everyone is thoughtful and nice, I feel limiting them.
- No commuting. It would have taken me 8-15 hours to get from my flat at Fichtestraat (Rotterdam, NL) to the MUNI library (Brno, CZ).
- Comfort. I can wear my sweatpants all day. #CovidHacks
- Notification pause. I worried about being disturbed by notifications popping up on my screen but it seems that Focus mode works pretty well.
