Make your move to win - Codegeist 2021 is now open

[CarrieMamantov]

Hello – While I may be new to the community, I bring great news!

Codegeist is open for registration!

Haven’t heard of our annual hackathon?

Codegeist is the perfect opportunity for developers to unleash the potential of teams around the world by building Atlassian apps. Designed to recognize greatness of our developer community, Codegeist is where you get to show off your creative idea for the next big Jira and Confluence app built with Forge.

You’re invited to network and learn! Use codegeist to stay connected.

Let us know if you need anything. We have team members ready to assist for the next 8 weeks while you team up and build something great.

Grand Prize (3) = $25k USD All in, it’s a combined total of $300,000 USD in prizes.

Competition runs July 12 to September 13. Register now

What can you build?

We are excited to see what your teams can deliver for the following tracks:

1. Built for DevOps:
   App and integrations that help dev teams streamline their workflows and automate manual processes so they can build, test, and release software faster and more reliably.

2. Built for IT:
   These apps should help dev and IT ops teams to collaborate faster by responding to changes and deliver great customer and employee service.

3. Built for Business:
   Apps that help keep non-technical teams connected and aligned on shared work and goals, whether they’re fully remote, distributed or in-person.

One big change for this year – every entry needs to be built with Forge.

Why is this such a cool opportunity?

Whether you participate on your own or as part of a team, you’ll have the opportunity to expand your network, improve your skills, and land the cash and swag prizes up for grabs.

• Learn from this awesome Atlassian community
• Explore the power of Forge
• Win prize money and swag
• Maybe even create a new revenue stream after the contest is over by distributing your Codegeist app through the Atlassian Marketplace

Sound great? Go to the Devpost event page to sign-up or keep reading more of the details on the blog.

It’s time to make your move! Let’s goooooo →

[remie]

For one second I was very excited, because we have 3-5 new apps currently in development, and now I’m just extremely pissed

One big change for this year – every entry needs to be built with Forge.

This truly absolutely completely sucks. You have no idea what a slap in the face this is. Why does our relationship with Atlassian always have to be such a borderline love/hate experience?

I just cannot grasp the audacity to start a competition based on the requirement that we use a half-finished product that does not support all use cases yet. I mean, if forge had achieved feature parity with Connect, or the Forge/Connect bridge was finished, I would get it. But now, you are basically demanding to use a broken product (if you need prove: Resolution & Jexo Forge Hackathon Findings)

EDIT: I guess you don’t need prove, you already know it’s broken. You even have a special prize for the feedback

Codegeist 2022

[james.dellow]

I also noticed that the grand prize for Codegeist 2020 was $55K for a Connect app and only $20K for Forge. This time there will be 3 first place winners that get $25K each.

[srusonis]

Hi @remie,

I’m Shana, the Ecosystem Marketing lead at Atlassian. My team organized this campaign so I thought I would hop in to reply to your comment.

Thanks for your unfiltered feedback - we hear your frustration. The critiques you mention - Forge vs. Connect extensibility and a ‘Forge/Connect bridge’ are both actively being worked on by our engineering and product team.

I ask that you assume positive intent in the case of Codegeist rules this year - we put a great deal of consideration and thought into them. Codegeist is a special opportunity to challenge our developer community to dream big and try new things - and with the current incentives, every participant is on a level playing field. We have confidence that our community will find creative ways to build their ideas using what is available with Forge today.

We truly value any feedback you contribute should you choose to participate this year. If you choose not to, we understand and hope we can find other opportunities to engage constructively (outside of Codegeist) moving forward.

[anand]

This is a joke, right? If Atlassian is really serious about Forge, they should first migrate all their apps (own & the acquisitions) to this platform & then tell us how much commercially viable Forge in its current state is.
By forcing the marketplace partners, who are already spreading thin with unending barrage of Atlassian programs - some of them just investment blackholes (remember Platinum, Gold & Silver marketplace partners?), it just becomes crystal clear how much Atlassian cares about ‘Partners’.

[remie]

Your competition, your prizes, your rules.

To be clear, my frustration is not with individual Atlassians. Interpersonally, I fully appreciate the positive intent. There is a lot of that in the Atlassian Ecosystem, and I think all Marketplace Partner acknowledge and appreciate that.

However, as the entity with which we are entangled in a very unhealthy relationship (in terms of power dynamic) I certainly do not assume positive intent from Atlassian.

Given that I have been participating in Codegeist since 2012, I am fully aware that it is a vehicle to drive Atlassian goals. We have seen that in the past, where Codegeist was used to increase the number of PvA apps available on the Atlassian Marketplace, to push for Cloud/Connect apps, etc. There has always been a higher purpose to Codegeist.

