[alumNY News] hackNY is growing!
Happy January and happy 2025. This first month sure has been something. I hope y’all are making sure to look after yourselves, your mental health, staying warm and staying safe.
hackNY is growing!
Right now is one of my favorite parts of the year. We’ve sent out acceptance letters to our first round of applications. The class of 2025 is looking to be an amazing new addition to our community. I’ve got a few ways that y’all are able to support our upcoming class.
Hire a fellow
We currently have 6 wonderful students that we’re looking to place this year. If you’re able to host a fellow, please reach out and I’m happy to share resumes. Randall Hunt h`11 from Caylent, Katie Chou h`22 and Dan Cadden h`15 from Ro, and Devon Peticolas h`12 from Oden are already reviewing our fellow’s resumes so act fast if you want to host a fellow! Shoot me a message on slack or email me to hire a fellow.
Interview Prep Workshop
To help our fellows and any alumNY that are interviewing we’re hosting a workshop to practice technical screens Feb 5th on Zoom. Claire Durand h`16 is leading the workshop so it’s bound to be amazing. We’re looking for folks that need practice, and folks that are able to be interviewed. Signup at https://partiful.com/e/PamerRuerqRSKWV29oWF
Volunteer to organize the summer
This week marks the start of planning for the speaker series for the class of 2025. I’m looking for volunteers to help me source venue’s and speakers. As always we’ll have a mix of events that will include stuff that is open to everyone. It’s still early, but I’m currently aiming to host another fellow+alumNY hackathon on May 31, 2025 and Demo Day on Jul 31, 2025. Those dates are still dependent on finalizing a venue, but feel free to tentatively block your calendars. If you want to help with any events, reach out to me.
Community Updates
hackNight and NYC Mesh
On Tuesday we were hosted by NYC Mesh. We had 12 alumNY come together and learn about how they’ve been bringing affordable, community centered internet access to NYC. It was an incredible deep dive into the hardware infrastructure, the software they’re using to run everything, and a lot of photos of folks on ladders drilling into buildings to install antennas. It’s one of the coolest talks I’ve seen as part of hackNY and I’m 100% bringing them back to talk to the class of 2025. If you want to get involved with NYC Mesh they meet every Monday 7pm virtually on slack and every Tuesday 7pm they host a Hack Night in person on Broome St. Join their slack at https://join.slack.com/t/nycmesh/shared_invite/zt-2yby74r02-KxyKi~cfmMZhhAxqe6VlJA.
(We also have our own monthly hackNights. Info for our February event will be going out in a little bit.)
QWER Hacks at UCLA
Genevieve Chin h`23 is organizing QWER Hacks. It’s a hackathon at UCLA for LGBTQIA+ students and allies interested in building tech for social good! Founded in 2019, their mission is to create a safe space where queer folks and allies in tech can connect, celebrate their identities, and learn from one another. She is looking for volunteers to serve as project mentors and judges! If you're interested in volunteering as a mentor, panelist, or judge, please fill out their form by Wednesday, January 29th: https://forms.gle/SMzs4j7jasjLidB39
Raising money for the Video Game History Foundation
The charity event Nolan Filter h`10 helps run is back on January 25-26! They’re raising money for the Video Game History Foundation through a Twitch raid chain marathon. From Nolan: “I hope you can join! I'll be running a Pikmin Randomizer on Sunday the 26th at 5pm ET, so definitely come by and cheer me on: https://bsky.app/profile/defeatinggames.bsky.social/post/3lfpmoq5sxk2j”
New members in the hackNY Webring
Daniel Saewitz h`12 has joined our hackNY webring, making a new post about lessons on creative work. If you haven’t heard about the webring it’s a collection of personal websites for alumNY. In one click you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of 14 different alumNY blogs. Shout out to Steve Gattuso h`12 for organizing this whole thing. Learn more over on #blogs in slack.
Migrating from Vue 2->3 for Open Library
Ray Berger h`18 led a successful Vue 2 -> 3 migration for Open Library and blogged about it here. Migrating Vue 2 Web Components to Vue 3 isn't as straightforward as the docs suggest. Ray and team tackled three main challenges: setting up Vite builds, managing multiple components, and handling plugins.
Hire an alumNY
Chris Hranj h`16
Location: NJ
Open to Remote and or Relocate: open to NYC but remote highly-preferred
Technologies: python (django, DRF, celery), react, typescript, postgres, docker, k8s
Link to Résumé/CV: https://brodan.biz/static/files/resume.pdf.
slackNY handle: @brodan
John Tucker h`21
Location: NYC
Open to Remote and or Relocate: remote or hybrid in NYC
Technologies: javascript, Next.js, React, Python, AWS, postgres
Link to resume: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OP1_iy98yzxUk5u8Yb3HoVnZaxZCK6BB/view?usp=sharing
slackNY handle: @John Tucker
Adrien Lynch h`22**
Location: VA, USA
Open to Remote and or Relocate: Remote preferred, open to relocating
Technologies: C++, C, Python (+Pandas +NumPy), SQL, AWS, Tableau
Notes: Would love to work with data, health tech, security, or embedded systems, but open to any area that may be a good fit
slackNY handle: @adrien
Kellie Dinh h`18
Location: LA, USA, Prefer relocation to NYC
Notes: I'm currently looking for architectural design internships for this summer 2025 after being in tech as a SWE for 3+ years.
I'm in my 2nd year of the Master of Architecture (M.Arch I) program at USC where I've done a mix of projects (residential, cultural centers, temporary installation) and I'd love to work on any projects with thoughtful approaches to design with a caring, passionate team. An added plus if they also do branding/installation/interaction design e.g. LAB at Rockwell Group or SOFTlab.
Link to Résumé/CV: https://issuu.com/kelliedinh/docs/portfolio_issuu
slackNY handle: @Kellie Dinh
Work with an alumNY
- From Claire Durand h`16: NYC based ppl - here's a job opening for a company based in the same climate-focused startup incubator space I work in (Newlab).
- From Alex Berke: My friend (startup founder) is looking to diversify his team as he hires a founding software engineer. Boston based. They just got $1.8m in investment.
- From Jason Strauss h`12: Looking for a designer to help with 5 pages of a new consumer e-comm website (landing page, login pages, 2-3 shopping/product pages), ideally in HTML/tailwind, but open to figma etc. Budget $1k
- From Walter Menedez h`14: college students! spotify dot com is doing internships!
- From Kush Maheshwari h`17: I am hiring for two roles at SkyLink. We are building a corporate travel AI that integrates with Slack and MS Teams.
Reach out to any of these folks on slack for more info. While we’re chatting about jobs, here is a reminder that we’re doing an interview workshop on Feb 5th.
That’s it for alumNY updates this month. As always let me know if you have anything you’d like to share with our community.
Best,
Shy h`14