A hackathon is best described as an "invention marathon." Anyone who has an interest in technology attends a hackathon learn, build & share their creations over the course of a weekend in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. You don't have to be a programmer and you certainly don't have to be majoring in Computer Science.

Girls Hoo Hack is open to all college-aged students or anyone who has graduated within the last 12 months. We welcome all women, non-binary individuals, and women supporters.

Not a problem! The entire Major League Hacking team knew very little when they each attended their very first hackathon. It’s entirely irrelevant what your experience is going into a hackathon, it’s more about your interest in technology. Every MLH Member Event is passionate about making their hackathons very welcoming and beginner-friendly. If you’re wanting to learn how to code outside of a hackathon, there’s a fantastic blog post that you should read. After, you should check out the following: Treehouse, Codecademy and the Major League Hacking blog to get started.

Girls Hoo Hack is free for all participants! Throughout the event, there will also be fun opportunities to get smaller prizes, swag, and more!

Not at all! This is a common misconception about hackathons and in actual fact, it’s the complete opposite. The environment at these events are designed specifically to encourage everyone to have fun and help each other. If you’re ever stuck on anything, go find a volunteer who might be able to help and if not, they will almost certainly know who can.

A team can have 1-4 members.

Not to worry! You’ll meet people when you get there. Everybody’s very friendly. A lot of people go to hackathons without teams. So it’s perfectly normal to go around to people, tell them you’re looking for a team, and ask if you can help out. Hackathons will often run team-matching sessions at the start to help you meet people. And you can often join a facebook group for the event beforehand and post there to find potential teammates. Protip: Invite your friends to come to the hackathon too! That way you’re guaranteed to have at least one familiar face.

That’s normal. Most people don’t have an idea before they get to the event. But once you start talking to other people, you might come up with something. You can also work with somebody else on their idea if you like it. And there will be prizes at the event which might help give you some ideas. Don’t worry about it, you’ll find something to work on.

You might think your project isn’t impressive or it might not be finished so you don’t want to present it. You should present it anyway! Honestly, hackathons isn’t about being the best or being competitive. It’s all about having fun, making friends and learning how to become better at things you care about. Presenting your hack gives you a chance to be proud of what you’ve done, and you should be proud.

Yes we do! Here is the link to the Code of Conduct: https://static.mlh.io/docs/mlh-code-of-conduct.pdf

GHH 2021 will be a hybrid in-person and virtual event. Some of our workshops will be in-person at 3 Elliewood, Charlottesville 22903 (main location). All of the workshops from the weekend will also be live-streamed via Zoom. Our main in-person location will be open for UVA student hackers to meet in-person during the duration of the event.