The sky truly is the limit...how a space-themed hackathon pushed me further!

In early October, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the 2019 HackNC hackathon, put on by MLH and UNC Chapel Hill. The theme this year: Space Exploration. And the event not only lived up to the theme, HackNC 2019 also by far exceeded my expectations.

When I first walked into the venue where HackNC was being hosted, I thought this was going to be a great time to develop my first personal project with a group of friends. Little did I know, there was going to be a plethora of new skills and tools to learn while I was there, making this "exploration of space" even more exciting.

MLH and other sponsors came full force in terms of making sure this years hackathon was thrilling and informative. There were three key aspects of this years HackNC that I believe would benefit all college students, and not just computer science majors.

1) Workshops

Throughout the duration of the hackathon, there were a myriad of informative workshops that provide information on some of the most popular softwares or topics. These workshops can also help people who may not have experience in programming or knowledge of certain technologies that are currently popular. Regardless of how novice or advanced you are, you will have learned something new before the workshop is over.

2) Services and Softwares

A major component of this year's HackNC was the endorsement, advertising, and supply of different services or softwares students or "hackers" have access to. Simply by being a student, or attending the hackathon, you are provided with multiple premium services to help you with your hack, or use in a later project!

This year, my team used a free domain provided by MLH, learned Bootstrap Studio to develop our website (https://netlinkapp.info), and used the free credits provided by MLH to host our website on Google Cloud Platform. Many of these resources and skills may have not even been something that my team would have been aware of, had we not attended HackNC this year.

3) Networking

While many of the companies present are there to advertise their tech positions, talking with the companies is still a great opportunity to get your resume out to companies during the recruitment season. Additionally, it gives anyone the opportunity to learn about what prominent tech companies are working on currently. For people interested in working in the tech field, the networking aspect of the hackathon is a huge added benefit. Why? Well because you are at a outside event where you are creating projects, the recruiters are able to see that you already have the initiative to go out, and develop projects. Plus, you can get some cool swag from the companies!

In short, this years hackathon was something magical, and left me excited for the next one! The "space exploration" may have been tiring, but it was well worth the experience. If you are interested in seeing what my team developed, just go to https://netlinkapp.info