Hacking Doesn’t End After 36 Hours…
It’s a way of life.
During my short but extensive experience as a part of the hacker community, I’ve caught on to a common trend in the hackathon model. Hackers from all over the world enter a day-long or weekend-long event filled with opportunity, leaving with new perspectives and confidence in their ability to learn, build, and connect. After experiencing what could have been a life-changing weekend, they head home until the next hackathon.
End of story.
Here’s an alternate ending.
What if there were a way to sustain this feeling, this motivation to build and create, for the entire school year — or better yet — for the rest of your life? The reason why hackathons are so popular is because they provide an outlet to a community of people who continuously test their boundaries in order to create amazing things. They offer something that the education system cannot; freedom to creatively explore anything without worrying about failure.
And the MHacks team has found a way to re-create the same environment you can find at a hackathon during the school year.
Let’s Learn From Each Other
Going through the applications we’ve received so far, we’ve noticed some interesting data. If you love numbers, you’re in for a treat.
On our application, we asked everyone to pick topics and technologies that they are interested in. We offered the choices of iOS, Android, Web Development, VR/Game Development, and Hardware.
Beginner Hacker Interest
iOS — 36%
Android — 41%
Web Dev — 53%
VR/Game Dev — 35%
Hardware — 32%
Experienced Hacker Interest
iOS — 35%
Android — 44%
Web Dev — 59%
VR/Game Dev — 36%
Hardware — 43%
We were surprised to see that most interests were pretty evenly split between beginners, those who have never been to a hackathon before, as well as veterans. Hackers of all experience levels are still interested in learning more about different technologies. That’s what makes them hackers.
Let’s add another metric.
91% of our first-round applicants selected more than one interest.
That’s insane. And it made me realize something.
Our backgrounds make us unique as hackers. The pursuit of knowledge, however, is what unites us as a community. Hackathons provide a dynamic environment in which people can learn something new, and workshops are a great way to inspire growth in individuals and the community as a whole.
I’ve seen workshops work wonders for both beginner and experienced hackers alike. Our friends at Pearl Hacks used a successful workshop model during their hackathon. ADI’s DevFest polished a week-long workshop series leading up to a 24-hour hackathon in which students apply the skills they have just learned.
So after listening to you, our hackers, the MHacks Team has created an amazing lineup of intro level workshops. We want you to be able to pick and choose the topics that interest you most.
Your Personal Hacker Toolkit
We give you the tools you need to build the hacks of your dreams. Learn the basics of these topics and decide what the next level is for you.
Intro to Hackathons (co-led by Apple):
Instructors: Andrew Marino and Apple
“If you’ve never attended a hackathon before or are would like some tips on how to make the best of your experience, come hear from seasoned students and Apple engineers on what to expect. In this workshop, beginners will learn what it means to be a “hacker” and be provided technical tutorials in skills useful for any kind of project. Topics will include command-line basics, version control systems, collaborating with your team on GitHub, APIs, and best practices for interacting with mentors, resources for solving problems.”
Intro to iOS:
Instructor: Russell Ladd
“When tackling iOS for the first time, there is a breadth of new information to learn. From new frameworks and IDEs to an even newer language, we’ve definitely got our bases loaded. By learning how to program games in Swift, you will gain an understanding of fundamental techniques to building basic interactions in iOS.”
Intro to Android:
Instructor: Charles Wang
“As the smartphone user base continues to rapidly grow, so does the mobile app market. MHacks attracts thousands of new hackers who want to make an impact in this area. We hope to kick-start their goals by hosting an Android workshops, where you can follow alongside the instructor with a step-by-step tutorial of your first Android app.”
Intro to Web Development:
Instructor: Yelena Pham
“This workshop on web development will teach even the most inexperienced programmer how to navigate the DOM and create their own websites. By the end of the workshop, they’ll understand HTML, CSS, and Javascript so well that they should just call them spiders (this will probably make more sense after the workshop!). Get ready to learn how the web actually works.”
Intro to Hardware:
Instructor: Colin Szechy
“This workshop will give hackers a brief overview on the different types of hardware available at MHacks. From here, we’ll go through the fundamentals and basics of writing software for a hardware platform. We’ll be creating useful applications that can easily be built off of or integrated into your hack.”
Intro to Game Design (co-led by EA):
Instructors: Ben Cooper and Branden Carlson
“Brought to you by Wolverine Soft and Electronic Arts, this 2-part workshop will give you all the tools and knowledge needed to start making your own games using Unity 3D. The first part will start with a quick talk on games and proper scoping, then moving on to a step-by-step tutorial. The second part will include hands-on mentorship with the option of using EA’s mobile device controller API. We’ll be creating basic level games that can easily be iterated on during and after MHacks weekend. No experience required!”
Intro to UI/UX Design:
Instructor: Benjamin Zweig
“What do all designs, good and bad, have in common? Squares. Without these tiny squares, design itself would be impossible. Making the squares is easy, but getting all the right squares together is much harder. In this workshop, we’re going to talk about pleasing arrangements of the squares, pretty gradients you can put in the squares, and making sure interacting with the squares doesn’t suck. Most importantly, we’ll talk about doing all of this in 36 hours or less! Buckle up, design cadets; it’s time to blast off.”
The beauty of student-led workshops, some of which are bolstered by the support of industry leaders, lies in their ability to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment. Our instructors are deeply passionate about the subject of their respective workshop and crave for ways to give back to the hacker community.
By working with Michigan student organizations like Michigan Hackers and Wolverine Soft, MHacks plans to launch a semester-long workshop series that allows hackers to pursue their passions and satisfy their curiosities long after the Red Bull and adrenaline of a 36-hour weekend wears off. In the weeks following MHacks 6, the workshops will focus on building a solid foundation and promoting good programming practice. Towards the middle of the semester, workshops will start branching off into specific topics so that hackers can pick and choose areas that interest them!
Don’t go to Michigan? No worries. We’ll record every workshop and upload them to our website so that everyone has a chance to be a part of the MHacks hacker community.
Stay tuned, hackers! I’ll be updating this post within the next couple weeks with updated lesson plans and agendas.
