Our 8th hackathon, and fourth annual week-long event, has concluded! This yearly tradition unlocks the creativity and innovative spirit of our global team. It provides an opportunity for team members to collaborate, brainstorm, and develop products or features that could one day benefit our Members. Many popular Peloton features originated from or were inspired by hackathon projects, including Auto-Resistance, 3rd Party Treadmill Metrics, target metrics for Members during rides, the Peloton Guide, QR Code Log-in feature, and the Peloton Android Widget.
This year's hackathon brought together 220 hackers from various teams including Product, Emerging Business, Engineering, Legal, and Instructors from our global team, resulting in 49 completed projects. A significant focus was placed on Artificial Intelligence, both in the new features implemented and the development tools used. Many participants expanded their skill sets, working outside their core job functions. The week was filled with contagious excitement, as competing teams and organizational boundaries blurred, fostering collaboration to achieve optimal outcomes.
The hackathon provides a platform for creativity, re-engagement, and learning, and we've found that a bit of friendly competition enhances the experience. Teams had three and a half days to develop their projects, with some even working through the night. The projects were then showcased in a science fair-style expo, open to the entire company, with judges evaluating entries across various categories and for overall excellence.
The top three projects from the expo overall judging round and two judge selections then proceed to a shark tank style session where those teams pitch and demo their hacks and fielded questions from a mix of the Lead Team and some delegates.
While it is fun to see what comes out on top of the friendly competition, the most exciting part is seeing how energized the team leaves and what ends up in the hands of our millions of Peloton members.
What our team members had to say:
- “This was my first Hackathon and I absolutely loved it! Hackathon highlighted how energizing it is to collaborate with new teammates and learn from fresh perspectives. Getting to share my passion for our project at the expo with colleagues across different groups was incredibly inspiring. Taking a break from daily tasks to focus and innovate was a treat, and left me feeling excited and motivated to be part of Team Peloton.” Beth Wendt- Sr Manager, User Research
- “Hackathon was probably my favorite work week all year. On a typical work day I'm getting pulled in multiple directions, but during a hackathon you get to focus intensely on just one thing. And it's something that you are intensely passionate about. Multiplied across 50 projects and 100s of participants, the energy at the Expo was palpable and very inspiring.” David Barr - NetSuite Engineer
- "The best part was diving into new AI tech and actually building something real from the ground up. When you're genuinely excited about solving a problem, the whole process just flows - from figuring out the architecture to collaborating with teammates to finally showing it off. There's something really satisfying about owning the entire journey and seeing people get it when you demo what you've built." Niraj Vora - Sr. SRE
- “Hackathon week was a nice shift from the usual routine, giving me the chance to explore ideas outside of my day-to-day work and collaborate with different teammates. It was a refreshing change of pace that left me feeling re-focused. I enjoyed having the freedom to think creatively and try something new.” Bhavika Teli - Android Engineer
