In December 2022, we hosted our annual Hack Week. During this week, Robloxians put our values into motion by pursuing tasks that drive fast innovation. This was our largest annual self-organized occasion to this point, with over 400 workers throughout 225 groups competing for a spot within the high three in every of 4 classes.
Unleashing Curiosity and Driving Innovation for Our Platform
Hack Week takes place throughout our annual code freeze, which provides everybody throughout Roblox time to pursue a various set of tasks. We take no matter has piqued our curiosity all year long and act on it. Several previous tasks have gone on to develop into fully-implemented merchandise or options on the platform.
So, what’s the key to lining up an superior Hack Week challenge? It’s all about taking huge dangers and asking huge questions. “We’re talking about reimagining the way people come together,” shares Dave Baszucki, Founder & CEO. “We’re talking about the evolution of communication technology, all the way from phone to video to immersive 3D. I think one of the biggest things that this week does is validate our vision. It’s not 20 years away. It’s something that we’re making progress on every year. Hack Week is the ultimate definition of innovation at scale.”
This yr, tasks reached all elements of the platform and technical stack. Here are a few of this yr’s tasks to point out the breadth of what groups labored on:
- Supporting reside performances in Roblox with the creation of an open-source plugin that enables streaming of audio and movement seize information to drive avatars within the expertise.
- An picture filter part that may enable our builders to govern their pictures so their experiences have a particular model.
- A framework to carry out widespread debugging and testing actions that will probably be accessible on all shopper platforms.
- A dashboard to investigate the official Creator Documentation and supply details about the way to enhance its protection and high quality.
Adding a New Level of Competition
“Hack Week is definitely not a week off. It is a week on for the people who are participating,” says Claus Moberg, VP of Engineering and Hack Week organizer. “We work hard at Roblox, but this may be the hardest that somebody works all year. You have a very short time period to get your project done. And it’s competitive.”
In previous years, senior leaders evaluated and hand-selected tasks that had been notably progressive to share out with the complete firm. This yr, we developed a judging and scoring course of to determine the very best of the very best. During registration, groups chosen one of many 4 firm values for his or her tasks, which additionally decided the judging classes. To submit, groups created a three-minute-long video that showcased their work. A panel of over a dozen judges – senior leaders from throughout Roblox – evaluated every submission, narrowing down the tasks to finalists. At the yr’s final Town Hall, the finalists offered, answered questions, after which awaited closing placements.
As one of many judges, Claus appeared for a few attributes in every challenge. “I’m really excited to see everything from massive long-term innovation to near-term tactical solutions. Overall, I’m looking for projects that speak to our core company values and have impact on our users, employees, and on Roblox as a whole.”
The Winners
Hack Week closed with an awards celebration the place the finalists realized about their placements of their respective classes and claimed their Hack Week trophies. Stef Corazza, Head of Studio Engineering – Creator, was a member of the staff that took house the 2nd place trophy within the Take the Long View class. His staff’s challenge centered round bringing reside performances to Roblox. While successful was nice, his favourite half about Hack Week was, “… really about the team and how we came together. All six of us had different skill sets with very different backgrounds.”
Two highlights caught out for first place winners of the We are Responsible class Kevin Koleckar and Nicholas Choi. “Getting to collaborate with someone that I’m not usually collaborating with was my favorite part,” says Kevin. “Nick and I have been on the same team in the past, but over the last year, we’ve worked on different things. Hack Week gave us the chance to come back and work on something together.”
For Nick, Hack Week created area to pursue one thing he’s been fascinated with. “Our project has been something I’ve been thinking about doing for a really long time, so it was just really exciting to see it come to fruition.”
According to Claus, it’s not all about successful. “There are so many projects that are incredible and that really are the future of the platform. All of the work that people have put in is being recognized by leaders at the company and is going to be shared with the teams that are responsible for those areas. Every single project has the potential to inform how our product is built moving forward.”
Claus continues, “Hack Week at Roblox is really core to our culture of innovation. Every year, we see projects that blow our minds. The way our teams attack these big questions and find solutions to things nobody has built before… Hack Week is one of the greatest examples of Roblox’s approach to innovation.”
Check out a spotlight reel of the successful groups and their tasks:
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