News | Tuesday, 5th April 2016

‘StudentHack’ returns to Manchester Met

Coding competition continues to grow

THE FOURTH annual StudentHack competition organised by students from the Department of Computing and Mathematics was once again a success. 

Hackathons, events where students work in teams to code intensively to solve a technical or general challenge, are growing in popularity.

The event, which took place in the Business School, attracted more than 300 students from around the UK to tackle programming challenges over 36 hours.

The main organiser of the event was second year Software Engineering student on placement, Hamza Ghani, who worked with members of the Computing Societies at Manchester Met and University of Manchester to make the event bigger and better than ever.

Springboard

Hamza said: “Organising StudentHack IV has been stressful and emotional, but overall an amazing experience. The first hackathon I attended was StudentHack 3 in 2014, and now nearly a year and half year later I am now responsible for organising the event. StudentHack has been very important in providing me with a springboard to gaining an opportunity for a year-long placement during my sandwich year.

“I would therefore recommend that everyone with a passion for software attends at least one hackathon in their student life to experience the fun and gain skills that you can only achieve outside of lecture theatres and tutorials.”

Dr Darren Dancey, Head of Computer Science and Information Systems, managed the hackathon from the staff side supported by colleagues.

He said: “In each StudentHack, a new community forms, with old and new faces joining together to tackle new challenges. The StudentHack community is always characterised by the desire of the attendees to learn new skills, work together to solve new problems, and to share their knowledge with others. StudentHack IV was again an energising and inspiring weekend.”

Employability

Hackathons are increasingly seen as important recruiting events for employers, who can get to see talented and motivated students with advanced programming skills. StudentHack IV was sponsored by employers including CDL, Yelp, The Hut Group, Bloomberg and Microsoft.

Faculty Head of International and Head of Strategic Partnerships Keith Miller added: “We are proud of the way in which Hamza has led the organisation of a complex and fun event that makes a great contribution to developing advanced coding and team working skills.”