How our Hackathon inspired virtual connection and collaboration

Hackathon is one of our most anticipated events at Oracle Data Cloud. Typically, teams across the globe to come together in one designated office for two full days and “hack” on any project of their choosing, culminating in a nail-biting awards ceremony.

Alas, as we still adhere to social distancing practices, our spring Hackathon seemed in peril! But thanks to the stellar work of our Events and Employee Experience teams, all was not lost. Putting modern technology to the test, for the first time ever, Hackathon went virtual!

The virtual event

Because we understood the constraints of many folks who are working from home with children and attempting to occupy or homeschool them, instead of a jam-packed two days, the virtual Hackathon was spread out over a full week.

Throughout Hackathons, we typically host a slew of activities to give teams a break from working and to keep things entertaining including jam sessions, trivia, dance lessons, and more. For this special virtual event, Derek Wise, our Chief Product Officer (and Hackathon judge!) held a cook-along session, making huevos rancheros to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

And the winners are …

While participants are encouraged to cross team collaborate and work on a project that is outside the scope of their day-to-day activities, anything goes and creativity always reigns. We are continually blown away with the efforts we see from our colleagues during Hackathons.

For the virtual Hackathon, over 250 global Oracle Data Cloud team members participated and their groups submitted videos for consideration in 4 categories:

· Business Impact: the team whose project has the most promising impact on the Oracle Data Cloud business

· Culture Impact: the team whose project provides a great impact to our Oracle Data Cloud company culture

· Technology Innovation: the team whose project shows the most innovative use of tech

· Best Video Presentation: the team who presented their project in the most creative, entertaining way!

We would be remiss if we didn’t highlight some of the amazing creativity that we saw throughout the week. Software Developer, Ken Harlow, not only won the Culture Impact for his Oracle Data Cloud office Zoom backgrounds, but he also turned one of our famous t-shirt designs into a face mask. A very fitting and timely endeavor!

Senior Product Designer, Paul Ballas, created a print-at-home coloring book with a National Parks theme. Here’s one of the designs:

We were so thrilled with the enthusiastic participation from our teammates across Oracle Data Cloud, despite the unfortunate circumstances of being apart in our physical space. Its success is a testament to the Hackathon tradition and how it inspires creativity, collaboration, and innovation, as well as to the wonderful spirit of our Oracle Data Cloud family.