VMworld 2018 Europe - VMware Code #Hackathon


Barcelona Code Hackathon VMware VMworld

Published on 15 December 2018 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 571. Reading Time: 3 mins.

In the beginning there was Code..

Like the previous 2 years, the first thing in my calendar, once I had registered and it was available on the Schedule Builder for VMworld Europe. was the VMware {Code} #Hackathon.

This year was a little different because the organising team (which didn’t seem to include Alan Renouf or William Lam), used HackerEarth to organise the event.

The Venue & Food

This year, the** #Hackathon **organisers took us to a new venue. I personally really liked the venue for the previous 2 years, Valkiria Hub Space , but I must say the new venue, Esferic , more than delivered!

The Teams and Themes!

There were a number of different teams (some of which where formed on the night because of no-shows) and themes this year.

The Teams included:

  • HackitB4Brexit (the team I was in)
  • Teammate I Need (TIN)
  • Team Presto
  • Code4Beer
  • Siinergy
  • H4CK4C3N7ER!
  • ContainerQuest
  • Plus Others…

There was a wide variety of Themes covering:

  • PowerShell
  • vRealize Orchestrator
  • Containers / PKS / VKE
  • Python
  • API

The Judging Panel!

As the Hackathon is a friendly competition, there had to be judges! Thank you to:

  • Kyle Ruddy - Senior Tech Marketing Engineer for VMware R&D
  • Boskey Savla - Product Marketing Manager - Cloud Native Apps
  • Devanand Kondur - Staff Engineer - IoT
  • Vasu Yendapally - Senior Manager -IoT

All judges remained complete impartial of course …

Everyone is a Winner!

You cannot have a competition (even if it is friendly) without Winners and Losers. Luckily as there were 6 prizes up for grabs covering 2 categories, 3 for best month long project (i.e. preparation before the event) and 3 for work completed on the night, there were more winners than losers!

The overall winners on the night were the ContainerQuest team who created a version of Conway’s Game Of Life (Don’t worry I didn’t know what it was either!).

The team I was in (HackItB4Brexit) came 2nd in the preparation category (mostly thanks to Chris Porter ’s effort - even if the stickers didn’t arrive in time!). Find out more about PowerVKE here .

Team HackItB4Brexit (Image courtesy of @StephenHackers)

Team HackItB4Brexit (Image courtesy of @StephenHackers)

Event Round-Up

For the 3rd year in a row, this evening event has been well organised and well hosted. I liked the new venue a lot (whether it will be the same next year remains to be seen).

Attendance did seem a little down on previous years (there were a few empty tables) but I cannot decide if that is because it was a bigger venue with more space, expecting more teams or whether some people were no shows (cough Gareth Edwards cough) or whether it was just undersubscribed.

Final Thoughts

The VMware {Code} Hackathon has been a brilliant event over the last 3 years and I hope it continues to be so. It really is a viable alternative to starting the week with a party (there are plenty more parties during the week!). You will get fed, watered, may learn something and you will definitely enjoy yourself!

If I get to go to VMworld 2019 (US or EU) then it will definitely be the first thing in my schedule when the Schedule Builder goes live!

Published on 15 December 2018 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 571. Reading Time: 3 mins.