I've been to a couple of good hackathons lately but they are more focused on vibe coding and tend to only run for 8-12 hours. These let you try out an idea or framework with little commitment but lack the depth of multi-day events. I've been attending an XR hackathon for almost a decade which still embodies the ethos, but it is a labor of love carried out by volunteers. These longer, challenging and intentional events can teach you more about teamwork and product in one weekend than a year of churning through tickets.

That's the part I think is futile, because reality and truth are vast and moving targets there's no way to build a functional map.