If I had to sum up my experience at SheHacks Boston into three words, they would be: welcoming, mouth-watering, and inspiring! SheHacks Boston is a hackathon that was held at Boston University from Jan. 26 to 28 and brought together aspiring programmers who travelled from across the country for a chance to compete. What made this hackathon so special? The fact that it is the largest all female and non-binary hackathon in the world! Now, you might be wondering what a hackathon is. Basically, it is an event in which computer programmers come together to create a program in a specified amount of time. Typically, it spans from 24-36 hours in length, and teams compete for prizes. Hackathons are a no sleep, caffeine dependent, all consuming experience that I think everyone studying computer science should have a chance to experience.
Courtesy of SheHacks
Welcoming
I attended the event with my friend and fellow computer science major, Dania. It was our first hackathon, and we weren’t sure what to expect. However, I believe it was the perfect experience to ease into the world of competitive hackathons. While we were encouraged to put our best work forward, we never felt forced to continue or make something amazing. Instead, we were encouraged to be driven by our own passions and interests. This way, we could truly seek meaningful learning and discover things for ourselves of our own accord.
Additionally, the hackathon was very open to people of all skill levels, interests, and majors. Hackathons are ostensibly only for computer science majors, but it is actually an extremely cross-disciplinary field. For example, Dania used her skills as a designer in Adobe Illustrator to aid the graphics of our project. We met people from a variety of majors, and people who have been to from anywhere between zero and six hackathons before. It was amazing to see such a large spread of diversity even within this stereotypically “computer science” event. Beginners and professionals were all welcome and invited to participate in some manner, whether that be coding or mentoring. Not once was I made to feel bad about what I didn’t know, but instead I was excited to learn more and build on my knowledge. When it comes to self-growth, I believe that this is the ideal environment to foster passion and dedication. This environment was perfect for a beginner to hackathons, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get their feet wet in this realm! Courtesy of Tenor
Mouth-Watering
The second word describing SheHacks is the most important, if you ask my stomach. Delicious! As a broke college student, my two favorite words are “free” and “food.” This event more than delivered on both of those fronts. I felt I was eating like royalty all weekend, because the food was that good and so much better than what was being served in the dining hall.
Food is also an important aspect of any hackathon, as it is what powers everyone’s willpower to keep coding through the weekend. Friday night, we were presented with an enormous amount of Domino’s Pizza Pies. The generous volunteers offered Dania and I each an entire pie, but as tempting as it was, we decided it wouldn’t be wise. (Basically, our dorm mini fridges are too small to store a whole pizza). We were also blessed with pizza on Sunday for lunch. Breakfast both days were Panera bagels, which, by the way, I did not realize were so good. Lunch on Saturday was sandwiches from Potbelly Sandwich Company. Finally, the star of the show, Boston’s very own Anna’s Taqueria burritos were served for dinner on Saturday. Maybe it was because I was so tired and brain dead from coding all weekend, but that burrito tasted like the best thing I’ve ever had in my life. It was that good.
The cherry on top of the entire weekend was the snack room. While the name itself is pretty straightforward, I don’t think it does this heaven on earth justice. Coders could snack to their hearts content on a variety of chips, granola bars, candy, and Monster Energy Drinks (drink with caution). As full as my heart was by the end of the weekend, my stomach definitely was a close second!
Courtesy of Giphy
Inspiring
All in all, the things I will carry with me from this weekend are not the memories of hazy coding sessions or great food, but the lessons I learned. My favorite part of the weekend had to be on Saturday at 1am. What Dania and I thought was a Google Cloud Computing seminar ended up being a Q & A with current Google employees. Hearing about all of their journeys to get where they are today was enlightening. Many didn’t even study computer science in college, but had found a passion along the way. They have suffered from imposter syndrome, and felt like they weren’t smart enough, but by the end of the day they worked hard and made it. Hearing their experiences truly resonated with me, and helped validate the hard work I know I will have to put in to get this degree.
Courtesy of Giphy
So, thanks SheHacks for an inspiring and eye opening weekend. Thanks for providing a safe and encouraging environment and for having faith in what even newbies can do. See you next year!