Hack Cambridge: Meet the Schedule Manager
Hackathons are hectic. They’re frenzied, sleep-depriving, and above all, fun. It’s easy to forget, when consumed by the mayhem of the event, just how much it takes to make a hackathon run smoothly. This series will delve into the inner workings of Hack Cambridge, a 24-hour hackathon in which students from all over the world will collaborate to innovate, break, and create.
In this edition we sat down with our schedule manager, Jacob Moxham, to find out more about his role at Hack Cambridge and his life away from his laptop.
How did you get involved with Hack Cambridge?
“Near the end of Lent term, the committee held a meeting to get new people involved. I heard about how much fun working on the sponsorship team had been and the connections it had made for Henry (Sponsorship Leader) and some of the other committee members, and so I decided to get involved. From there, I took on the role of Schedule Manager as I wanted to take on more responsibility and help shape the event.”
What is your role on the committee?
“I’m the schedule manager, my role is to ensure that, as a committee, we need to think as little as possible on the day of the event! This is essential as, in a 24-hour hackathon, the whole committee will be a combination of incredibly busy and incredibly tired which isn’t conducive to fast decision making and organisation. “
What are the key parts of your role?
“To alleviate some of the business, I keep an up to date schedule for all of the deliveries, the arrival of sponsors, and key deadlines. I try to plan out the essential deadlines for not just the 24 hours but the few days before as well.”
What are the most difficult aspects of your role?
“The biggest challenge has got to be trying to accurately estimate sensible timings for the schedule and trying to be accommodating as possible to sponsors without making committee member’s lives overly hectic. Creating the schedule can be very difficult as a lot of the necessary information will not be available until nearer the actual event…
The only way around this is to guess, be wrong, and then fix it. Fixing a slightly broken schedule is better than not having one at all!”
What big decisions have you had to make during your role?
“The biggest decision in schedule management is, without a doubt, when to distribute food. It is an issue close to my heart and the heart of all hackers, it has to be right!
In all seriousness, some of the hardest choices are the ones involving side-events and talks. We have so many amazing sponsors supporting Hack Cambridge this year, and it’s very exciting to work with them all. They all have lots of really awesome tech, ideas, workshops and opportunities that they want to share with our hackers. However, there are always trade-offs in balancing the time our hackers spend learning how to use all the amazing things that the sponsors have to offer, and the time they spend actually hacking away!”
What other projects or societies are you involved in?
“In my first year, I attended several hackathons and had a great time building applications on the fly, which is why I wanted to get stuck in this year and see what goes on behind the scenes. Aside from that, I help organise events for the Wilkes Society for St John’s College and Peterhouse College CompScis. It’s a great opportunity to chat socially with people in different years and also to hear from interesting speakers.”
What do you do when not at your keyboard?
“This year I have represented my college, St John’s, in Ultimate Frisbee and the third football team. I really enjoy the social aspects of college sports, as well as the chance to get out in the fresh air! I am also a huge Liverpool fan and catch matches whenever I can.”
We’ll be grilling even more of the Hack Cambridge committee over the next month in the run-up to the event. Make sure to keep up to date with all other Hack Cambridge news over on our website.
