Hack-a-Thon 2014: CS Students BoilerMake It

10-13-2014

Writer(s): Kate Lewis (Purdue Exponent Features Editor)

This past weekend, 150 Purdue students and 350 students from colleges around the U.S. and Canada camped out in Lambert Fieldhouse for 36 hours, showcasing their computer coding skills.

The event, BoilerMake Hackathon, was the second hackathon ever held at Purdue. The first, held in February 2014, hosted over 400 students, and the students in charge looked to make this year’s event even bigger and better. Sponsors, including Apple and IBM, donated over $225,000 to pay for the weekend’s festivities – including transportation for the 350 students coming from all across North America. Representatives from the sponsoring companies joined in on the programming event, collaborating with students.

“The idea is that it’s like career fair 2.0,” said Kirby Kohlmorgen, a junior in the Department of Computer Science and associate director of this year’s BoilerMake event. “Instead of the traditional career fair where you stand outside and it’s too hot or too cold, and you wait in line for an hour and end up just applying online, BoilerMake brings companies like Apple and IBM to hang out for an entire weekend. They get to see you create a piece of software and it’s an interview, but it’s a lot more informal and a lot more exciting.”