OCTOBER 24, 2024 — RowdyHacks returns to the UTSA School of Data Science at San Pedro I (SPI) today, hosting more than 500 students from across the country for its 10th annual hackathon, from Saturday, October 26, through Sunday, October 27.
Marking a decade of competitions sponsored by The Association for Computing Machinery at UTSA (ACM), the theme of RowdyHacks X is “Hack to the Future.” This is a nod to RowdyHacks’ past and its bright future as the preeminent hackathon in San Antonio, says event co-director Liam Murray, a senior computer science major at UTSA.
“Ten is a big milestone,” Murray said, “but there’s also a focus on the past decade. So, with that in mind we thought it would be cool to integrate some kind of time travel theme into this. We have photos from when it all started with RowdyHacks I — of 30 people just getting together on a weekend and building stuff. Now to see it at well over 500 people is really just mindboggling. There’s definitely a sense of great pride and excitement in seeing just how big RowdyHacks has grown and how much it means to people.”
Students work together during the RowdyHacks event held in the spring.
Murray says the decision to turn the hackathon into a fall event was made largely to help students obtain summer internships.
“It fits better with the summer internship recruiting schedule,” he explained, “and provides a better timeline to be able to apply to those internships and work through the interview process.”
According to hackathon director and UTSA junior computer science major Nathan Zuniga, this calendar shift is something event organizers have considered in the past, but it wasn’t until the 10th anniversary rolled around that it made sense to do it.
“The 10th year is supposed to be big and grand,” Zuniga said. “So, it being the 10th year was part of why we opted to move it this year, because it’s such a monumental change.”
This means that Zuniga, Murray and the rest of the team have had to organize two major events in one year. While this has increased their workload exponentially, Zuniga believes the additional organizing experience leaves the future of RowdyHacks in good hands.
“Usually, we get the full calendar year to plan it all out,” Zuniga said, “and now we’ve had to condense it into five or six months, so it’s definitely been hectic. Fortunately, a lot of people have stayed from last year, and many of them are sophomores and juniors who plan on continuing with this.”
While the timing of RowdyHacks X has changed, the basic structure of the hackathon remains the same. Participating students, or “hackers,” can enter their projects into either a beginner or a general track based on their experience level. From there, they can choose to hone their skills by tackling a specific challenge, such as cybersecurity, hardware and various sponsor challenges.
Making the hackathon approachable for newcomers and challenging for returning hackers, is a balance RowdyHacks has always tried to achieve. To advance this goal, the event features a variety of workshops to help students learn the basics, master specific skills or just have fun.
“We are a beginner-friendly hackathon, and we’re still staying with that theme,” Zuniga said, “but we’re also reaching out to the more experienced audience as well with some of our workshops, so I think hackers will be pleased to get some of that knowledge as well.”
The event’s workshops will cover a variety of topics, from an introduction to Github — a web platform that allows developers to create, store and share code — to deeper learning experiences around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“Everything’s becoming focused on artificial intelligence, so we wanted to reflect that in our workshops,” Zuniga said. “Hackers are going to need those skills in the workforce or to do research in the future.”
The hosts for these workshops will be as diverse as the topics, with programming provided by groups like Major League Hacking and The International Collegiate Programming Contest, tech firms like AI developer Groq, and even UTSA alumni.
“We’re covering a little bit of everything for sure,” Zuniga said, “so I think it’s diverse enough that all our hackers will be more than satisfied.”
With such a wealth of knowledge available at RowdyHacks X, Murray says he understands why newcomers might be intimidated. How can somebody who has never written a line of code expect to compete against students from all over the country with years of experience? Between the beginner’s track, the introductory workshops and the fun social aspects, Murray believes RowdyHacks is the perfect place to dip your toes into the hacking water.
“We fully understand why it seems daunting,” he said, “but I would really encourage people to just show up and give it a shot, because anyone can learn. And that is very much a goal of RowdyHacks: to make sure anyone and everyone can show up, learn something new and have a good time.”
While RowdyHacks X aims to celebrate the past decade of hackathons at UTSA, Murray finds himself looking ahead to the next 10 years. Since its inception, the event has grown over 10-fold, and Murray says he has high hopes for continued expansion in the future.
“With the new college opening up, UTSA’s technology scene is only going to grow,” he said, “and I want to see RowdyHacks grow with it and help foster that growth. I would love to see RowdyHacks in 10 years’ time maybe even be a 1,000-person hackathon; that would be really incredible to see.”
At the same time, Murray wants to ensure that Rowdyhacks’ inviting ethos remains an integral part of the event for years to come.
“While we grow, I want to make sure that we maintain that RowdyHacks spirit,” he said. “I think that is something that differentiates us and makes us unique, and I want to make sure that we can grow and maintain the feel of RowdyHacks into the next decade and beyond.”
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Celebrate the graduates of the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeCome celebrate the graduates of the Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
