Trinh Le, 24
As an undergrad at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), Trinh Le knew about hackathons and computer science, but was committed to pursuing a career in medicine. Her first hackathon changed her entire trajectory. HackUTD VIII was the first event she attended. She was unsure of what to expect at first, but after winning first place for a sponsor challenge, she said, “even though I felt like we built something basic and could have done more, I was very proud of our accomplishment. Winning was the start of it all.”
That hackathon kicked off a flurry of events as Trinh made it her goal to enter as many as possible. Soon, she discovered—and grew to love—the community that goes along with hackathons. As she remembers, “We were like a traveling band going around on a hackathon tour and encouraged as many people as we could to partake in our weekly road trips around Texas. Not only did I learn so much from my new friends and teammates, I felt like I was part of the hacker community.” Trinh sees the people she meets at hackathons as her reason to continue learning and evolving as a coder.
Hackathons did more than just solidify her coding skills, though. They let her open up as a person and come out of her shell. At hackathons, she met like-minded people with similar interests working together towards a common goal, creating tangible projects with real-world applications. At 2023 HackTAMU, Trinh gathered an unlikely group of newcomers and led them to create a valuable and dynamic project. Trinh remembers teaching a teammate React Native and Expo while also designing the pages of the application. Working together as a team, they were able to bring together a finished project and even win the Best Use of MatLab prize!
Trinh Le began coding later in her student career, but that hasn’t slowed her down. Ever since she discovered her love for technology and hackathons, she has been on a mission to share her knowledge with others. Her constant commitment to newcomers in the hacker community has made hackathons more accessible. She dedicates as much time to looking for opportunities to help others as she does to discovering new boba tea shops.
She says about her entry into the world of hacking: “I was only a beginner but the possibilities were infinite.” Though she’s already accomplished a lot, those infinite possibilities are still ahead of her.
Quick Facts
Trinh Le, 24
As an undergrad at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), Trinh Le knew about hackathons and computer science, but was committed to pursuing a career in medicine. Her first hackathon changed her entire trajectory. HackUTD VIII was the first event she attended. She was unsure of what to expect at first, but after winning first place for a sponsor challenge, she said, “even though I felt like we built something basic and could have done more, I was very proud of our accomplishment. Winning was the start of it all.”
That hackathon kicked off a flurry of events as Trinh made it her goal to enter as many as possible. Soon, she discovered—and grew to love—the community that goes along with hackathons. As she remembers, “We were like a traveling band going around on a hackathon tour and encouraged as many people as we could to partake in our weekly road trips around Texas. Not only did I learn so much from my new friends and teammates, I felt like I was part of the hacker community.” Trinh sees the people she meets at hackathons as her reason to continue learning and evolving as a coder.
Hackathons did more than just solidify her coding skills, though. They let her open up as a person and come out of her shell. At hackathons, she met like-minded people with similar interests working together towards a common goal, creating tangible projects with real-world applications. At 2023 HackTAMU, Trinh gathered an unlikely group of newcomers and led them to create a valuable and dynamic project. Trinh remembers teaching a teammate React Native and Expo while also designing the pages of the application. Working together as a team, they were able to bring together a finished project and even win the Best Use of MatLab prize!
Trinh Le began coding later in her student career, but that hasn’t slowed her down. Ever since she discovered her love for technology and hackathons, she has been on a mission to share her knowledge with others. Her constant commitment to newcomers in the hacker community has made hackathons more accessible. She dedicates as much time to looking for opportunities to help others as she does to discovering new boba tea shops.
She says about her entry into the world of hacking: “I was only a beginner but the possibilities were infinite.” Though she’s already accomplished a lot, those infinite possibilities are still ahead of her.
Quick Facts
