How to be a Badass Hacker (HackNY Edition)

This is a talk I gave at a couple of universities to help inspire students to spend their summer in NYC with HackNY. The first half is some tips and tricks I picked up that will make you a better hacker and the second is about why HackNY rocks your socks.

Transcript

1. How to become a Badass Hacker by @SwiftAlphaOne
2. Note: Not Ryan Gosling. @SwiftAlphaOne
3. Outside of Class. Get involved in things
4. Go to hackathons #1. and Tech events
6. 0 30 60 90 Q4/2011 Q1/2012 Q2/2012 Q3/2012 Q4/2012 Q1/2013 Q2/2013 Q3/2013 Hacker League Powered Hackathons
7. Why do the hackers go to hackathons?
8. Learning (81%) Prizes (13%) Building (44%) 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% Jobs (10%) Fun (22%) Swag (11%) Networking (71%)
9. There’s almost always a happening near you.
11. Work on Things #2.you care about
12. When I review potential candidates, the first thing I look for is open source.
13. Contribute? Where do you
14. Surround yourself #3.with smart people
15. Find a local hacker community. If one doesn’t exist, start it.
17. Read about tech #4.every single day
18. I’ve learned more random, useful tibits on Hacker News & Reddit than I did in class & work combined.
19. Learn to avoid the spam.
20. My Favorites Here are some of
21. Apply for HackNY? Why should you
22. in the greatest city in the world Spend your summer living and working with the best & brightest students in tech (Doesn’t that sound awesome?)
23. New York
24. NYC startups to solve real problems. You’ll get paired up with one of the top (no fetching coffee & snacks for you!)
26. member of the NYC Tech Community Each week, you’ll hear from an influential during the Summer Speaker Series.
27. moot
28. Chad Dickerson
29. Joel Spolsky
30. Dave tisch
31. Chris Dixon
32. apply.hackny.org
33. Thanks I’m @SwiftAlphaOne on Twitter.