This October 16th- 18th, HackATL will be holding a business hackathon for college students from all over the world. The startup hackathon is an event where developers, engineers, designers, and business people come together to create viable startup business ideas and pitch them to investors. Sounds great and all, but…what exactly is a hack?
hack
noun | hack | \hāk\
1: a usually creative solution a computer hardware or programming problem or limitation
2: a clever solution to a tricky problem
The words “creative” and “clever” really hit the nail on the head when you consider the essence of a hack. And if there’s one thing that I learned during my time as an online marketing intern at RadiusOnline, it’s that creative and clever solutions are absolutely vital in today’s workplace. Here are 3 reasons why having a hacking mentality can improve your work experience and your workplace as a whole:
1. Keeps you sharp and focused
2. Fosters teamwork and idea-sharing
3. Provides invaluable risk experience
Keeps You Sharp and Focused
Think about it. When you’re challenged to think about out-of-the-box solutions for problems you encounter at work, are you more or less focused on the task at hand? This is the mentality behind a hack. The more you’re pushed to find new and improved solutions to existing problems, the more keen and sharp your mind will be while you work.
Fosters Teamwork and Idea-sharing
“If you really don’t know how to do something, you should . . . ask for help.” This rule applies to the workplace more than you would think. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you ask everyone in your office to spoon-feed you answers. But when you’re trying to find new ways to approach specific problems, bouncing your ideas off of others and working together to solve problems has a huge impact on your company. It increases the efficiency of your work, allows people to share their ideas freely, and creates a team bond that benefits the health of the entire company.
Provides Invaluable Risk Experience
Believe it or not, whenever you create a hack, you’re taking a risk. From the perspective of a project manager, creating a hack is equivalent to doing something new. And if you’ve dealt with a large project before, you know that “new” can be a scary concept. It can have a positive impact, a negative impact, or no impact at all. However, risk-taking isn’t something to avoid because there’s a possibility of failure; you need to practice to develop into a skill. In the end, learning to take risks will stretch you outside of your comfort zone, build your confidence, and help you overcome the paralyzing fear of failure.
For more information about how you can use hacks to increase productivity, or how you can be a part of a company that embraces this kind of creative problem-solving, apply for an Online Marketing Internship at RadiusOnline by clicking here.
Sources:
http://hackatl.org/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hack
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hack
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