Engineering, product, and design takes on Hack Week 2018

Last month our Engineering, Product and Design (EPD) teams in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Dublin and Tel Aviv participated in EPD Hackweek. Dropboxers were encouraged to get out of their normal routines and take time to focus on big ideas.

On the heels of our new mission, “to unleash the worlds creative energy, by designing a more enlightened way of working,” this year’s hack week theme was: Fostering Flow. People are creatively energized when they are in a state of flow, the mindset where you’re so involved in a project, that nothing else seems to matter. And that is usually when people do their best work. With the theme Fostering Flow, employees were challenged to intentionally design products and come up with ideas that unleash creative energy and foster flow for others whether it be through a product enhancement, communication tweak, organizational improvement, personal productivity or simply a moment of happiness.

There were 4 global awards given out and every office had its own set of activities and specific awards around our values: “cupcake” and “aim higher”.

Below are some highlights from Hack weeks across our global offices.

Among the activities in our San Francisco office was a live streamed Starcraft 2 tournament that included participation prizes and trophies for top players. In addition to the hack week events, there was a week long toiletry item Drive and hygiene kit assembly for St. Vincent De Paul.

And the winner for most hack week office activities goes to New York! This year our east coast office had over 15 different hackweek activities for EPD Dropboxers to take part in. In between coming up with new ways to foster flow ,there were tons of tournaments and even an evening of ice skating in Bryant Park

Not all hacking has to do with productivity or tech. In honor of the Chinese New Year, Seattle Dropboxers participated in a dumpling making class!

The EPD team in Tel Aviv had an exceptionally fun filled week, with kids activities, cupcakes, and parties.

All four EPD Hack Week’s ended with a live streaming awards and closing ceremonies out of San Francisco. There were over 320 projects submitted with 13 winning efforts.

Hack week is put on by a group of employee volunteers: The Hack Week Producers, and without their organization and dedication this would not be possible. Another successful Hack Week in the books!

Thinking about participating in our next Hack Week? Visit us at dropbox.com/jobs to check out opportunities and join the team.

Dropbox is growing, grow with us!