The open collaborative environment of a “hackathon” is the perfect setting for students and career changers to get a glimpse of the exciting world of IT and software development at its best. While forming teams to address real-world challenges, hackathon competitors also form connections that can lead to further professional development or build bridges to new career paths.
Assembling a group of invested community partners who can directly produce usable software by the end of the event is a thrilling experience. Each hackathon event is generally focused around hot topics in a particular community. This year’s Hillsborough event will focus around apps that make county data more accessible and relevant to citizens, while at the same time promoting entrepreneurial ventures by highlighting local talent.
Creative Solutions
Sharing information makes systems and organizational processes stronger. Software created by users in the field of health informatics, for instance, takes into consideration ways to overcome known vulnerabilities and mitigate internal glitches that would not be obvious to developers outside the field. Supporting such collaboration is in the best interest of any organization looking to create smarter, more effective and secure software applications across industry.
Great Opportunities for Students and Career Changers
The 2013 Hillsborough Hackathon, sponsored in part by the University of South Florida, will provide keen insight into the most creative applications of IT in addressing current community challenges. Hackathons like this one are filled with professionals from a wide range of IT fields who share skills on teams in a variety of coding challenges to benefit the local community. Young professionals who attend the event may better understand how IT professionals in fields like health informatics build, implement and monitor enormous amounts of data to support a secure and more effective healthcare system. Health informatics is one of the fastest growing fields today and is rapidly incorporating IT solutions to meet current shifts in medical record keeping.
Parents and High School Students Encouraged to Attend
For parents with high school students that need a gentle nudge toward engaging in career exploration, the USF Hackathon provides a great opportunity. This event will allow students of all ages to see professionals using technology and creating software solutions that address direct community challenges and meet industry needs. Mingling with IT professionals may provide connections that resonate with student interests and may inspire further career exploration. With the wide range of IT and healthcare participants in attendance, informal conversations are more likely to take place compared to the more reserved conversations that are had at a formal college or career presentation which usually include a sales pitch of sorts.
Get a Glimpse into a Field and Ask Questions
Sitting down with a college recruiter or training specialist at a college or university doesn’t provide insight into the day-to-day working environment for fields such as health informatics or Information Technology. The Hackathon provides extraordinary opportunities to view cutting edge solutions and experience a wide-range of IT applications from a great diversity of professionals across many industry divisions.
For students, parents and career changers, a Hackathon is a hands-on no pressure career day for all age groups as much as it is an open and collaborative software development event. With many major local and national businesses in attendance, there will be plenty of engaging opportunities to build potential professional relationships and to make important career connections.
For more information about the upcoming Hackathon sponsored in part by the University of South Florida, see: http://www.hackhillsborough.com/.
Please Leave A Comment
Related posts:
Online Accounting Tool From University of Florida Makes Research and Tracking Easy
HIMSS 2013 – Top Health IT Trends
Illinois CPA Society Announces 2013-2014 Scholarships
Health IT Funding Reaches $493 Million for Q1 2013
Machine Learning Project Opens New Possibilities for Scientific Research, Web Search and University Research Centers