Contrary to most, Christopher didn’t find himself thinking about joining a hacker community until after attending his first hackathon, GlobalHack 2016. He attended with Luis, his classmate from high school who he had only recently befriended upon going to the same university. It was at GlobalHack that Chris decided he didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. Having always loved the idea of turning ideas into reality, Chris changed his major from Pharmacy to Computer Science.
A few months later, Chris and Luis found out a hackathon would be happening at their campus and were thrilled. After attending, they found out that the previous organizer could not continue and the two of them had been asked to take on the task of organizing. The two decided to rebrand and thus, PickHacks became the first MLH member hackathon to happen at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Even after attending several events outside of their school, the duo still wasn’t sure how to go about planning a hackathon. They were aware of MLH and dove into the community for support. Chris attributes much of his organizer knowledge to the many peer groups he attended, conversations with other organizers, and experiences at other MLH member events. In one summer, Chris and Luis attended over 20 peer groups. With all of the help and their hard work, their event had over 300 students.
Chris has learned that he would like to move into a career in product management as opposed to software engineering. The skills he has gained through programming and organizing have led him to get a product management internship at Microsoft.
Looking back at where he was a couple of years ago, Chris is beyond grateful for all of those who mentored him and helped him to organize PickHacks. So now, as someone who has a bit more experience, Chris takes every opportunity to help other organizers in the community whether it be via messenger, video calls, or in-person meetups. He even goes so far as to share sponsorship contacts too even if it is a bit taboo because he knows what a big difference it can make.
In addition to his work as the co-founder and finance lead for PickHacks, Chris is the co-founder and vice president of his school’s Association for Computer Machinery chapter as well as the founder of Miner Key A Cappella.
Quick Facts
Contrary to most, Christopher didn’t find himself thinking about joining a hacker community until after attending his first hackathon, GlobalHack 2016. He attended with Luis, his classmate from high school who he had only recently befriended upon going to the same university. It was at GlobalHack that Chris decided he didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. Having always loved the idea of turning ideas into reality, Chris changed his major from Pharmacy to Computer Science.
A few months later, Chris and Luis found out a hackathon would be happening at their campus and were thrilled. After attending, they found out that the previous organizer could not continue and the two of them had been asked to take on the task of organizing. The two decided to rebrand and thus, PickHacks became the first MLH member hackathon to happen at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Even after attending several events outside of their school, the duo still wasn’t sure how to go about planning a hackathon. They were aware of MLH and dove into the community for support. Chris attributes much of his organizer knowledge to the many peer groups he attended, conversations with other organizers, and experiences at other MLH member events. In one summer, Chris and Luis attended over 20 peer groups. With all of the help and their hard work, their event had over 300 students.
Chris has learned that he would like to move into a career in product management as opposed to software engineering. The skills he has gained through programming and organizing have led him to get a product management internship at Microsoft.
Looking back at where he was a couple of years ago, Chris is beyond grateful for all of those who mentored him and helped him to organize PickHacks. So now, as someone who has a bit more experience, Chris takes every opportunity to help other organizers in the community whether it be via messenger, video calls, or in-person meetups. He even goes so far as to share sponsorship contacts too even if it is a bit taboo because he knows what a big difference it can make.
In addition to his work as the co-founder and finance lead for PickHacks, Chris is the co-founder and vice president of his school’s Association for Computer Machinery chapter as well as the founder of Miner Key A Cappella.
Quick Facts
