Get Involved In VC’s First Hackathon: Tuesday, Feb. 19th @ 8am PST

On Tuesday, February 19th, Visual Capitalist is completing its first ever hackathon.  We will have live updates on the blog as well as updates via Facebook and Twitter (#VCHack).  What is a “hackathon” you ask?  See below for more information on what it is and how to join in on the fun.

What is a hackathon? 

A “hackathon” was popularized by Facebook programmers in 2007.  It was during this time that they had so many Facebook feature ideas, but not enough time to program and implement them.  As a result, programmers started getting together and having marathon sessions where they focused on a single concept and worked through the day and night to complete the project.  These projects would often be fun or exploratory – for example the “Like” button was developed via hackathon.

Why is Visual Capitalist doing one?

Like Facebook, we often find that we have many ideas relevant to global commodities and investing that we want to explore.  Most of the time, however, we are so pre-occupied with our regular work, that we don’t often get to explore these concepts.  A hackathon will help us focus on one idea and put the pressure on to follow through with execution.

How does it work?

It’s simple:

1.  On hackathon day, all Visual Capitalist employees meet early in the morning.   Each employee pitches an idea for an infographic.

2.  We pick an idea, and execute it.  In this case, we will be trying to complete an entire infographic by the end of the day/night.

3.  Most importantly – no one can work on projects that are a part of our routine work flow.  This means everyone is focusing on the SAME project – the hackathon infographic.

4.  For our hackathon, we will be providing updates throughout the entire day via social media, live blog feed, photos, and videos.  This gives our community behind-the-scenes coverage of how we go from idea to execution with a project.

How do I get involved?

We want your feedback in real-time!  We will be posting live updates of the event on our blog as well as keeping people posted via social media.  We want to show off our ideas, post photos of our sketches, give you opportunities to meet our team, and give you the feeling of being behind the scenes.

We will be using the Twitter hashtag:  #VCHack – join in on the discussion!

To see what we’re up to, here are some relevant links to our social media:

Blog:  http://www.visualcapitalist.com/blog/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/visualcapitalist/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/VisualCap  (@VisualCap)

You can also follow VC personnel:  @jeff_desjardins and @phanyxx