However, this is the first time that Atlassian is using Codegeist to push a half-baked product and use it to collect feedback.

You are talking about a level playing field. I can tell you this is not the case. As a small team, we do not have the luxury to divert resources to play around with a new platform full of pitfalls to create apps that are limited by said platform, and offer support once it’s done. We have a lot of great idea’s that we’re already working on, and we simply cannot afford to switch gears. And I’m sure we’re not alone. So you are not levelling the playing field, you are actively filtering out a lot of Marketplace Partners.

Codegeist has always been a great motivator for us. Obviously, we will not stop working on our apps and will continue to invest in our products and the Atlassian Ecosystem (I even have a lot of shinny community badges to show for it). However, participating in the competition gave us an extra thrill, something that helped us push the extra mile. It helps in team bonding and a feeling of achievement. I don’t think Atlassian fully appreciates the impact on morale for teams that are now excluded by this decision.

As @anand also pointed out, I think it is another example of Atlassian being very out of touch with the Atlassian Ecosystem. Each individual team at Atlassian, even those driven by positive intent, might make a small negative impact on the Ecosystem, but the pile up of all those programs, initiatives, priority shifts, etc, is taking a large toll on the Ecosystem.

I understand that it might not be very nice to get such a first response on the announcement of the competition, but to be honest, the fact that Atlassian did not expect pushback on this decision is part of the problem.

[biro]

Alright, so given you mentioned our Forge report in a very negative context, I’m obliged to respond. And my comment is addressed to you directly, @remie , and everyone in the ecosystem that has the same extreme views about Codegeist.
First and foremost, the report we wrote has absolutely no seed of toxicity or hatred towards Forge, we wrote it with positive intent, doing our part and helping Atlassian to surface some of the current lacks so they can address them.
Secondly, on the topic of Codegeist, I think the reaction you have is blown out of proportion. For sake, it is a hackathon! Hackathons are for exploratory programming and are meant to be fun, different, and help kinder innovation. What you’re asking is the equivalent of me asking my team to build a mainstream Foxly feature over a hackathon event = Build several apps throughout the year and don’t launch them until the Codegeist in the hopes of getting extra bucks with the launch. This defeats the whole purpose of the hackathon.
We did it last year as well with Foxly, carried by the trend but honestly, I prefer if the hackathon topics are more specific and we all spend that defined period of time building stuff dedicated for the hackathon.
And I know I’ll be the least popular by voicing all this but @remie I’d preffer if you’d put your grievances and energy towards Forge in a constructive form and help Atlassian improve it with feedback and such, not by bashing on Codegeist topics.

[remie]

I’m sorry if you consider the reference to your post as being used for toxicity or hatred towards Forge, because that’s not the case. I do not take any issue with Forge and I fully understand that Atlassian is pushing this. The only reason I used the post is because it shows that there is still a lot of work to be done on Forge.

What you’re asking is the equivalent of me asking my team to build a mainstream Foxly feature over a hackathon event = Build several apps throughout the year and don’t launch them until the Codegeist in the hopes of getting extra bucks with the launch. This defeats the whole purpose of the hackathon.

You’re right. It does defeat the purpose of the Hackaton. But that is exactly how Atlassian has been using Codegeist for the past 10+ years. And it is also how Atlassian is using it now. It is used to push developers to create apps for the Atlassian Marketplace, with specific goals (more PvA apps, more Connect apps, etc). Last years winner even got an investment from Atlassian Ventures. I don’t think it is out of line for me for considering Codegeist as more than just a fun informal Hackaton.

I’d preffer if you’d put your grievances and energy towards Forge in a constructive form and help Atlassian improve it with feedback and such, not by bashing on Codegeist topics.

Again, I don’t have grievances with Forge. My grievances are specifically with Codegeist, and the decision to exclude a large part of the Atlassian Ecosystem. I’m happy for you that you have the resources to spent time on fun side projects, but not everyone is that lucky. By limiting the competition to Forge, Atlassian has turned Codegeist from something that we have always experienced as a fun team activity into a dividing topic within the Atlassian Ecosystem.

To be honest, I’m already dreading the fact that Forge will probably also soon be a requirement for all sorts of programs, incl. Security or Metal-tier badges. I’m not against pushing Forge, but I would have liked a bit more time (1-2 years) and maturity. Especially given the fact that Atlassian has been pushing Marketplace Partners hard on moving to Cloud (i.e. Connect) in the past years. It’s just to soon.