A company-wide hackathon is the Manchester firm’s latest scheme to promote idea generation amongst its 170-strong team. The first of UKFast’s hackathon events saw 20 engineers coding at the company’s City Tower HQ from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. Their efforts in developing exciting new software were rewarded with pizza, music and the occasional respite to the local pub.
“Our rapidly increasing workforce is continually bringing in new and exciting talent and ideas,” explained Jones. “I want to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit that many of the team have to unlock their hidden potential. A lot of our team have the brains of an entrepreneur but want to work within an established team alongside peers that will challenge them.
“Our hackathons are proving a resourceful and creative way of discovering what our engineers are truly capable of and I hope to turn this inaugural event into a company tradition with the ultimate aim of providing a better experience for our customers and our team.”
With the invitation open to all, the diverse range of participants involved – including system administrators, support engineers and Linux specialists – meant new opportunities could be explored for the hosting firm.
“Not only is the hackathon a chance to show off your coding skills, it’s also a really fun way of coming up with new ideas on how to improve our services,” explained UKFast’stechnical director Neil Lathwood. “We’re always looking to evolve the company, and whether that’s coming up with better products or enhancing our internal systems, we’re open to trying new things.”