We’ve Revamped Our Internal Hackathon and Teams Are Embracing It

Our side-project day is being embraced with open arms. Let’s have a look at our latest and greatest creations.

Not long ago, we decided to revamp our favourite part of the month. 

Previously known as "Freedom Friday", the time to work on Cogworks side-projects is now the Cogworks Hackathon. 

The principles are still the same; we've just changed the name, how long it is and how we organise it, which has inadvertently ramped it up a bit. 


So what is the Cogworks Hackathon?

The Cogworks Hackathon happens once a month, 12 months of the year, and everyone takes part; QAs, design, developers, project managers, marketing; the whole crew. 

Two days a month, we pause project work and focus on what we want to create to make work more efficient, creative and fun! The revamped version of our Hackathon includes more planning, preparation and sharing, and our team is throwing out some pretty cool stuff.


In development. 

.NET developers Adrian and Michael are working with front-end developer Grzegorz on "Project Gamechanger". Using modern front-end frameworks and custom logic, they're shaking up how we think about headless development, specifically headless architecture. We don't have a case study yet, so here's a placeholder picture of the .net duo! 

Our "headless heroes" recently met up in Cogworks Krakow. Say hi on LinkedIn.


In Quality Assurance.

It’s that ‘no one wants to do it’ task. Still, the QA team are smashing through that all-important software documentation by writing templates for different types of QA software documentation that will contribute to a super smooth development process at Cogworks. This stuff ensures our tech is testable, easy to use and maintain. 

Cogworks QA Engineer Mateusz is confirming new security tools for the QA process, starting with an investigation into OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite and JMeter. While we're still investigating the best tools available, this is a step towards increasing our high-security standards. We can produce manual and automated tests using these tools, significantly reducing the time needed to test specific vulnerabilities. 


In strategy and project management.

Katie and Subhrata noticed an opportunity for a set of templates that would help us gain a consistently clear view of our client's project vision during the brief gathering process. They used the Cogworks Hackathon to demo the idea to the team to ensure smooth sailing when it's added to real projects. 

Our PMs are making the all-important updates to our software documentation process to ensure that our client's projects move with agility and pace. In a recent post, you can read more about why we think Documentation Is the Key to Happier Clients and Teams.


Past creations.

In 2021, Cogworks Hackathon gave us space to identify the need for a new Umbraco package. Cogworks Azure Search was a welcome addition; it helps to have a single convention for "talking" with the Search service. In short, it makes setting up external searches in our Umbraco projects a dream. Today, Cogworks Search has received 7,952 total downloads, so we're glad it's also been a helpful addition to many other projects!

Check out Why Side Projects Are Part of Our Process for more past creations.

 

We are digital explorers. 

Sometimes stuff works, and sometimes it doesn't, but the Cogworks Hackathon allows us to try new things, feel inspired and explore the world around us. 

Sure, work pays the bills, but what's the point if it isn't fun?

Cogworks

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