The freetobook team, along with 300 students, joined Glasgow University Tech Society’s Do You Have the GUTS Hackathon. Nathan, our Senior Software Developer, discusses the importance of these events in building a computer science community and prepping students for real-world software development.  

What is a Hackathon?

Hackathons are collaborative coding events over a short – sometimes overnight! – timeframe. The freetobook team met the student “hackers” at the Fraser Building, a modern glass building in the shadow of Glasgow university’s Gothic spire. Over two days, they intensively worked on coding challenges set by a collection of companies including freetobook.  

Nathan and freetobook Co-Director Iain setting the challenge

Freetobook’s coding challenge

Nathan presented our challenge: build a small browser-based game for the freetobook website’s 404 error pages. Ideally, the game would be quick to load, easy to play without instructions, and most importantly, fun – bonus points if it’s travel themed.  

Our challenge proved popular, with 13 teams of around 60 students taking us up on it.   

“I think setting clear, easy to follow guidelines was helpful for the students,” says Nathan. “We gave more direction compared to some of the other, more open-ended challenges. Games are obviously designed to be fun, so it’s an appealing challenge.” 

This helped freetobook stand out as a small independent company against the pull of the big corporate names. “Our stand is a good representation of freetobook. Instead of the usual corporate branded set up, we have plants, carpets, and paintings taken from our office. Students complimented our more personal, homely feel.”  

The freetobook team

Building a computer science community

Hackathons are notoriously intensive, testing students’ coding skills to the limit. “It involves working very quickly in a team of people who you’ve probably never worked with before – and if you fail, the whole team fails,” warns Nathan, thinking back to his own student hackathon days. “But they are rewarding, it’s surprising to learn how much you can actually do in a day!” 

Hackathons also help build a computer science community: “Everyone’s doing the same thing for a day straight, so there’s a lot of camaraderie involved.” 

After an over-night break from the keyboard, we returned for the closing ceremony and to announce our challenge’s winners. Games included Tetris but instead of building up blocks, players packed a suitcase. Another racing game had players avoiding obstacles while driving through major cities.  

The winning team’s simple and rather addictive game lets you play air traffic controller, directing planes to the right destination. Try it now! 

Our Hackathon challenge winners

Working with companies on challenges like this sets students up for solving real-world software development problems. The winning team will join us at our freetobook office for a day of work experience, wearing their very own freetobook-branded hoodies! We’re proud to be part of so many students’ first steps into professional software development.