Namecheap is once again providing free hackathon domain names for Major League Hacking events this season. Nearly as important, they’re offering students some opportunities to make money and earn swag, just by being a volunteer or having a particularly cool project domain name.
“I went to five or six Major League Hacking events last year, which was awesome. This year we hired a developer evangelist. He and I are going to a lot of events this fall,” Namecheap head of products Teddy W. said, from Los Angeles. “We really just want to give back and help students build awesome things!”
Students can earn money and swag
On the cash-and-swag front, Namecheap is encouraging student hackers to run workshops on the value of having a personal brand and personal site, and also to be general Namecheap volunteers at hackathons. Participants can earn hundreds of dollars in Namecheap credit and travel stipends.
In addition, “This year we are launching an education program to give a free dot-me address to every college student in the U.S. and Canada,” Teddy W. added.
Namecheap plays it cool
Namecheap is also giving prizes just for having a cool project domain name. Teddy W. said one of his favorite domains from last season is VidSync.net, created by Penn Engineering’s Sudarshan Muralidhar, who is now a junior studying networking and social systems. Vidsync won NameCheap’s “Most Marketable” award at spring 2014 PennApps.
Muralidhar explained on his site: “Do you find it difficult to stay in sync while watching videos online with others? Fear not, for VidSync is here! Once you and your friends all join a room, anytime someone plays, pauses, stops, or seeks a video, everyone else’s video syncs up! You can also see your friends and chat with them. VidSync supports Youtube links, MP4 links, and MP4 uploads.”
Muralidhar, when informed by MLH about Namecheap’s plan, said he thinks it will be successful. “That would be fairly enticing,” he said. “I’ve always thought it was important to have your own web site.” He’ll be back at PennApps with a new project this season.