Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an internal company-wide AI hackathon scheduled for July 14-16, revealed in an internal memo around June 12-13. The event is being pitched as a way to reinvigorate Meta’s storied hacker culture. Employees, many of whom absorbed the workloads of roughly 8,000 recently laid-off coworkers, have a different read on the situation.
The disconnect between vision and vibes
Employee reactions to the announcement were swift and pointed. One comment that captured the mood: “I have no incentive to participate, let alone time.” Over 200 reactions piled onto skeptical comments questioning whether a hackathon culture could realistically survive under current conditions.
Meta eliminated approximately 8,000 positions, roughly 10% of its total workforce, in the month before the hackathon announcement. This is the first company-wide hackathon since the layoffs.
Zuckerberg’s broader culture push
