Make new friends. Play with tech. Earn some sweet prizes. Sign me up!
Is your high school or college student looking for a great opportunity to do something meaningful? Look for a local Hackathon and gather a team to attend (the Pittsburgh area has the Mylan Hackathon, CMU Hack-A-Startup, Pitt Mobile App Challenge, Steel City Codefest , and the Verizon Innovative App Challenge.)
Hackathons fast-track the development of new software and hardware and make it possible for students with technical skills to gain experience with portfolio building projects in a high stakes environment.
Students learn by doing and finish with a final project that has the potential to turn into a real business. They get a chance to interact with professional engineers and recruiters and tap into a creative spirit that emerges and grows in the hacker culture.
What is a hackathon?
Anyone eager to learn can join in with programmers, designers, engineers in an confined time and space (many are weekend long overnight experiences).
This is not illegal “hacking” – it is quick, genius, innovative creation of a real world “app”lication. Hacking is a way to interrupt the present with the possibilities of a technology enabled future.
You go to a hackathon with a team and get the opportunity to build from brainstorm to prototype in a very short time. They come with nothing started and consult mentors through the night. The stress and intensity of a short deadline is part of the fun. The last exhausted hour includes presentations, demos, and prizes. The food is usually great (yay Mylan!)
Why Go to a Hackathon?
2009 was the very first student-run collegiate hackathon. This year, 2015, there is over 150 throughout the world with over 50,000 participants and the demand nearly doubling every semester.
A hackathon will change your life.
