Hackathon = Hack + Marathon.
Here, hack doesn’t mean “breaking into systems”, but rather “breaking through with solutions”. Marathon is a long-distance foot race. At a hackathon, you don’t run, you race against the clock to create innovative products.
The format emerged in tech circles in the 1990s. Ideas like ride-hailing startups (the foundation for today’s Grab or Uber) and even Facebook’s “Like” button were born at hackathons. According to Forbes, over 80% of Fortune 100 companies have used hackathons as a creativity strategy, and more than half run them regularly.
In Vietnam, hackathons are still largely tied to tech solution development. But a few companies have extended the format to other fields like business, design, and logistics. This year, Nestlé became a pioneer in FMCG by introducing a Hackathon at the final round of its Nesternship: NesUP 2025 program, bringing together the Top 100 contestants.
The goal wasn’t just to test problem-solving but to immerse participants in five “survival skills” for today’s fast-changing world, and to maximize the experience itself. In just 36 hours, this concentrated timeframe can create rare, transformative moments you don’t often find in daily life.
1. Tapping into the “flow” state
It may not be as dramatic as Rip Van Winkle waking up to find that decades had passed in the real world, but participants will certainly feel time bending. At NesUP Hackathon, four main activities (workshops, solving business cases, pitching, and playing games at exploratory rooms) happen almost non-stop for 36 hours. These might be some of the most intense hours of your life.
But here’s the paradox: such an environment can actually unlock the flow state, a condition where you’re so deeply focused that everything feels seamless, and you lose track of time and space.
Not all deadlines trigger flow. But as Parkinson’s Law reminds us: “Work expands to fill the time available.”
Give yourself a month to prepare a presentation, and you’ll likely procrastinate until the final week. But within 36 hours, your brain accelerates, stripping away distractions until all you can do is focus, just like a runner zeroing in on their stride.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests a few keys to reaching flow:
- Set clear goals but stay flexible in execution.
- Draw on intrinsic motivation, not just external pressure.
- Balance the difficulty of the challenge with your skillset. Too easy, and you’ll lose interest; too hard, and you’ll stall. A hackathon doesn’t demand perfection in 36 hours, it demands focus and progress.
2. Redefining readiness and problem-solving
In a regular workplace, it can take months to smoothly collaborate with new teammates. At a hackathon, you get only hours to meet, assign roles, and start working. That forces a new definition of “readiness”: not waiting until everything is clear, but diving in amid uncertainty. It also requires fast decision-making, with the acceptance that nothing will be perfect. Along the way, you learn to:
- Adapt to chaos.
- Turn constraints into creativity.
- Think critically and set ego aside when needed.
- Identify and leverage each other’s strengths.
It’s like a relay race: you can’t stand still waiting for the baton, you have to run alongside, trust your teammate, and adjust your rhythm together.
At NesUP Hackathon, every task is designed for teams, simulating real-world workplaces where success depends less on individual brilliance and more on collective synergy. Across the 36 hours, participants don’t just solve problems, they create, pitch, manage time, and adjust strategies continuously. It’s a safe sandbox version of high-pressure corporate projects, where mistakes are lessons, not liabilities.
3. The post-deadline high
In marathons, runners often feel pain at the 5 km mark, exhaustion at 20 km, and yet a euphoric “runner’s high” after finishing the full 42 km. Despite the struggle, many sign up again, driven by that unique sense of achievement.
Hackathons can trigger something similar.
A study by Journal of Nuclear Medicine (2025) found that the brain increases dopamine production during cognitively demanding tasks. Earlier research by Salamone & Correa (2012) highlighted that dopamine isn’t just about pleasure, it connects effort with reward, making achievement feel powerful and memorable.
In other words, after completing a tough challenge, your brain rewards you with dopamine, reinforcing resilience and inner strength.
At a hackathon, “completion” doesn’t necessarily mean winning. It could be seeing your idea take shape or simply not giving up under pressure. Like a marathoner crossing the finish line regardless of rank, or as John F. Kennedy once said about space exploration: “We choose to do it not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” That difficulty is what makes it valuable.
Of course, tangible rewards matter. But the deeper gain is resilience and self-motivation. They are compound interests you carry into future challenges. That’s the spirit NesUP Hackathon hopes to ignite in its participants.
36 Hours as a springboard for the long road ahead
Both marathons and hackathons share one thing: time pressure compresses experiences, making them more intense and unforgettable. While 36 hours can’t replace months of practice, it can spark leaps of growth that daily routines rarely deliver.
In less than 36 hours, the Top 100 of Nesternship: NesUP 2025 will enter the final round, competing for the chance to intern at Nestlé for six months, with all the opportunities that come with it.
If you’re one of them, bring your skillsets and the right mindset to turn pressure into fuel that unlocks the sharper, faster, and more creative version of yourself.
Nesternship: NesUP 2025 is a youth-empowering, skill-building initiative by Nestlé Needs YOUth and Onboardy with Vietcetera and VietnamWorks as Program Partners.
The program aims to equip Vietnamese young talents with hands-on skills and real-world insights into the FMCG industry - while building their confidence to navigate today’s ever-evolving professional landscape.
The Program Process:
July 4th - August 8th: Application & Online Assessment
August 28th - August 29th: NesUP Hackathon
September 16th: Onboarding
For more details, visit the website or contact us at events.rsvp@vietcetera.com.