Community Spotlight: Behind the hackers of HackCamp 2021
This year at HackCamp 2021, we had over 500+ hackers sign up to join us virtually at Western Canada’s largest beginner-friendly hackathon. Like previous years of HackCamp (previously also known as UBC Local Hack Day), we celebrated the learning, building, and networking that newbie hackers participate in at our beginner-friendly events.
The point of Community Spotlights is to bring light to the diverse set of individuals who decide to join us at our events, and to encourage everyone from any background to become acquainted with the local tech community. We’re so excited for you to join us on that journey! And without further ado, here are some of the lovely participants at HackCamp 2021 who were kind enough to share their experiences!
Georgiana Wright — 3rd-year Computer Science student @ Alabama A&M University
Georgiana joined us remotely with her siblings who are currently in middle school! When Georgiana’s building something, the intent behind them is usually for her siblings. She makes sure she has a goal in mind when building tech for others, in order to build inclusive tech for everyone to feel happy instead of just one’s self.
Often times Georgiana’s siblings see her participate in hackathons thinking that she’s stressed out and sometimes that may be true, but more so that you can attend hackathons for the greater good. Georgiana noted that the $25 to charity per project submission [at HackCamp 2021] acts as a good incentive for beginner hackers, because new hackers can focus on the hacking experience rather than the big prizes for a small subset of hackers.
Georgiana’s sister, Kayla, is currently going through her first year in robotics in middle school while joining us at HackCamp. She is learning the basics, and excited because it’s her first year learning about it! If Kayla were to describe robotics in three words: “Always. Be. Creative.”
Enrique Morán — 4th-year Biomedical Engineering student @ University of British Columbia
Enrique is really interested in software; all his previous professional experience has been in software. He’s currently working at a small startup (series A) based in SF and works a lot with clinics.
Enrique didn’t start programming until his first year, took APSC160 where you learn low-level C which was pretty interesting; this sparked Enrique’s interest because it was super logical. Then he took CPEN221 which included hardcore algorithms and he really enjoyed it, but still had doubts about going into software. However, Enrique just started applying for work in tech and landed his first job at Microsoft while still remaining curious about the field!
Enrique was born and raised in El Salvador. He noticed there are not very many Latinos in tech, especially having worked in big tech but never had an El Salvadorian coworker before. Enrique’s goal is to meet another El Salvadorian software engineer! STEM careers/degrees are hard but the work definitely pays off.
Steven Wu — Recent Environmental Science grad from the University of Washington
Steven joined us virtually from Seattle! He initially wanted to study Business, but it was very competitive so he decided to pursue Environmental Sciences. Steven had a couple friends who were interested in tech who introduced him to Python and Raspberry Pi, sparking his journey to learn more Python out of interest. Steven is now looking for a job in Data Analytics!
At his first hackathon, Steven was able to see how people could work with each other to produce complete coding projects, which was very different compared to the basic coding that he was doing. He enjoys the atmosphere at hackathons and finds it very motivating!
Thanks for joining us to hear about Georgiana, Enrique, and Steven’s spotlights from HackCamp 2021! Want to hear more about what happened at HackCamp? Check out our recap here. We can’t wait to see more passionate members of the tech community at nwPlus’ upcoming events this year. Stay tuned to hear more from our nwPlus community! 👋
Have an inspiring story you would like to share with the nwPlus Community?
Make sure to ask about the Community Spotlight series when you join us at our next event!
