The day-long event will bring aspiring technologists of all levels together to experience the latest technology and propel innovation
New York, NY (December 2, 2019)—Over 10,000 expected attendees from more than 300 communities across 50 countries will participate in Local Hack Day: Build, the world’s largest day-long hackathon for students on Saturday, December 7th. The worldwide event is hosted by Major League Hacking (MLH), the global student hacker community that empowers the next generation of programmers and entrepreneurs. The event is sponsored in part by Microsoft Corp. Attendees will bring their ideas to life by collaboratively using hardware and software to create everything from websites to robots to mobile apps and beyond.
“Major League Hacking started six years ago with a simple goal: to share hacker culture with as many people as possible. Since then we’ve completely reinvented the on campus hacker experience and introduced more than 350,000 aspiring technologists to our community through hackathons and technical workshops,” said Mike Swift, Co-founder and CEO of Major League Hacking. “Collaborating with Microsoft Corp., allows us to bring this transformative experience and learning culture to millions more.”
At Local Hack Days, developers of all skill levels can learn valuable skills that they can bring with them to future jobs, personal projects, and schoolwork. In fact, out of 1,800 student hackathon participants surveyed, 93 percent revealed that they gained new skills at MLH events that they aren’t getting in the classroom. In order to help foster this environment of learning, each Local Hack Day location has a selection of hands-on workshops through MLH's Localhost program.
MLH Localhost is a free workshop-in-a-box tool kit for local community leaders. Anyone interested in teaching technology to their peers can run events for their own local groups. Collaborating with companies like Microsoft Corp., MLH creates and distributes peer-led curriculum modules that are fully equipped with presentations, content, teaching materials, code samples, a code of conduct playbook, co-branded swag and more. The content and activities offered through MLH Localhost meet the various skill levels of participants who range in experience from beginners to veterans. Attendees receive an opportunity to learn new technologies and skills from their peers, while connecting with brands that are supporting the next generation of developers.
“Microsoft is committed to empowering the next generation of creators with access to technology and training,” said Jennifer Ritzinger, General Manager Audience Evangelism at Microsoft. “Collaborating with Major League Hacking (MLH) provides a unique learning experience to Local Hack Day attendees worldwide with fun, educational content and access to Microsoft experts and technology.”
Local Hack Day events are adaptable for every culture and have been expanding across diverse communities since their inception in 2014. Additionally, organizers and student hackers in developing regions are provided with free technical resources that are generally difficult to access.
“Living in Yola, Nigeria, I did not have a hacker community because the resources simply did not exist,” said Sa’ad Ahmad, a computer science graduate and Localhost organizer. “I heard about Major League Hacking from the local developer group and knew that this was the community that we needed. Now I host workshops twice a month to help empower other developers to make the world a better place through technology.”
Local Hack Day: Build will be the largest to date, with additional support from GitHub. To become an organizer or to check out if there’s a Build event already scheduled in your neighborhood, please visit https://localhackday.mlh.io/build/.
About Major League Hacking
Founded in 2013, Major League Hacking (MLH) is the global student hacker community and a Public Benefit Corporation that empowers the next generation of technology leaders and entrepreneurs with free, out-of-the-box workshops and events covering today’s most relevant technology. Each year, MLH facilitates over 1,000 weekend-long invention competitions (hackathons), MLH Localhost technical workshops, and Local Hack Day developer conferences that foster community growth and teach computer science skills to more than 100,000 students around the world. For more information please visit: https://mlh.io/
Media Contacts:
Major League Hacking
Alyssa Miller
973-615-1292