Hello Medium! Lets talk about us!
It’s back! A few months after the last one, it’s back on!
Let me tell you what I am talking about. 5 years ago, 5 guys from the University of Coimbra (UC) came up with an idea for an amazing new event. A Hackathon! A new Hackathon! A Hackathon unlike any other! One that would spread out through a thrilling weekend to everyone who wants to build their own apps while sharing an incredible environment, full of knowledge and with a great deal of crazy stuff happening all around. The mentors were members of two organisations:
- NEI/AAC, a students’ association that provides support to informatics engineering community from the UC;
- jeKnowledge (jeK), a junior enterprise for technology entrepreneurs from UC that develops software solutions and organize a wide range of technology related events.
Neither NEI or jeK had experience in creating events like this, but everyone was hyped with the idea of creating an amazing event for Coimbra’s Tech Community.
And so, Shift APPens was born!! Swiftly, it got the attention of important technology companies from Coimbra, like RedLight Software, Whitesmith and Wit Software, as well as others equally amazing such as Microsoft, Accenture and Deloitte. These companies have been walking side-by-side with us since those first steps.
In the two first editions, Shift took 170 software developers to the Informatics Engineering Department of Coimbra’s University for a 2-days hackathons filled with of caffeine, seg faults and little human-bugs dancing in the garden. Why bugs, you ask. Well, we’ve learned that during Shift everything can literally happen between two nerf gun shots. Attendees became part of the uncommon universe that (60 members of) the staff created and most of them happily returned in the second year, with twice the enthusiasm.
The first 2 editions were a success, and expectations kept on growing in the following years. By now, a group of 20 people is part of the Shift APPens Organization Committee, with the challenging goal that is taking the event to the national scene. Partnering with Coimbra’s City Council, Shift kept on moving to bigger venues in the following 2 years.
First at Pavilhão de Portugal and afterwards at Pavilhão Multidesportos Dr. Mário Mexia which welcomed almost 200 attendees. It took 150 staff members and a big group of enthusiastic partners that made possible to provide awesome prize pools, a lot of food, enough bandwidth and bigger bugs and weapons. Also, in these 2 years, shifters could experience random stuff like Pokemon Trading (custom) Card battles, brave mechanical bull fights and drones maiden flights.
So, let me tell you again — all of this is back!! On May 2017, sooner than ever, a renewed 20-people group took the huge challenge of setting up the V Shift APPens on the first trimester of 2018. Everything is a challenging part of the goal, from the image creation process to the logistic stuff, going through an ambitious search process for more awesome partners to Shift APPens universe. After all, we share a common desire: to give another memorable weekend to every shifter, where they can build the craziest app they have been dreaming about for a long time!
