Since 2014, Brandeis Initiative for Technology, Machines, Apps and Programming (BITMAP) has hosted Codestellation, Brandeis’ beginner-friendly 24-hour hardware and software hackathon. This year, it is taking place Nov. 10-11 in the Shapiro Science Center.

Briana Li ’20, a double major in computer science and linguistics, is one of the co-presidents of BITMAP and also one of the head organizers of Codestellation – The Friendly Hackathon.
Li, along with the other members of BITMAP’s E-board, worked hard to promote the event this year.

“I’m the head designer, so I made all of the promotional materials, like t-shirts and posters and the designs for all of that,” explained Li. “I’m also one of the head organizers, so I oversee everything, making sure that everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing and then on the day of the event I make sure that everything goes accordingly.”

This is Li’s second year organizing the event. She told The Hoot that this year, the club’s goal was to open up the event to more than just Brandeis students, but also to students from the greater Boston area. “We’re always looking for people who aren’t necessarily involved in the CS [computer science] department here to come and just try out coding, and if they end up liking it then it’s all worthwhile, I think,” said Li.

Hackathons are events where computer programmers and others involved in software development work collaboratively on software projects. The goal of a hackathon is to create usable software or hardware. “Hackathons happen everywhere across the globe, and Codestellation is Brandeis’ oldest and biggest hackathon,” said Li.

“Basically what happens is you’ll come in and you’ll form a team, usually 4-5 people, and you brainstorm an idea of something you can either code or use hardware to solve,” said Li. A lot of the hacks have to do with software, but BITMAP will also provide many different types of hardware such as 3D printers, virtual reality headsets and robotics gear that students can use to hack.

Students can choose to either stay in the Science Center for the entire 24 hours, as there will be a designated sleeping room on the bottom floor of the center, or they can choose to go back to their rooms overnight and be readmitted at 7 a.m.

At the end of 24 hours the team will have a finished product that can be presented to the three judges: Ian Roy of the MakerLab, Josie Elias, program manager of Digital Health Innovation of the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub and the CPO of Rocket Software, Anjali Arora.

This year, BITMAP worked on getting sponsors for the event, sending out hundreds of emails to different companies starting in the beginning of the summer to see if they would be interested in helping out.

Companies such as Microsoft, payfactors, Rocket Software, balsamiq, Wolfram Language, TIBC and Monster have assisted in sponsoring the event, and will be sending software engineers and representatives to the event as a way to spread information about their companies and also to recruit and collect resumes. Monster will be providing their drinks to students, as well.

Some of the prizes that students can win include a game console, bluetooth headphones, speakers and gift cards.

“For people in CS who already know how to code or have experience, it’s a good opportunity for them to network and see who else is involved in the CS department here,” said Li. “I think Codestellation plays a big role in branching those people together because there are a decent amount of people now in the CS department and it’s definitely a growing department.” Through events such as Codestellation, students can network with each other in a large department and find ways to collaborate.

Students with little experience can choose to attend simply to learn about coding, or others can attend to apply their coding skills and potentially make connections with top companies in the software industry. “I feel like the best way to boost your resume is building projects, and this forces you to do that in 24 hours, so whatever you end up creating is something that you could show to a future employer,” said Li.

More than 350 students have registered to attend Codestellation, and registration is still open at codestellation.io for anyone who would like to be involved.