Explore, experiment & evolve: what coding competitions look like at Payworks

Ask any of the talented developers at top tech companies about their favourite part of the year, and you’re likely to hear one theme over and over again: the longstanding coding competition or hackathon event! At Payworks, we call it Codeworks, and 2024 marked the 10^th anniversary of the fun, creative freedom and teamwork it brings to our crew.

Our Development Team has hosted two Codeworks events per year since 2014. Typically taking place over half a week in both May and December, almost all Developers participate; the invite is also extended to our Business Analysts and Quality Assurance Analysts. Within this marathon, individuals or teams can work on any singular project of their choosing.

“It’s anything they can dream up,” explains Vice President of Development Andrew Stevens. “It can be creating a new feature, fixing a nagging bug, addressing technical debt that’s slowing them down, or they can experiment and try new technology. Basically, it’s anything they find interesting that would also benefit Payworks!”

Putting on our thinking caps

That’s the aspect of Codeworks that encourages the most innovative thinking during the competition: that there are no parameters to participate other than the simple guiding principle of the project benefitting one of the Payworks’ ecosystems, whether that be for our colleagues or our clients within our workforce management solutions.

“A coding competition like this is really important because it’s huge to be able to work on different technical skills,” says Manager of Development Brad Van Walleghem. “You have the freedom to try new things without being too worried that you’re wasting time or that new code will break something that’s live. It can also help you prioritize something that doesn’t always fit into your day-to-day. A lot of us got into the industry in the first place because we want to write code and we want to solve problems. That’s what Codeworks is: the opportunity to flex those muscles.”

Photo: Team Leads, Development Kyle Leung and Ezra Lazar working together during a Payworks Codeworks competition in 2023.

This past December was Integration Architect Lela Kaunitz’s first Codeworks competition, and while she’s worked in the Development industry for more than 20 years, this was the first time she’s been allotted the opportunity to participate in an activity like this through her workplace.

“In Development, sometimes while we’re working on something, we wish we had this functionality or were using that programming language, or we wish we could write something to make a process smoother, but we often don’t have the opportunity when trying to complete a project,” says Lela. “What Codeworks does is give a window of allocated time to make your projects better and to get that done. I’ve never had an opportunity like this before, and I really like that we’re able to do that. It’s good that Payworks knows what we do for work and provides something fun for us to do, and recognizes the value and facilitates that.”

Day-to-day projects are well defined, and programmers work within specific requirements. Codeworks washes away those confines and allows individuals to think of creative solutions. As a result, projects are more “proof of concept” than “ready to ship”… and it’s a part of the game that the end result likely can’t be deployed or implemented out of the gate.

“It’s basically innovation days for the whole team,” says Andrew.

“It’s low stakes, but high interest,” adds Lela. “Experimental, but with real-world value.”

As veteran participant and Development Team Lead Brent Rempel describes it – there are no expectations! He says that projects vary person to person and year to year. Some folks might choose a path that gets them closer to deployment and stick with skills they know, while others might not have much to show as an end result because they’re exploring a project that’s not a fully-realized concept.

“I would consider it a creative outlet,” says Brent. “You wouldn’t necessarily follow the same processes you would if you’re building something for a production environment. You’re experimenting on a concept that could work and you’re working differently than you normally would. There are less restraints in how you’re approaching a problem or you’re working on an edge case that changes how you write code. I find creativity in that.”

Photo: Tech Lead, Development Nicole Hryciw concentrating during a Payworks’ Codeworks competition.

How teamwork makes the Codeworks dream work

The vibe from our team is that, even though Codeworks has been around for a decade with multiple events per year, it isn’t going anywhere…

“People enjoy it, which is reason enough to keep doing it,” says Andrew. “It’s a part of the Payworks culture. We always want happy and engaged employees, and giving them time to work on ideas is important. It’s just a part of who we are. We’re met with many good ideas. I normally have a list of project ideas that folks can tap into if they need inspiration before Codeworks begins. This last time, not one single person asked for an idea – they all came with their own.”

Clearly, Codeworks sparks a new dimension of creativity and innovation that reinvigorates our team and inspires new ideas all year round.

“I’m always pleasantly surprised with what people work on,” says Brad, who’s approaching his 17-year work anniversary and has participated in almost every Codeworks competition. “I always see something cool, something I never would’ve thought to try, or a solution to a problem I’ve never thought of before. Developers have a good pulse on the industry and new technology. Codeworks pulls that in to try new things and how it could work in our ecosystem. There’s value in knowing if it does work and it’s also super important to know if it doesn’t.”

Bonus: Codeworks also seriously bolsters team building and boosts morale. It’s a great icebreaker for our Co-op students and new folks joining our growing team.

“An unexpected benefit was the experience of working with people I’ve never worked directly with before,” says Lela. “I originally was going to do my project solo, but then one of our Business Analysts approached me and asked to join the project. It was a fun opportunity.”

Codeworks Hall of Fame

Aside from being described as “fun”, “cool”, and “interesting” by participants, Codeworks has also proven to be beneficial for the business, in that many projects, either as a whole or in part, become a part of the real-life day-to-day here at Payworks.

“Sometimes you get to work in a certain area you might not get to regularly, working with different tech and different people,” says Brad. “By doing that, you can learn something new, and bits and pieces of your project can make their way into the Payworks application.”

Photo: Software Developers Colin Johnson and Jon Melven collaborating during Codeworks.

In fact, Lela’s Codeworks project was “really successful” in doing just that. She took a deep dive into some of the code in which she works every day and identified opportunities for improvement. While it sounds simple, the project was a “huge change” in reality.

“We got it to work by the end of the competition,” says Lela. “I was surprised we got it done in such a short period of time. Just seeing what people were creating and doing, re-writing in a different way, and what they were able to achieve in that time period was exciting.”

What have been some of the biggest and brightest Codeworks projects? Glad you asked! With over a decade upon which to reflect, there’s a wide range – from gamified workout schedules to chat bots, consolidated report windows, interactive floorplans, and GPS tracking on web punches – now better known to our clients as Web Time with locations!

The highly-coveted Codeworks trophy is the Golden Keyboard, a spray-painted keyboard that’s certainly withstood the “tests” of time. Brad was a member of Codework’s first-ever winning squad, and their project was focused on building out a previous version of Payworks’ Time Management scheduling capabilities. Brent, too, has hoisted the Golden Keyboard; in his case, for a project focused on translations.

Unofficial second place to being awarded the Golden Keyboard is when your project – or part of your project – is recognized and flagged for further exploration or deployment.

“Leading up to Codeworks there’s a lot of fun in the brainstorming and the wild ideas that come from thinking up concepts,” says Brent. “A highlight is if you work on something and it gets realized enough by management to implement it for real.”

Photo: Development Team Lead David Schilling and Development Tech Lead Mark Dunnett with the coveted Golden Keyboard in 2023.

Looking for an even better idea of what it’s like to work at Payworks? We offer rewarding careers and lots of opportunities to use your talents for building awesome products (and the extra perks aren’t bad, either!). Learn more about our flexible and progressive work environment: https://www.payworks.ca/about-us/careers.