This weekend, OnSIP hosted our first 24-hour CodeDay Hackathon in conjunction with Student RND. The CodeDay took place in OnSIP's New York office from Saturday at noon and until noon on Sunday. This was an educational opportunity for high school students of all skill levels and backgrounds who were interested in getting hands on experience with programming. OnSIP hosted the event simultaneously with other CodeDay Hackathons in Washington D.C., Iowa, Austin, Kansas City, and Denver.
"It's amazing how much we were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time," said High School Junior Brian Dwyer. "I never thought I could learn so much about programming in 24 hours. The setup of the CodeDay pushed us to work and learn as much as we could."
During the CodeDay, OnSIP engineers took students through the basics of JavaScript/WebRTC development, demonstrating how projects such as GetOnSIP and InstaCall are able to work entirely in-browser. Students learned these new skills during educational seminars held throughout the day (and night). The CodeDay culminated with students programming and demonstrating a unique project that used the skills they had learned throughout the Hackathon.
The projects the students produced varied in scope and concept, but they were all connected by the determination and raw energy the students had to harness to create impressive programs in the time allotted. Here is an overview of the winning apps.
Best Game
"Phisics" won the Best Game category. The game was a physics simulator in which the player pushes around boxes, and avoids obstacles like ice and turrets, in order to get to the finish.
Best App
"CoderBuddy" won the Best App award. It is a mobile that allows a user to search for programmers in the area, based on area of expertise.
Best Overall
The overall winner for CodeDay was "ToneTracer", a game where you have to match the tone of the sound that is played within the app (try it here).
"CodeDay required our team to come up with a unique concept in a very short amount of time," said ToneTracer team member Ryan Stillings. "The constraint of this 24 hour timeframe required us to be more efficient, and it ultimately made us think very hard and very quickly about our design choices. The experience changed my idea of what I can accomplish when I apply myself completely to the project."
The CodeDay concept, originated by the non-profit Student RND, aims to connect the specialized knowledge of industry leading companies with the budding passion of young programmers. OnSIP's CodeDay was designed to invigorate the students' passion for programming by encouraging them to produce a creative project within a set timeframe. This framework allowed students to realize their own programming potentials while immersing themselves in the latest web technologies.
"I look forward to throwing more CodeDays," said OnSIP Developer Evangelist Bryan Wade. "It was a great way to give students the confidence to go out and build things. It is amazing that in this day and age, with any form of background and experience, anyone can go out and build something cool."
