It’s not how everyone would want to spend their weekend, but about 90 people signed up for a hackathon that would have them coding for 28 consecutive hours to help local charities.
“We have five groups that are all doing social good in Vancouver,” Chris Hobbs, Vancouver iDevelopers Industry Association President, said. “What we’re trying to do is help them solve some problems they might have internally with their own computer or communications systems.”
The #vanhacks event, which is taking place at Hootsuite’s Vancouver headquarters, has developers and designers work in teams to come up with the best idea.
One of the groups hoping to benefit from this hackathon is Potluck Cafe, which helps residents of the Downtown Eastside find employment.
“We have come here to be able to tap into great tech minds like this because our experience is in working with marginalized populations not with building new platforms,” said Colin Stansbury of the Potluck Cafe.
The work will continue until all projects go to the judges on Sunday.
Besides bragging rights, there are cash prizes for the top three teams.
– With files from Jill Bennett
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