Newcastle set for biggest ever hackathon

The biggest public hackathon ever held in the North East takes place in Newcastle this weekend. HackNE, co-hosted by Bede Gaming and Major League Hacking (MLH), will bring over 150 technology enthusiasts together at the Great North Museum for 24 hours of coding, creativity and fun. Hackathons, also known as hackdays, codefests or hackfests, are a global phenomenon which began in the US in the mid to late 2000s. They give developers total freedom, away from their day-to-day roles, to build innovative or problem-solving software within a day – and have given birth to a number of ground-breaking successes over the years. People who are passionate about programming form small teams to tackle challenges, build cool stuff and experiment with like-minded people through the night. MLH pioneered competitive hackathons across America and its Newcastle event, delivered in partnership with Bede Gaming, forms part of its first UK season. Bede Gaming is offering prizes to the best hacks and those teams that can meet its tough challenges, while also keeping a keen eye out for top talent that could potentially work for the firm in the future. Its team of developers will also be on hand to help hackers crack coding problems on the night. Managing director Dan Smyth said: “Hackathons are a brilliant way of generating creativity, innovation and testing the boundaries of technology. They’re also loads of fun and at HackNE there’ll be plenty of free pizza, good company and mind-boggling challenges for developers to get their teeth into.” Alongside Bede, HackNE is supported by Newcastle University, whose Computer Science students Andon Andonov, Luca Arnaboldi and Plamen Kolev were instrumental in securing the event. The university also provided the venue and supported the event’s organisation. Andon said: “Events like HackNE are fantastic for the North East because it has shown itself to be the only true technology hub outside of London. It will be immensely beneficial to see what the region has to offer in terms of talent and it also helps to get the message across just how fun it actually is to programme when you’re given free rein to do whatever you want. It also gives students and budding developers a chance to impress companies in a much more involved way than a careers fair.” Other companies represented on the night are MLH sponsors Bloomberg, PayPal: Braintree, SendGrid, Capital One and namecheap. MLH powers the official student hackathon league which each semester, sees over 15,000 developers, designers and makers compete in hackathons. Bede Gaming, which hosts its own regular in-house hackathons, was founded in May 2012 with a vison to become the best platform provider in the online gambling world. It has since grown a 110-strong workforce, opened additional offices in London and Bulgaria and built up a client list featuring some of the biggest names in the online gambling industry. Places at HackNE are free but running out fast. Anyone wishing to attend is asked to register in advance at www.hackne.com.