Our tRP team watching Engineers demo their brilliance

On Wednesday, May 19th the Rubicon Project hosted it’s first internal project building and coding event called HACKDAY. One of our brilliant Engineers, Sam Tingleff, came up with this idea for an all out, no holds barred, frenzied coding day- all driven by our awesome Engineering team.

In the weeks before HACKDAY we solicited ideas for projects from our entire company. Everyone came out of the woodwork with creative ideas for features, products, or reports that would make their lives better or that would be downright cool. There were over 50 projects for our Engineers to choose from- representing all sides of the business. It was a really great thing to see the entire business get involved and passionate about HACKDAY- it shows how much we support our team and our technology!

So the morning of HACKDAY, we got the entire company in our big meeting room (conferencing in satellite offices all over the world) and let HACKDAY commence! The Engineers picked their projects to raucous applause and they were off and running. The plan was to meet back at 5:30 for them to demo and submit their projects before a panel of judges (leaders from all across the organization). So between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm there was a lot of building, coding, solving problems, status updates, group thinking, loud music playing, just straight getting stuff done. At 5:30, the whole company reconvened in our meeting room and the Engineers got to demo and show off their “babies”. We were all there to support them and celebrate! Afterward, a fiesta (tacos and beer!) took place in our courtyard- complete with *funny* awards for the HACKDAY participants. Overall, this was a huge success for us- something we can’t wait to do again next quarter!

We don’t like rules much at the Rubicon Project but HACKDAY had the best one: “There are no rules! Oh, except no crying.” HACK IT UP!

Our Rubicon Project team at the Golden Heart Awards benefitting the Midnight Mission

On Monday, May 10th a group of Rubicon Project team members headed to the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the Midnight Mission’s biggest gala of the year- the Golden Heart Awards. Used to heading to their headquarters on Skid Row, this venue was much a different experience for us! It was quite a memorable evening for all of us. As a whole Rubicon Project team, we are proud to support the Midnight Mission and all the amazing work they do within it’s walls and out on the streets.

We joined hundreds of other civic minded folks who came from all across LA (plus we had one from NYC!) to honor the work of the Midnight Mission and the people who go above and beyond for the cause. The evening’s special honorees were Anthony and Stella Hopkins, who have truly been huge supporters and volunteers of the non-profit. Also honored that evening was  the Nestle Corporation, who have put a huge focus on community outreach and volunteerism as part of their corporate values- a huge inspiration to us.

The best part of the night was hearing from a recovering homeless mother with 3 small children who came into the Midnight Mission’s family housing program with barely any clothes to wear, food to eat, and living in fear of losing her 3 children to social services. Throughout her time there, she received a roof over her head, job training, and a new chance at life for her family. Two year later, she is an accomplished mother with a full time job at a family legal practice and a place for her children to call home. Her quote “thank you for believing in us before we believed in ourselves” will stay with us.

We had a great Rubicon Project showing at the event- all of those who went walked away with a new found appreciation for the work the Midnight Mission does and ideas of how we can contribute. While Craig Roah, our COO, was devastated by his loss in the last round of the silent auction, we truly all walked out of there winners. Speaking of winners- maybe the Rubicon Project will win a golden heart award one of these days? Here’s hoping!

If you are interested in volunteering or putting together a corporate program (like we did!) with the Midnight Mission email Mai Lee at mlee@midnightmission.org.