| layout | imo-hackathon |
|---|---|
| title | imo Hackathon@Northwestern |
| header | imo Hackathon |
| comments | true |
imo Hackathon@Northwestern is an event hosted by Hack Northwestern and sponsored by imo.im, a quickly growing Silicon Valley start-up co-founded by one of the first 10 employees at Google. The hackathon is designed for students in the Chicago-land area to build collaborative apps that can be discoverable by imo’s millions of users.
We want this hackathon to be fun while allowing students to show off their skills - and get rewarded for their talents.
Coders will have 22 hours to build an app for the chance to win big prizes and get a leg up in imo’s recruiting process. And of course, it wouldn't be an event without free food and swag.
This is Hack NU’s first hackathon and yet another one in Northwestern’s tradition of excellent hackathons, and we’re excited to have you show your innovation and creativity in a real-world situation with tangible, real-world results.
This event is open to all university students, not just Northwestern students. Just remember your university email address!
If you are attending the event and would like to send your resume in before or after the event, please email jobs@imo.im with the subject line JOB ID: 012.
Check out the rules section for more details.
Please email hackathon@imo.im with any questions.
- Take the "L" Purple Line to Noyes
- Head east on Noyes
- You'll reach the Technological Institute (Tech)
- In front of the steps of Tech you'll find flyers on the floor directing you to the hackathon, they will lead you down a road on the side of Tech
- Arrive, check in, and meet people!
The address for Tech is:
2145 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-3100
The parking lot across from Tech should be free for the public over the weekend.
Follow the flyers in front of Tech, they will lead you down a road on the side of Tech.
Our main base of operations will be in the Pancoe Auditorium. Unfortunately there aren't ethernet ports there. You'll be able to work in other locations as well, we'll talk about these locations at the event.
You will have wifi access either via the guest network or via our private network. We'll provide you with the wifi credentials for the private network. We won't be able to provide ethernet cables.
You gave us your prize suggestions, and we listened.
- First Place: $1,000 Amazon gift card for the team
- Second Place: $600 Amazon gift card for the team
- Third Place: $200 Amazon gift card for the team
Thanks to our sponsors at imo.im for providing our winners with these prizes!
Subject to change
- 4:15 p.m.: Doors open
- 4:45 p.m.: Introductions
- 5:00 p.m.: Let the hacking begin!
- 6:30 p.m.: Chipotle
- 11:30 p.m.: Pizza
- 8:00 a.m.: Babycakes breakfast
- 12:00 p.m.: Potbelly's
- 3:00 p.m.: Submit code
- 3:15 p.m.: Demos start (up to 3 minutes per team)
- 5:00 p.m.: Winners announced; Hackathon ends
Projects will be judged on creativity and execution, the latter of which will have a higher weight. Execution is divided into three parts: stability, usability, functionality. Keep in might that contestants are building their projects within a short time frame so stability and usability should not be given much weight. It’s more important that a project is functional and does what it’s supposed to do.
- Creativity - 25%
- Functionality - 50%
- Usability - 15%
- Stability - 10%
Nikola recently graduated with a BS from Northwestern University in Computer Science, and has liked programming since middle school. He is from Sofia, Bulgaria, and likes to watch Formula 1, WRC and other motor sports. Nikola also enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, some computer games and card games. He likes participating in programming and other science and robotics competitions.
Derek recently graduated from Northwestern University with a BS in Computer Science. Shortly after graduating, he cofounded walk.by which was funded by Lightbank. He enjoys hacking arduinos, Trader Joe's wine and racing cars. He'd love to talk to you about wearable computing and Chicago tech. You can reach him @derek_j_morris or derek@walk.by.
The point of this hackathon is to have fun while building new and cool collaborative tools. Please conduct yourself in alignment with these values and with fairness in mind.
If you are looking for a teammate, please post on the Facebook event page.
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Coders will need to bring their own computers for this event.
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You will need a valid university email address.
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Please create an imo Network account on imo.im.
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Then email hackathon@imo.im with your username. You will be added to a group chat which you can IM before and during the event with questions.
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Once your account has been created, please Edit your Public Profile and add your university email address in the “Email Domains” text field. You will receive an email asking you to verify your domain.
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You will have 22 hours to build a collaborative app; you must use imo's API.
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You may not come in with prior work.
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You are allowed to spend as much time as you want before the event to come up with ideas.
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Your creation must exhibit the slightest functionality of its intended behavior.
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You may work in groups or individually. Teams are limited to two people.
We encourage you to try imo on the Web, and on your mobile device (iPhone/iPad, Android) to familiarize yourself with the product before the event.
Note: You will own the rights to the software you produce.
Hack Northwestern is a student initiative built from the ground up to foster student creativity, entrepreneurship and hacker spirit! We are part of the student group, CATS, and are officially recognized by Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering.
When brothers Ralph and Georges Harik began using what would come to be known as imo.im, they had one goal - to make it easier to keep in touch with each other and their transcontinental family. They quickly realized how important communication is in our day-to-day activities, and decided to turn imo.im into what you see today - an instant messaging platform with more than 700,000 daily unique users who send more than 50 million messages per day. The mobile apps have had more than 5 million mobile downloads and 7 million unique users - and we’re not slowing down any time soon.
Based in Silicon Valley, imo.im is a fast-growing start-up founded by one of the first 10 employees at Google. We’re building products that help millions of people around the world connect with their friends and make new ones.
Through features like voice IMs, location sharing, group photos, voice calling and more, imo.im has been built with users like you always in mind.
Our team is highly motivated, hardworking and loves to solve problems. More importantly, we have fun and love what we do.
We’re really excited to sponsor this hackathon, and can’t wait to see what you come up with!
