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Welcome to The Treehouse Show.

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The Treehouse Show is our weekly
conversation with the Treehouse community.

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[SOUND] This week on the show, we're
taking a look at a few of our favorite

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recent questions from
the Treehouse community.

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Let's talk about hackathons and
coding jams.

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Pranjal Agnihotri asks a very forward
thinking question about hackathons.

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I just wanted to ask is there any kind
of preparation you do before going to

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a hackathon?

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Excellent question, Pranjal.

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Now first though,
if you haven't heard of a hackathon yet,

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it's a get together of
coders who build a project.

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And the goal of the hackathon, or
codefest, is to produce usable software.

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Its name comes from the portmanteau
of hack and marathon.

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Hackathons usually have a specific focus,
often surrounding a specific

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programming language or framework or,
sometimes, they're all about a topic.

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A pretty rad one that happens here in
Portland is called Science Hack Day,

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where scientists work together with
programmers to build cool projects

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that they pitch over a long weekend.

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Oftentimes, at these hackathons,

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there is a prize involved, which helps add
to the fun and the competitive nature.

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Michael Hulet offers some
advice about how to prepare.

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He says make sure you have the software
installed, because very often WiFi

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is pretty bad, and you don't wanna
waste time trying to download things.

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Michael also says to approach
things with an open mind and

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a friendly attitude, which helps to answer
the second part of Pranjal's question

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about finding team members.

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Now most of these hackathons work with a
pitch presented by people with some ideas

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and you choose your team that way.

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Michael also talks about his go-bag for
when he attends Hackfest,

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which has the obvious laptop,
phone, and their chargers.

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But also suggests some things that you
might not have thought of like a change of

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clothes and a toothbrush.

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He also recommends headphones and
a pillow.

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Nice thinking, Michael.

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Pranjal also asked if this is
welcome to newbs, or newbies,

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people who are new to programming.

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Well, absolutely.

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In fact, there are some that
are even made for that.

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Michael talks about several times he
won a hackathon with people on his team

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who had never written
a single line of code.

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Now if you're curious about why you
might want to attend one of these.

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I asked our resident hackathon expert,
James Churchill, about the benefits.

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He said, collaboration.

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You get to collaborate with other
devs at different experience levels

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you might not normally get to work with.

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It provides a goal.

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If not having an idea about
what to code is your problem,

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hackathons could be the solution.

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If you struggle like I do,

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sometimes you have projects that you
would never release without a deadline.

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Does that sound like fun?

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Well, check one out.

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We've included some links in
the notes attached to this video.

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Do you have hackathon tips?

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Join the discussion.

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Our next question from the community
is a pretty important one.

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What do you all like to
jam on during your coding?

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That might seem like a bit
of a silly question, but

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it's actually a pretty important one.

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Now oftentimes you need to
block out external noise,

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especially if you're working in an open
office space, or worse yet, a coffee shop.

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Some people actually get so

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used to the background of a coffee
shop that they want to simulate it.

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Now there's an app for that.

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If you wanna simulate being in a coffee
shop, I highly recommend Coffitivity.

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Steven Parker recommends prog rock,
which makes sense.

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It's so mathy.

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Tianni Myers suggests instrumentals
only for blogging and coding.

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He also suggests the band Tycho.

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I love that band too, Tianni.

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We asked our staff what
they like to listen to.

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Now Ben Deitch, who've you seen around
the Android and data halls of Treehouse,

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digs him some Herbie Hancock,
in particular the album Chameleon.

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James Churchill, our .NET and JavaScript
musician, admits to being a sucker for

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the good old soundtrack.

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He likes the Lord of the Rings one for
coding.

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He also recommends picking up a band and

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listening to their entire
catalog chronologically.

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Nick Pettit like his peace and
quite and usually codes in silence.

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Nick Hampton, who helps out with
our JavaScript Techdegree students,

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listens to podcasts when
reviewing projects.

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But when he's coding, he hits up Bonnie
Raitt, Tracy Chapman, Madonna, and Hole.

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Sounds like an amazing concert to attend.

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That'd give him something to talk about.

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Pasan says he spends 60% of his time
trying to find the perfect track and

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then never finds it.

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Then he says he rushes to finish
stuff minutes before deadline.

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Now Rob, who heads up our support team,
suggests Nobuo Uematsu,

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who is a video game composer,
or some early Muse Records.

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Now, personally, for me, it depends.

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If I'm writing documentation, I do like
to listen to bands that are singing in

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a different language
than my native tongue.

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I love the band The Very Best
out of Malawi for this.

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If I have a deadline, without a doubt,
I crank up some punk rock and

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try to keep pace with Minor Threat or
some early Fugazi.

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What do you listen to?

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Jump on the forum post and
let everybody know.

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[SOUND] Thanks for
watching The Treehouse Show.

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To get in touch with the show,
reach out to me on Twitter or

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email the show at show@teamtreehouse.com.

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See you in the community.