Ten years of hacking: Celebrating TomTom’s hackathon (in person)!
Christian Lynn·Dec 18, 2024
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Ten years of hacking: Celebrating TomTom’s hackathon (in person)!
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Christian Lynn
Staff Writer
Dec 18, 2024 · 6 min read
What the Hack is a staple of life at TomTom – engineers innovating existing products and bringing new ideas to life entirely. In the last five years, this has been in a digital setting. Now, for its tenth anniversary, TomTom’ers are back together in person for a special edition…
Setting the scene for What the Hack v.10
This was no ordinary hackathon. With a retro gaming theme, What the Hack v.10 sent participants on a quest. More specifically, a “Questhack” – this is a specific task assigned to each unit. Teams within those units had to complete the Questhack to be in with a chance of reaching the final with an illustrious gold coin.
After some carefully coordinated collaboration and final decisions from the jury, the finalists were named and invited to take part in the first in-person hackathon final since 2019! At TomTom’s Amsterdam headquarters, What the Hack teams gather around their demos on the first floor. Screens are set up to display the videos they’ve carefully put together throughout a 24-hour hacking period. TomTom’ers from across the company and the world are taking part and visiting to see what innovation could take TomTom’s tech to an even higher level. And on top of all this, there’s a claw machine with prizes, retro gaming machines, food, drinks, and the buzz of laughter and enthusiastic chatter. Ten years of What the Hack called for a big event, and it delivered. As the day continued, and everyone had seen all the ideas up close, there came the announcement: who would be the final five to pitch their ideas to the jury in the hopes of winning one of the illustrious awards? Drums rolled - literally - thanks to a display from a live percussion and brass band. The Head of TomTom Lab, Chris Poppe, called out the finalists. Jubilation. Teams of TomTom’ers celebrated for themselves and for their team mates who made it. For the grand finale, the jury made up of members of TomTom’s senior leadership and a guest juror from Uber, a TomTom customer, took to the stage. Chris Poppe and Louis Poitevin, Internal Communications Manager, entertained the crowd as Mario and Luigi, encouraging the audience to give a thematic “yahoo” after each pitch. And while there was a definitive winner, for the first time ever, there was not only a runner-up, but an honorary mention. So, the main takeaway was this: the caliber of ideas was extremely high, typical of TomTom’ers who are changing the way maps are made in their day-to-day work. What the Hack, in its tenth anniversary, did not disappoint. In fact, it exceeded expectations.
What makes What the Hack so special
If it wasn’t clear from the flashback above, What the Hack is the perfect opportunity for TomTom’ers to get stuck in, innovating, collaborating and multiplying their knowledge to help each other. Jan Wylegała, Software Engineer I, emphasized this feeling of camaraderie: “More than anything, it was just really nice to see my colleagues for the first time, because I work in Poland. It’s been very fun working with everyone.” And these colleagues could come from anywhere in TomTom. That’s the beauty of What the Hack. As Ruben Hamers, Software Engineer IV, shares:“Everyone at TomTom has a common goal – to map the world in real-time with the most accurate data on the market. No matter how different the set of skills or experience, all TomTom’ers are working towards this. The same applies during What the Hack, but to an even more liberating degree. Chris Poppe underlines that anyone has the opportunity to “explore novel ideas, work on different technologies.” Artificial intelligence played a huge role in so many ideas, as did sensor-derived observations, automation and more. Michal Wieckowksi, Partner Development Manager, speaks about using it for their work around change detection:Ruben Hamers
Software Engineer IV
“Michal Wieckowksi
Partner Development Manager
A celebration of innovation
Walking around the What the Hack marketplace, it’s clear that TomTom’ers are taking this seriously amidst the fun and games. Innovation was (and continues to be) at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
What the Hack, in its tenth edition, has helped TomTom’ers find their impact. Is one of these areas calling out to you? Join Daan and start making your impact. See open roles at TomTom.
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