DAF Hackathon

The DAF hackathon
We are a software company! But when are you a software company? According to our DAF software engineers only when you as a company organizes hackathons and own at least one ping pong table. So a few years ago a DAF hackathon was organized for the first time. That was such a success - that the event is now organized annually at the Experience Center. 

What does the DAF hackathon look like? 
A hackathon is a 24 hour event where engineers work together in teams on certain topics or problems related to the company. At twelve o’clock in the afternoon we kicked-off with a short introduction. An hour later the teams presented their goals. And so it has begun. 

In every corner of the DAF Experience Center you can find groups working on their assignment. Colleagues who passed by to encourage the teams noticed how silent it was as everyone was working hard on their assignment. The PlayStation and the table football game were barely used until late in the evening.

Software engineers and pizzas go together so pizzas were delivered for dinner. In the evening the different teams gave their intermediate status updates - together with the colleagues from Pune in India. It was already amazing to see how much progress was made in this short period of time.

The next morning 
On Saturday morning most participants still looked (relatively) fresh. Some of them had taken a quick nap in one of the displayed DAF trucks for the first time in their life. And the most common feedback was that our trucks are a nice and more quiet than expected environment to sleep. 

Around 11:00 o’clock the big moment: the teams present their results and gave demonstrations to each other and the management of Embedded Engineering. 

Every year different ideas and concepts are presented, and of course the teams and management pick every year a winning team!