The Hack U team recently returned from University of Michigan, where they wrapped up the final event of the Fall 2010 season, marking the fourth year of this well-loved student program. After visiting seven university campuses in the US and India, the team was excited to report that the hack spirit was stronger than ever. Students showed up in droves to learn about the latest challenges and advancements in Web programming from Yahoo engineers, then joined the Yahoo team for an exciting 24-hour coding competition that followed, where they put their skills to the test in an effort to win an iPad and hacker bragging rights.
"As always, the students amazed us with their seemingly endless enthusiasm, innovation, technical knowledge and ability to consume horrifying amounts of caffeine and sugar in lieu of sleeping," said Jamie Lockwood, Hack U program manager. "It seems clear that the growth of the Open Source community and the creation of a new mobile application marketplace have really raised the overall quality of the hacks and increased the desire among students to learn more about Web programming and app development in general."
The 2010 Fall season of Hack U brought our team of Web gurus and hack enthusiasts to seven universities (five in the US and two in India):
With this program, Yahoo is looking to prepare the next generation of Web programmers for the future. "They’ll be the ones shaping our digital lives for the next decade," said Eric Wu, internal Hack leader. "It’s important that students have the opportunity to learn about real-world problems and technology from industry partners. At Yahoo, hacking is a huge part of our company culture, and we love bringing that type of excitement to university campuses around the world."
Hack U gives the students a supportive forum where they can gain important skills from industry experts that aren’t typically being taught on university campuses. Many of the students have the desire to learn about these technologies but haven’t had the time to do so. "It's amazing the focus these Hack U events give you," said one junior from UIUC who was new to the Hack U program. "I’ve learned so much more here than in my classes."
We were thrilled to see the creative ideas that the students came up with this year. As Jamie Lockwood noticed, "The major trends were gaming/entertainment, mobile apps and social aggregators – but a handful of the students are also thinking about how to solve for some major social issues. We saw some very cool educational, translation and accessibility tools – very exciting to think that these events could inspire a student to build something that helps make the world a better place. We definitely encouraged them to continue to work on the hacks after the competition ends."
At Carnegie Mellon University, the Hack U team partners with the Business and Technology club to host a Hack Pitch competition in conjunction with the hack event, where business students come up with a business pitch for each of the hacks. This year the event caught the attention of a local venture capital firm, which saw it as a great source for new investment ideas.
The winners from all campuses will fly to Sunnyvale, California, in early 2011 to compete in the
Open Hack contest, where they’ll battle it out for street cred, cool prizes and the opportunity to get their hack noticed by Web industry judges, including venture capitalists, Web entrepreneurs, Yahoo executives and technology gurus. Huge congratulations to all of the winners and everyone who participated in the competition this year!
The Hack U team will kick off the Spring 2011 Hack U season in February with visits to Georgia Tech; the University of Texas, Austin; the University of California, San Diego; and University of Washington. Stay tuned for more from the field!
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