Hack IT – Information Technology and Systems Hackathon

Hack IT icon for ITS Academy

Are you curious what I.T. can do for you?
Are you in 7th – 12th Grade?

Join us for HackIT Presents: More information coming! FALL 2023

Register

Join our mailing list for updates on registration and events.

Questions?

itsacademy@utdallas.edu
Dawn Owens

Dawn Owens, PhD

Director, Undergraduate Information Technology and Systems and Business Analytics Programs

itsacademy@utdallas.edu | (972) 883-4901 | JSOM 3.707

We are inviting students from Grades 7-12 to attend an amazing event to learn more about information technology. Want to learn about I.T. and use your creativity to write code? Join us for an amazing opportunity, hosted by CapitalOne.

Hack I.T. is a great opportunity for middle school and high school students to get exposed to building something new using technology tools. The Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas is a great supporter of STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and home to a nationwide leading undergraduate program in Information Technology and Systems.

Experience what it takes to earn a degree in a technology field. Learn about technology and then apply it to create something innovative. Present your work to industry professionals, network with faculty and students. We look forward to seeing you.

I am so excited about the opportunities available to our students in this growing field. Please contact us to learn more about the UTD ITS Program, the ITS Academy and events we are hosting.

Agenda and Arrival Information

Agenda

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

JSOM Atrium

Check In

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Computer Lab 2 JSOM 1.302

Codefest

10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Break

10:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Computer Lab 2 JSOM 1.302

Codefest

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

JSOM Atrium

Lunch and Break

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Computer Lab 2 JSOM 1.302

Enhancements

2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

JSOM 1.212, JSOM 1.217

Presentations and Judging

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Davidson Auditorium

Awards and Wrap-up

5:00 p.m.

JSOM Atrium

Checkout

Arrival Information

On Saturday, Drop off and pick up will be at the JSOM Atrium, Jindal School of Management.

Parking passes will be sent prior to the event.

You may park anywhere on campus, Lot M, Lot Q, and the Garage Parking Structure will be the most convenient.

Jindal School of Management
800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX

Create a custom, printable PDF of our campus map

Check-in Location

JSOM Atrium

JSOM Map/Parking Information

UT Dallas Parking Map

Cost and Payment

Registration for this event is coming soon.

frequently asked questions icon

Did you know?

Nearly three-quarters of STEM workers have at least a college degree, compared to slightly more than one-third of non-STEM workers.

Forms

Instructions for completing the forms

  • Filling out forms is mandatory. Registration will not be complete without the return of forms. Download and complete the forms manually. You can either bring completed forms or scan them and email to itsacademy@utdallas.edu.
  • Please note there are forms labeled ADULT or MINOR. Only fill out appropriate form.

Meet Your Instructors

Salim Memmon

Salim Memmon

Where are you from?

I am from Riffa, Bahrain. I attended Al Noor international School in Bahrain, and upon graduation I went to Houston Community College. I transferred from HCC to UT Austin.

How and why did you choose ECE at UT Austin?

I was always interested in making things work logically and always had interests in physics and maths. I initially joined UT Austin for pure electrical engineering. However, after taking a few classes I quickly realized that software engineering came to me naturally, and I was able to interact with the software engineering community. The option of coding logic, growing technical skills, the social element being part of a community, and helping others grow is what has kept me on this track.

Where are you employed and what do you do in your job?

I work at Capital One as a software engineer. I create backend software solutions that provide the data required by websites to properly represent the customer needs. I also work with creating libraries that are used by other backend software solutions, so that other developers do not have to worry about solving for those problems. On a daily basis I work with Spring framework, Amazon Web Services, SQL databases, and automation pipelines which include Jenkins and docker deployments. I can definitely say that my engineering degree at UT Austin has taught me everything I needed to know to tackle any challenges thrown my way through analytical and critical thinking.

What are your future career goals?

In the immediate future I want to become a subject matter expert so that I can assist others in their growth. The near future goal would be to become a people manager that helps teams succeed and achieve their goals, all while helping the team members grow their career. In the longer run I hope to be a CIO that shapes and steers the future of a company based on initiatives.

Why are you excited about the future of Computer Engineering?

It is a booming career field right now, with Artificial Intelligence(AI), blockchain, machine learning, etc. It is the right place to be. Every company in this day and age needs some form of a website, database, or internal servers to process data. I can only see this field growing, and advancing with more complex patterns coming to light.

Saira Zaman

Saira Zaman

Where are you from?

I went to school in Kuwait and then moved to the US, studying at HCC and then transferring to UT where I majored in Mathematics.

How and why did you choose Mathematics?

I chose Math as my major because surprisingly, it was one of the subjects that I liked since middle school and I was good at it. I decided to pursue it in college because it has a lot of real-world applications, and I wanted to know what those were. leaned more towards Applied Math vs Pure Math (which is more theoretical), which involved a lot of coding and analytical thinking. A lot of classes I took were the foundations for CS and Engineering, and I’m someone who likes to know why something works instead of just knowing it does, so it worked out since I was able to learn valuable skills from my classes and got into coding because of them.

Where are you employed and what do you do in your job?

I work at Capital One as a Software Engineer and work primarily as a backend developer, so I code in Java and use the Springboot framework as well. My team works on sending communications like emails and faxes to different clients, most importantly dealers and lenders so they know the status of a loan application. We use AWS since our code is in the cloud and Jenkins/Docker for automation in deployments and streamlined pipelines. It’s an exercise to design and then code something flawless, and my degree has helped me develop an inquisitive mindset which is useful when coding a robust and seamless solution that is reusable and scalable.

What are your future career goals?

I would like to continue to dive deeper into areas of Tech that interest me, like Devops and best practices in Java/Spring. Eventually, I want to lead my own team and work on impactful projects while also facilitating the development of engineers like me.

Why are you excited about the future of Computer Engineering?

There is always new tech coming out so the learning opportunities are broad. I want to keep exploring and finding my interests since I’m still in the early stage of my career.

Hackathon Memories

February 2020

November 2018

ITS Academy Events

Hack IT icon for ITS Academy

Information Technology and Systems Hackathon

for Middle and High School Students

Fall 2023

G.I.R.L.S. STEM Symposium icon for ITS Academy

G.I.R.L.S. STEM Symposium

for Middle School Students

Spring 2024

Information Technology and Systems Exploration Summer Camp icon for ITS Academy

Information Technology and Systems Exploration Summer Camp

for High School Students

Summer 2024