UMD Hillmaner Paves the Way for MC Hillman "Hackathoners"

By Wasique Iqbal
On April 6-8, 2018 in the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland College Park, I, along with 2 other classmates, Nazea Khan and Jason Acevedo, took part in Bitcamp. Bitcamp is a hackathon where we had 36 hours to delve into our curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. They had four different trails for everyone depending on what you were interested in. Hacker Trail was the classic hackathon experience where you build anything that comes to your mind and try new technologies. They also had plenty of workshops with topics ranging from Web Development to Machine Learning. I chose the hacker trail for my adventure, but I also was a part of the activities from the Design trail, Venture trail, and Scout trail.
At the event there were plenty of sponsor there with booths set up. In my time there I personally spoke to Appian, Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft about potential internships. A lot of the representatives and recruiters I spoke to told me to be ready and apply by August of 2018. They also liked how I already had some experience with my past internships and a possible internship that I could be doing this summer. I am planning ahead and trying to get myself in the best position possible to land a big summer internship for my junior year.
In my time there I was also able to meet with Darpan Shah. Darpan was also part of the Hillman Entrepreneurs program. He graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a degree in Computer Science. When he graduated he had participated in more than 90 hackathons and done more than 9 internships. I was able to speak to him and get some advice on how to be successful after you graduate and how to prepare yourself for the workforce. Overall Bitcamp was a very fun and informative experience and look forward to going there again next year and many other hackathons!