How Michigan took hackathons by storm. • Hacker News Board

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#11

Post by igul222 » Tue, May 28, 2013, 5:34 AM UTC

hammerzeit wrote: post #7

My initial instinct was to criticize this. I think that's some combination of feeling like hackathons are often a coarse method of exploitation and the feeling that this kind of boosterism may be overstated or unnecessary. But the truth of the matter IMO is that this deserved to be recognized and celebrated. It's really exciting to see environments that expose people to the joy of making things and the realities of m…

There's a big difference between corporate hackathons and collegiate hackathons, I think. The former are exploitative and weird; the latter are inspiring and awesome.

(I organize HackMIT, our big hackathon)

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#12

Post by rjvir » Tue, May 28, 2013, 5:39 AM UTC

gailees wrote: post #6

What do you think about me changing the title to "How hackathons took Michigan by storm?"

A bit sensationalist, but gets the point across I guess

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#13

Post by jamespitts » Tue, May 28, 2013, 5:42 AM UTC

I am an outsider, but I've seen the inside of this machine.

I came to Ann Arbor from LA in 2009 in order to build stuff in a hacker-friendly and foodie town that is a financially rational place to live.

But I didn't expect to find this community of startupy freaks at UM. They are gung-ho in a lets-go-to-the-football-game sort of way. They are often innocent to technological limits, and at times godawfully ruthless. I also notice a particular affinity for building things quickly and then moving on. But they are doing amazing work at MPowered and have roped in a lot of people who would have otherwise marched into corporate oblivion.

UMich hackathon culture is what germinated my current startup, rapt.fm, in January, 2012. A lot of folks involved in MPowered helped the demo get built on that weekend and put in a lot of hours throughout the buildup since then, (including David, the writer of the article).

As great as it is for Michigan, I do think that most of these folks will head out to the Bay Area. But enough will stick around here where the woods run deep and the people are happy.

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#14

Post by gailees » Tue, May 28, 2013, 5:55 AM UTC

rjvir wrote: post #12

gailees wrote: post #6

What do you think about me changing the title to "How hackathons took Michigan by storm?"

A bit sensationalist, but gets the point across I guess

sensationalist as opposed to the current title? Any other recommendations?

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#15

Post by rmason » Tue, May 28, 2013, 6:03 AM UTC

rjvir wrote: post #2

"A year ago, the University of Michigan’s hacker community lay dormant. Today, it is a force to be reckoned with." - says who?

It is a bit of an overstatement to say Ann Arbor's hacker community has been dormant. It's the liveliest in the state and Ann Arbor has also long been the startup capital though it is starting to be challenged by Detroit.

However I was there opening night at MHacks and what that crew pulled off was nothing short of amazing. There was incredible energy in the building that night.

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#16

Post by manglav » Tue, May 28, 2013, 6:34 AM UTC

I'll throw in my experience. I went to PennApps Jan 2013 after I learned some HTML, CSS, and javascript with some new friends I made. While we didn't associate with Michigan Hackers, we saw the rise of the facebook group, and their "recruiting efforts". They killed it. Fun stuff on the diag(the quad), awesome hack nights. It was sort of a focal point - a bright light to hacker moths, who were always around, but didn't have a community. Mhacks is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and a large part of my first steps towards software development.

Also, MPowered is our university entrepreneurship club. In my experience with them, it is mostly filled with business people trying to find software guys to build their stuff for them. However, apparently there is an incubator that has most of the people that actually build, but I never saw them too much.

Go Blue! Can't wait to see what they will do next year.

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#17

Post by Kinnard » Tue, May 28, 2013, 6:34 AM UTC

There's no place to hack like Michigan. Can't wait to see what happens when people start realizing they can hack anything. Not just photo apps, but civilization itself.

Re: How Michigan took hackathons by storm.

#18

Post by jsinghdreams » Tue, May 28, 2013, 6:47 AM UTC

I think this post serves as a wonderful blueprint as to how one can create a passionate community of individuals with a single goal in mind.

I would love to see another post, detailing the other side of UM's success; the long hours students spent training, and preparing for a hackathon. Everyone loves to make the claim that they showed up at a hackathon, learned how to program some new language, and take top 3 at a hackathon. What many posts fail to address are what was done to rally the students around such causes and get them both mentally and technically prepared for a hackathon.

Great job David et al, can't wait to see what's next!