We, Code and Business
I guess I’ll start this with a brief introduction of myself, just to let the question “where did this #WeCodeBusiness thing came from” make sense.
Yup, I am just one of the many many students at HKU, studying Computer Science in senior year expecting to graduate in this year. But one day, I saw this crazy hackathon idea, HackHorizon, where selected participants would travel from Hong Kong to London, complete a project within the hours on the plane and pitch at a co-working space right after landing in the city.
My instant reaction to this idea was “Wow, that’s amazing.” I am a serial traveler and a self-claimed coder, combining the two just makes things so much fresher and appealing. And it really just turned some switches in my head on. Things do not have to stay the way they are.
I actually have a major in Business too, in fact, it is my first major and the one that matters to my graduation. But I did only say I study CS when I introduce myself to you just a couple seconds ago — I was frustrated as a business student.
In the first two years of my university when I had experiences volunteering in Budapest, interning in New York and Exchanging to Toronto, I had so many ideas and the ambition to make innovations and impacts to the environments. but wait, I don’t know most of the knowledge required to develop a project, how on earth would it be possible for me to jump from having an idea to making an impact.
My solution was starting a second major degree in Computer Science and self learning web development using online resources like FreeCodeCamp and Udemy. It did make my life so much more delightful as I sincerely enjoy coding and making sh*ts work. Now I’m working on the project I have wanted to develop since around two years ago, but I keep thinking of “What would have happened if I simply was capable of teaming up with the Computer Science guys on campus and started doing the project two years ago”.
I mean, even now with all the knowledge of developing a web app with React and Meteor, a team of diverse talents is still needed; nobody is capable of running everything on his/her own, simple as that.
again We, Code and Business
So now, yes, I’m graduating and likely to leave Hong Kong in a year. After seeing the HackHorizon thing, I really just want to make something fresh, appealing and (or, should I say &&) will encourage students to express and work on the ideas they have wanted to do. I then talked to a couple students and fresh graduates that can relate to my thoughts and decided to initiate this #WeCodeBusiness as a platform for students to learn and experiment development of projects.
Our first initiative will be a student-only Hackathon in early March, 2017. In addition to the traditional competition part of hackathons, we are currently thinking about approaches to add more educational elements into this one.
We want this hackathon to be of an encouraging environment for students to take the first few steps starting their own projects in a longer time frame, instead of joining to make a project that will be killed right after the event. We want to create an image that is friendly enough for even the shiest students to come and team up with the ones who pitch, the business students to meet the student developers, or (again, i mean ||) vise versa.
A lot of things about the hackathon including sponsors, supports and prizes are still in planning and discussion stage. I cannot share most of them now as they are not confirmed yet, but I promise it is going to be fun and exciting. Members in #WeCodeBusiness all have experiences working on our own projects and we will be keep looking for tech or non-tech companies to join the event to provide some extra incentives and sweeties for everyone.
This hackathon, which we named E.C. Jamming (E for entrepreneurs; C for coders), will be the very first initiative we are currently organising with #WeCodeBusiness, there will be more and ultimately we want to see Hong Kong being a city where students can confidently decide what they genuinely want to do and go for it because that is how I achieve happiness in my life.
If this introduction of #WeCodeBusines makes sense to you, please do follow us on Facebook or hit the subscription on E.C. Jamming’s official page. For those who are interested in knowing more of us, or potentially support us, please feel free to drop me an email at kevin@wecodebusiness.com
Hope you all have a great day!
Kevin
