INITiating the 2022 Hackathon Season
This summer, the MLH Team set out to kick off the 2022 Hackathon Season in a way, unlike anything we have done before. This 8-day celebration of hacking highlighted all the reasons why this community is so special to us and 135,000+ hackers around the world. Memories arose from late nights spent playing Chrome Dino, coffee meetups with guildmates, and from building creative hacks with new friends. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the season holds, but let’s take a look back at what you accomplished at INIT.
As always, the artwork that came out of the event was nothing short of a masterpiece. We are surprised that they haven’t been hung up in a gallery (although the originals they were based on certainly were).
Made by @_rainbow.salt._.
Made by @asher_carneiro
We saw hackers take their real-life experiences as technologists into their own hands as they completed the challenge of drawing a comic about tech. Wow, did these make us laugh! The creativity that was put into these was truly unmatched in hilarity, authenticity, and artistry.
INIT By The Numbers
This season kicked off with a burst of energy on your part. You learned by attending live technical sessions with nearly 6,000 attendees during them. The topics ranged from Build a Calculator to Create a 3D Model and beyond. If you want to take a look at any of them, you can find them all on our Twitch channel.
MLH Alumni hackers talk about their experiences
We had four incredible panels covering a wide array of topics. The advice given by our lineup of speakers was truly inspiring and impactful. We learned how we can work to make events more inclusive, how organizations can open doors to marginalized communities in tech, and how to make the most of the hacker community. We highly encourage you to take a peek at them: The Future of Tech Education, Advice from Former Hackers, MLH Fellowship Q&A, Diversity in Tech, and Women and Diverse Genders in Tech.
The motivation around building hacks was out of this world. With over 4,300+ projects submitted on Devpost, we saw you get creative with the hacks you built and finding new ways to grow your skillset.
More than that, you shared everything you were doing with the world! Over 800 hackers livestreamed themselves completing hacks and we saw nearly 850 demo videos. Even more, you used your socials to share with friends what you had made with 3,765+ posts. New friends were in abundance with nearly 1,000 new hackers referred!
We had several season announcements that ranged from the new season mascot to the MLH Top 50 to in-person events returning in 2022! In case you missed it, make sure to check out Swift’s keynote.
INIT By The Leaderboards
The guilds at this event had electric energy. Whether that was late night Zoom calls, to Discord high fives, to spamming the Twitch chats with your guild mascot, there was definitely something in the air that we’ve never seen before. BLAHAJGang defended their title as reigning champion with Developer Student Community, EddieHub, and HackOn putting up a good fight.
On another note, we were excited to see some new faces at the top of the Guild Activity leaderboard. Coders Evoke took the top slot followed by BLAHAJGang, CodXCrypt, Micro Club, and Technorats. We even saw hackathon events created their own guilds and participating, two of which made it into the Top 10 (HackOn and GirlsHooHack)!
When it came to individual hackers, we saw some new stars rising in ranks. In the top slot, we have Adam Cameron Drummond followed by Siddharth Maratha, Isha26, Rambabu Malgaya, and Amar Kumar.
Big Thanks To…
MLH INIT could not have been possible without the contributions of some notable groups! We could not be more thankful for working with:
- Jina for helping hackers to learn all about their open-source neural search framework and getting started with Artificial Intelligence.
- .Tech for being the official domain partner of INIT and leading conversations around access to computer science education in tech.
- Xylem for encouraging hackers to create projects focusing on sustainability. The water safety and environmental awareness hacks helped to educate the MLH community on all the ways we can help the Earth.
- Replit for providing our hackers with a free month of their hacker plan. Their in-browser IDE platform proved very useful for our attendees as they built their projects.
- Our panelists whose advice and insight were invaluable and greatly appreciated! We can’t wait to see how it will impact the way they navigate the tech space.
- MLH Coaches for leading some incredible workshops, live technical sessions, and mini-events. They were an absolute blast and this event wouldn’t be the same without you and your contagious enthusiasm!
- Guild leaders and hackers for bringing the excitement and go-getter energy that makes this community so special!
How Can I Get More Involved?
Hackers at TechTogether Boston
Inspired by INIT to get more involved in the MLH community? We’ve got tons of ways that you can get more involved this season!
Local Hack Day: Learn
Did you enjoy MLH INIT? Then you’re gonna love Local Hack Day: Learn on October 10th — 18th! This 8-day event is a great opportunity to learn new skills through live technical sessions, beginner-friendly workshops, and panels all geared towards helping set you up for a season of hacking. Sign up right now!
MLH Localhost Workshops
Want to learn new skills this season? Join us for our free, beginner-friendly technical workshops that run Monday — Saturday in all time zones. Find a topic that interests you from How to Build a Full Stack Web App with AWS to Intro to Python. Learn alongside hackers from around the world in these peer-led workshops. You can also host your own if you’d like. See upcoming workshops now!
The MLH Hackathon League
Fill your weekends with fun at our hackathons (24–36 hour invention competitions)! These events are a great place to pick up new skills and build hacks to add to your portfolio. Each event is special whether it’s beginner-focused, gender-focused, themed, and more. Find one that’s the right fit for you by looking at our season page!
MLH Hackcon IX
Interested in empowering your local hacker community? Don’t miss out on MLH Hackcon IX on August 14th — 15th! Our annual organizer conference is FREE and you can expect to hear of all the ways you can organize whether that’s a hackathon, workshop, guild, or community. There will be peer-led workshops, talks on community, and discussions aplenty. In addition to these sessions, you can look forward to networking activities with a twist from mini-events to Color War! Make sure to sign up now!
Fellowship
The MLH Fellowship is back for Fall 2021! For this semester, we’ll be offering two different full-length (12 weeks) programs (Open Source and Software Engineering) designed to help you improve your skills and build out your portfolio. You’ll gain the type of applied experience that employers want to see while working with your peers from around the world on exciting projects. Apply now — applications close September 13th!
See you soon and Happy Hacking,
Emily and the MLH INIT Team