HackDFW is the first student-organized, intercollegiate hackathon with over 1600 registered participants. The 24 hour hackathon is scheduled on February 28 – March 1 at The Women’s Museum at Fair Park and the event is considered to be the largest hackathon held in North Texas. All students are welcome to attend, from high school students to PhD candidates.
My name is Adil Shaikh and I’m an M.S. Computer Science student at UTD and a full-time Software Developer at Sabre. This past summer, I was invited to attend the Sabre Dev Studio Hackathon as an employee-participant. I had the opportunity to meet two prize-winning teams, which happened to be fellow UTD students. The students at the hackathon loved the creative energy and building spirit at their first ever hackathon. It was a great experience!
After a brief introduction and later a chat on Facebook, the UTD students and I began attending a series of hackathons together throughout the nation. At every event we attended, from MHacks in Michigan, to Money20/20 Hackathon in Las Vegas, we kept noticing one common theme among the attendees; Dallas hackers were present. Not only were these Dallas students participating in the various hackathons, but also they were placing in the top ranks over and over. With all this demand, the next step was obvious: host a 24-hour hackathon in the Big D.
Money20/20 – Amy L. (HS), Dylan M. (HS), Ian M. (UTD), Andrew T. (UNT), Adil S. (UTD)
We joined forces with SMU, UNT, and other students at UTD and began the journey to organizing HackDFW, which aims to bring all Dallas-Fort Worth students together to collaboratively build and learn technology. After many emails, phone calls, and meetings, we were on the way to host an awesome hackathon.
MHacks – Spencer K. (SMU), Adil S. (UTD), Austin W. (SMU)
With support from the technology community in Dallas, from the likes of Launch DFW and the local tech startup community, to larger technology corporations such as Sabre, Intuit, Microsoft, and many others, we have had the opportunity to transform a few students idea into a reality.
HackDFW had over 1600 students register and every major Texas university is represented. Students from out of state—even coming down from Canada! We have an awesome venue. We have famous judges—Mark Cuban, Doug Parker, Mayor Rawlings, and more. It’s going to be the largest hackathon to ever hit North Texas.
With only a few days before HackDFW, the organizing team is in overdrive to ensure all loose ends are tied. We’re all running around getting everything needed to keep our hackers hacking!
I look forward to seeing y’all there! #HackDFW
The Women’s Museum, Fair Park, Dallas, TX