Unforgettable Weekend at Hack the North !

This weekend on behalf of Scotiabank myself and a team of programmers, innovation specialists, and data scientist participated in the largest student run hackathon in Canada – Hack the North. The turn-out from hackers, mentors and sponsor was tremendous, totalling approximately 1000 individuals from across the globe. Not only did the hackers & organizers surpass all of our expectation, but we actually had the best weekend EVER! As cheesy as this may sound, there is no other place I would have liked to have been this weekend than Hack the North.

Here are some of our highlights:

We got to the hackathon around 6pm Friday, and were welcomed by the organizers and volunteers (special shout out to Darren Li for all the hard work & long hours!). The Waterloo engineering building was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. Earlier in the day it was announced that the Prime Minister was going to be kicking off the welcoming ceremonies, and everyone was so excited. After setting up our booth amongst 52 other sponsors, we grabbed some dinner and headed to the opening ceremonies.

Justin Trudeau kicked off the hackathon with a motivating address to the participants. He highlighted the importance of technology, diversity and how Canada is truly becoming the next epicentre of innovation. As a Scotiabanker, I felt proud and excited to work for a company that that has invested so much into technology and is re-inventing the way we bank. Seeing the PM in action wasn’t too bad either :).

The hack kicked off at 12am, and the Scotiabank booth with its vibrant red decals was buzzing! To help students break the monogamy of hacking, we set up a riddle challenge – who was going to be the next Scotiabank riddle master? With buzzers, white boards and challenging riddles, we were entertaining the hackers with mathematical, and logic puzzles. To be completely honest, towards the end of the 72 hours, my partner Jessica and I started re-considering our career choice. Did we make a mistake? Should we have been game show hosts? Or should we become front end developers?

Aside from seeing Justin (yes, we are on first name basis now) and meeting all of the amazing hackers the biggest take-away from the Hack the North was the sense of community that was created. I loved being a part of helping students innovate, challenge the status quo and develop great ideas. I can’t wait for our next hackathon – Hack Western, were we will make an even bigger impact!

Huge thank you to all of the organizers, volunteers and hackers for making this experience so memorable for me and all Scotiabankers who attended. Can't wait for next year!