Student Hackathons

Student hackathons are rapidly becoming a cornerstone of innovation, creativity, and skill-building for aspiring developers. What started as an underground showcase for coders to compete, has evolved into national—and sometimes international—events where students can secure job offers. The events themselves even receive sponsorship from some of the top tech names in the world. 

However, as with many student competitions around the country, these events may not be widely known about to outsiders not directly involved. But regardless of if you’re a new coder or a graduating senior looking for a career, or if you’re a multinational corporation or a smaller company wanting to get your name out there, student hackathons are worth learning more about.

What is a Hackathon?

Hackathons are events where individuals, often students or tech aficionados, come together to brainstorm, design, and develop innovative solutions within a limited timeframe—usually 24 to 48 hours. Combining “hack” (problem-solving through coding) and “marathon”, the name becomes obvious when accounting for the duration and content of the contest. 

These high-energy events encourage collaboration and creativity as participants tackle challenges posed by organizers or sponsors. Teams build projects—ranging from apps to hardware prototypes—that address real-world problems, and often conclude with the participants presenting their ideas to a panel of judges. Hackathon results range from crowning a single winner and/or presenting awards for different categories like “Most Creative Solution.”

History of Hackathons

Hackathons originated in the late 1990s as a way for programmers to collaboratively solve problems and explore creative ideas. The term “hackathon” was first coined in 1999 during events held by OpenBSD and Sun Microsystems, where developers came together to write code for specific software. 

Hackathon origins are also credited to independent events like Super Happy Dev House (SHDH), which began in Silicon Valley as a social event for developers and tech thought leaders. The early iterations in 2005, were about 150 people and lasted about 12 hours. SHDH eventually grew into a sort of communal phenomenon that continued to expand until it became an international open source hackathon. Not only were early SHDH meetings seen as original hackathons but also revolutionary in the networking space. 

Initially focused on open-source projects, hackathons quickly evolved into competitive, fast-paced events across the tech industry, as well as academic spaces. By the 2010s, they had become global phenomena, with companies, universities, and nonprofits using them to drive innovation, discover talent, and tackle real-world challenges.

Example Hackathon Problems

Hackathons present participants with challenges to provide real life solutions to issues. These can be specific to event sponsors or they could be selected by organizers of the event. While you’ll rarely see the same problem twice, here are examples of hackathon parameters from the past.

Sustainability Solutions – Develop an app or system to reduce food waste by connecting restaurants with food banks or local communities.

Healthcare Innovation – Create a wearable device or software to monitor mental health or detect early signs of a medical condition.

Smart Cities – Design a tool to improve urban traffic flow and reduce carbon emissions using IoT and data analytics.

Financial Inclusion – Build a platform that helps unbanked populations access digital financial services or micro-loans.

Disaster Response – Create technology to assist with natural disaster relief, such as emergency communication systems or resource allocation tools.

What is a Student Hackathon?

There are subtle structural differences between student hackathons and other hackathons. While this isn’t always the case, student hackathons tend to be a bit more collaborative than others. Student hackathons can result in major winnings like job offers or free access to certain tech, however they are not always directly tied to monetary gain. Corporate sponsored hackathons for employees meanwhile often result in the winner receiving a bonus or other compensation.

Student hackathons also tend to be a bit shorter—12 to 36 hours rather than ones that go 48—to better accommodate student schedules.

Great Upcoming Student Hackathons

There are a number of incredible hackathons throughout the year, but here are a few we’re keeping our eye on!

Hack_NC State – North Carolina State’s annual hackathon is completely student organized. Taking place on February 8th and 9th, this year’s iteration is sponsored by Cisco, Lowe’s, and Volvo.

HoyaHacks – Last year’s HoyaHacks—Georgetown’s student hackathon—had over 350 participants and was sponsored by major companies like Cloudforce, Google, and Microsoft.

Revolution UC – University of Cincinnati’s hackathon has been taking place since 2014 and will continue in 2025 on March 1st and 2nd. Like many university hackathons, it is open to all skills levels.

LA Hacks – LA Hacks is one of the largest and longest hackathons on the university circuit. The most recent LA Hacks had over 1000 participants and was a 36-hour challenge. LA Hacks takes place in the historic Pauley Pavilion—home of UCLA’s legendary basketball team—and has previously been sponsored by tech giants like Microsoft, Intel, and Nvidia. 

Student Hackathons for Employers

Many employers view student hackathons as open tryouts to use sports terminology. The problems given to participating hackers often mimic real-world examples of problems developers would need to work through in an actual work environment. Employers then can watch on as hackers perform under pressure to resolve the issues. 

While most hackathons have a winner, it’s not all about the champion. Employers can also review solutions to see how students think and what types of creative solutions they employ. Additionally, hiring managers can align their needs, like tech stacks, with those participating.

 Hackathon Sponsorship

By sponsoring hackathons, companies open themselves up to tons of benefits. The first, of course, is giving back to their community. The majority of student hackathons would not be able to happen without the support of outside sponsors. 

Other benefits of sponsoring include:

• Brand awareness for both your company and your products/techs
• Access to a pool of highly skilled job candidates
• Potential integrations between your products and the best solutions presented at hackathons
• Ability to mentor up-and-coming students/hackers.

The benefit of recruiting from a pool of qualified candidates can’t be understated. Most hackathons provide their sponsors with resume books, a collection of all of the participants’ resumes. At Epic Hire, we provide our partnered hackathons with digital resume books, which presents a more interesting and holistic view of a student when compared to a black and white resume.

Student Hackathons for Students

The perks of participating in a hackathon may be evident by now for students. It really boils down to one thing, get your skills noticed. Remember how we compared Super Happy Dev House to a networking event? Well, for aspiring developers this is still the case. One major difference though is hackathon networking stems from your ability to code more than your ability to schmooze. 

Student hackathons shouldn’t be thought of as exclusively beneficial for the most elite coders either. While the winners may take home the notoriety, coders of all skill levels can receive valuable takeaways from participating in a hackathon. 

For one, not every sponsor is going to have the resources of Microsoft. So, while top companies compete and bid for the winners, other participants can find careers with smaller companies that may have projects that students find more interesting or may have an easier time making an impact on because the product is smaller.

Additionally, hackathons can show students who may be new to coding, underclassmen, etc. how they stack up against the best in the country. This can help them identify priorities for independent learning or for areas of study later in their college schedules. It could also provide ample opportunities for students to find and identify mentors who can help them grow into their dream careers.

If you’re a hackathon sponsor, student organizer, or participant that thinks their hackathon could benefit from a digital resume book that doesn’t look like it came from the 1950s, reach out to Epic Hire to learn about how we can upgrade your resume books. Sign up or schedule a demo here.