_announcing

Loser-Hack

The Hackathon for rejects

_{when -> Friday, September 15 to Sunday, September 17, 2017
where -> Juri's living room near Haldenegg
register at [email protected]}

why/what?

Did Hack Zurich (just like your parents) not want you?

• because you filled out the application like any shitty internet form, providing as few personal details as possible
• because you didn't realize you had to send a) your resumé, b) a handwritten motivational letter, and c) erotic fanfiction featuring the the all-male cast of the Jury in a sensual yet tasteful tropical island setting (mentioned on the registration page, go look it up)
• because the only language choices were Java and PHP 4 (list recited purely from memory)
• because you're not an idea person
• because you don't blockchain, and machine learning is so 2015

In short

• because you're just not very cool

You're a total LOSER. And now your feelings are hurt.

But wait, now there's a solution! Get together with other losers in a completely uncompetitive environment where EVERYBODY WINS A PRIZE.

features

Shape the Future, today! Synergies! Approachable. Low effort!

💯 more emojis and exclamation marks than competing events, proof of increased 🔥 enthusiasm!

We have

• No speakers
• A location!
• No sponsorship
• Unfortunately no plastic nametags on lanyards that you can hang yourself with
• No free garbage
• No Jury
• No winners
• No expectations!

location

Juri's living room, near Central in the middle of Zurich. Now with more WiFi, provided our neighbour doesn't change the password again. I will give you the address once you register, because I don't want internet murderers to find me. #security-conscious

projects

See at the bottom under Signup. There is a Projects.md file against which you can send pull requests if you want to add ideas.

FAQ

(some of these options are blatantly copy-pasted from an actual professionally organized hackathon because this is meant to be a low-effort event and also because I think you can't be sued for that)

Q: What is the team size?

A: Because we are the more lenient event, team size should be at least one person, and there is no upper bound.

Q: Is there a bathroom?

A: Yes, it's the door to the right of the kitchen

Q: Is this event even properly "organized"?

A: We kindly ask you to not make use of the O-word because some members of our community are easily triggered and might experience brief symptoms of burnout.

Q: What if I don’t know how to program?

A: Two options:

1. Hang with us and we'll teach you stuff!
2. Use the fully equipped woodworking shop in my bedroom and build your own furniture (please note I only have ash, a little bit of oak and what I think is elm (no relation to the programming language; but HEY, let's learn some Elm, it looks FUN) on stock, but it should be enough for a coffee table or a couple of chairs. Also, we don't have any 1st-aid people on call, but the Waid Hospital is close by and very easy to get to, even via Uber, and the guy at the reception is very nice and understanding. But we're drifting a bit off-topic here, BACK TO COMPUTER STUFF).

Q: Which languages

A: Come and do C, Haskell, Plankalkül, Ruby, Visual Basic, we don't give a shit! No judgement, everything goes! (seriously, last week I said I was ok with tourists eating fondue in the middle of summer; this is the level of tolerance you can expect from our event, even if earlier I implicitly made fun of Java and php, I'm sorry)

Q: What am I supposed to do there?

A: Work on anything! Have a coffee! Make friends! Work by yourself in a corner and avoid making eye contact with anyone!

Q: What about intellectual property? Do I own my code?

A: What? Of course. Why would we own code you wrote? Who does that? Oh wait, the Hackathon of the place I work at definitely does that.

Q: Do you have those rooms where you can retreat to do thinking and brainstorming or Yoga?

A: No. Yes. Sort of. My flatmate Maria got accepted into the actual Hack Zurich, so you can use her room. It is very empty and might seem like the den of a heroin-addict at first glance, but I promise she's cool and she just likes it that way, because of the way she is, not because of heroin.

Q: Can I play with your LEGOs to make the event feel more startup-y?

A: yes

Q: Swag?

A: No.

Q: Do you provide day-care or emotional guidance in the form of support animals?

A: That is basically the entire goal of this event. I will try to convince Dražen to bring his cat!

Q: Is this 40 hours non-stop and can I sleep at your place?

A: Haha, fuck no.

I'M HYPED, SIGN ME UP!

Ok, here's how to register:

Send an email to [email protected] with optionally the following info

• your nom de guerre/nickname/battlecry. Whichever identifier you prefer. The funniest or dumbest name also gets a prize.
• your preferred language(s) or any other skills you find worthy of mention.
• your estimated level. If you're a beginner we can try pairing you up with a more advanced programmer with a helper complex
• if you feel very creative: make project suggestions. Send them by email, or modify Projects.md. Be brief, we just want to make a list, not write a booklet for your series A round funding.

Hopefully this will resort in some sort of clustering so that we can facilitate people coagulating into teams. If I'm very motivated I'll make a spreadsheet (!) summarizing the above, so you guys are nudged into being less antisocial.

After a couple of people register, we will send you an email with some details.