Moving IETF Standards forward

IETF 104 in Prague featured what was by far the biggest and most successful IETF Hackathon ever. The first IETF Hackathon was in March 2015 at IETF 92 in Dallas. The goals at that time were twofold:

1. advance the pace and relevance of IETF standards
2. attract more developers and young people into the IETF

That first hackathon had roughly 40 participants working on 6 projects related to a few selected IETF working groups. Fast forward to this hackathon, March 2019 in Prague, where we had nearly 400 people working on over 40 projects that touched on practically everything the IETF does.

This was the third time the IETF has been to Prague since the hackathon started. The first time was IETF 93 in July 2015. That first hackathon in Prague had around 100 participants working on 15 projects, roughly doubling in size from the one just 4 months prior. This confirmed the hackathon experiment as a success and paved the way for it to become an integral part of each IETF meeting ever since. The second hackathon in Prague was at IETF 99 in July 2017, where we had nearly 200 participants working on 28 projects, effectively doubling in size yet again. More importantly, the hackathon had become integrated into the workflow of most IETF working groups. So perhaps it should not have come as a surprise when this most recent and third hackathon in Prague doubled in size yet again. Many things have changed to accommodate this tremendous growth, but the overall spirit and goals have remained the same.

Veterans and newcomers work together

IETF hackathons are collaborative events with a shared goal of moving IETF work forward. Commemorative t-shirts and laptop stickers are prized takeaways from the event. IETF veterans work side by side with newcomers, exchanging ideas and collaborating on code. This is a great way for newcomers, especially developers interested in networking, security, and other IETF technologies, to have a welcoming experience and start making significant contributions immediately.