The Beginner’s Guide to Hack Western
The thrill of competing. An unfamiliar environment. A challenge to solve. The concept of hackathons can be pretty intimidating — especially if you’ve never been to one before — but it doesn’t have to be.
This is everything you wanted to know about Hack Western 8 but were too afraid to ask.
What is Hack Western, exactly?
If you search it up, you’ll find out that Hack Western is Western University’s annual student-run hackathon. You’ll find that it’s an event that welcomes hundreds of students all over the globe. But in reality, Hack Western is so much more than that.
With its rich, fast-paced environment, Hack Western is a hub for innovation, learning, growth, fun, and new experiences. In just 36 hours, participants research, ideate, prototype, build, and show off their hard work as they pitch their project to a panel of judges. 36 hours doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but you’d be surprised at some of the most inventive projects that people have come up with in the past. (My personal favorite is the winning team from Hack Western 7, Dance Party. You can read more about them and other past projects by checking out our Devpost.).
It’s a place where there are absolutely no repercussions for risk-taking or failure. The key to any successful project doesn’t always revolve around perfection, but rather, it’s more about having a team that’s willing to push the boundaries of tech!
Hack Western History
Hack Western was founded by Artur Tsurkan and David Tsui in 2015. Together, with their team of 15 Western students, they organized a hackathon that attracted over 370 student participants from all across Ontario and tech giants such as Microsoft and Yahoo.
It may come as a surprise that the creation of Hack Western was an accident.
While David was a computer science major, Artur was a business student with no technical background. On a whim, Artur decided to attend MHacks IV after stumbling upon a Facebook post looking for a hackathon team. He and his team travelled down to Michigan armed with little to no knowledge about building an Android app, save a few online tutorials.
The weekend wasn’t all smooth sailing but by the end of it, the four became novice Android developers with their creation: “I Hate Snow”, an app that helps students navigate Western’s campus during the winter while avoiding the snow.
They loved their experience so much that they wanted to share it with everyone at Western and thus, Hack Western was born.
For such a new event, it was wildly successful and its legacy still carries on to this day. Last year, Hack Western 7 welcomed over 600 participants and 19 sponsors including companies like Scotiabank, Deloitte, and EY.
What Will the Virtual Experience Be Like?
Hack Western isn’t just about winning. Regardless of whether you come home with a prize or not, you’ll leave the weekend with something new.
This year, our goals are to partner with more organizations to bring in opportunities for work and experiences, networking, and learning. You can expect learning at Hack Western 8 to be very hands-on, from practical workshops to mentorship and guidance from industry professionals. On top of things, this year, we are making it a goal to highlight diversity, equity, and inclusion. Scaling our initiatives and outreach to increase various pathways into the tech industry for the LGBTQ+ community, females in tech, and so much more!
We’ve come a long way since Hack Western 6, the last in-person event before COVID-19. The virtual Hack Western 7 helped our event expand beyond the Ontario region and grow our presence in the West Coast and the US. This year, we’re expanding our capacity for participants with a pre-week, where hackers can enjoy an additional week of workshops and networking with sponsors all across North America ahead from the weekend hacking time.
Earlier, I mentioned that it’s not all about winning. But it’s not all about competing either; it’s a weekend of learning and excitement. Make sure to take a break in between working on your projects to relax and enjoy your weekend by attending art classes with Bob Ross or a Hack Western game session with your friends.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for November 19th-21st (and make sure you sign up for our mailing list to stay in the loop for updates, event information, and fun challenges)!
