GO recently hosted its very own annual hackathon – the GOHack 2019. For an entire weekend, a team of marketing people, developers, engineers and product owners convened in Gozo for three days to develop a new product prototype.

“We believe that hackathons carry five main benefits to companies and their employees,” said Hayley Bugeja, software developer at GO and one of the event’s organisers.

“Hackathons create opportunities for focused teamwork, they give people the chance to interact and learn from important mentors, help people from various backgrounds collaborate more closely, nurture more knowledge and personal development as well as lead to unexpected great ideas.”

GOHack 2019 was not a conventional hackathon. It involved people from different areas at GO who brought their respective input and expertise to the table. They were presented with a concrete problem and were invited to work on a solution by devising a product-market fit, user experience, the necessary software and hardware for this prototype complete with marketing ideas and a business plan.

Promoting and instilling a strong sense of innovation among its employees remains one of GO’s foremost commitments

“Promoting and instilling a strong sense of innovation among its employees, remains one of GO’s foremost commitments,” added GO CEO Nikhil Patil, who attended and participated in the event.

“At GO, we view hackathons as an opportunity to measure our success as a company. For the team, it was a unique chance to see design-driven product development in action. The event turned out to be a very unique experience where we watched our most talented people think up solutions and put their expertise into practice. We admired their collaborative and instinctive skills and as an event, it helped bind us together as a team,” he continued.

At the end of the hackathon, the prototype was presented to GO’s management who is now considering its feasability. If approved, it will be passed on for a full-fledged implementation.