Alloy’s hackathon boosts productivity and generates real value for clients

It’s that time of the year again! Our annual hackathon, known as Gumption Days, is right around the corner, and Alloy employees are getting ready for another fun and productive event.

This year marks the 7th year that Alloy hosted a hackathon. Unlike some other organizations, our hackathon is open to all employees, not just members of the product and engineering teams. Participants from various teams come together to tackle real-life client pain points, develop new offerings, or create internal tools. At the end of the week, teams present their projects to a panel of judges who crown a hackathon winner.

Over the years, some of our best improvements and new products were spawned during the week-long event. A lot of projects show so much promise just after a week that they make it into our product roadmap. 

Some significant products, features, and internal tools that originated from past hackathons include:

Alloy for Embedded Finance

Originally coined Alloy-as-a-Service (get it? 🤭), the idea behind Alloy for Embedded Finance first debuted during our 2023 hackathon. Fast-forward less than a year, and we launched our fully built and re-named product, Alloy for Embedded Finance, a tool that empowers embedded finance providers, such as sponsor banks and BaaS providers, to enforce compliance and risk controls at scale across their partner portfolios on a fully auditable platform. Learn more about Alloy for Embedded Finance

Testing Suite

The Testing Suite was part of the hackathon in 2022. This centralized platform includes various testing tools, allowing you to test new risk strategies and observe projected outcomes. It supports multiple testing methodologies, including backtesting, A/B testing, shadow testing, and What-If Analysis, and offers in-line testing, reporting visualizations, and insights to ensure policymakers can confidently iterate on policies and launch new ones without technical resources. Learn more about the Alloy Testing Suite

Release Bot

Originally dubbed “Ship Happens,” Release Bot is Alloy's tool that helps automate the process of deploying software updates. Once triggered, Release Bot coordinates several systems to synchronize the deployment process. The system runs tests and coordinates developer approvals via Slack before proceeding. Deployments occur within working hours, and quick rollbacks are possible through Slack commands if issues arise, ensuring clear communication and coordination among developers. This tool helps Alloy release updates quickly and safely, minimizing downtime and allowing fast fixes for any problems.

Alloy HQ song request Slackbot

A fan favorite among Alloy employees, our #office-tunes Slackbot was born during our 2024 hackathon. This project enabled employees to queue and play music on the Alloy HQ speakers. It included fun elements like voting to skip songs and statistics on listening habits, providing a communal and interactive music experience for the office. 

This year’s hackathon is taking place April 21 - 25, 2025. We can’t wait to see what innovative products, features, and internal tools will come out of it!