SPARC Hackathon 2.0 Brings Together 28 Teams from Around the Southeast

SPARC Hackathon 2.0 teams develop mobile applications during company’s second annual all-day coding and fun event on August 25

Photo at right: Apperture Science from the University of South Carolina takes home the $3,000 grand prize for Best in Show.

CHARLESTON, SC – August 29, 2012 – SPARC, a Best Place to Work winner, hosted its 2nd annual hackathon onAugust 25 at its Charleston headquarters. The 16-hour tech party broughttogether 28 teams from four states, and more than 800 spectators fromaround the country and from as far away as Texas. The winning team,Apperture Science from the University of South Carolina, won “Best inShow” and the $3000 grand prize with its Pocket Naturalist app.

A total of 28 teams entered Hackathon 2.0,which brought over 70 participants to the event from around theSoutheast. After picking their spots in the Developer Pit, teams chosetheir category from a randomly generated list of 2-5 topics such astravel, kids, social media, shopping, etc. It’s this spontaneous natureof Hackathon that makes the event so engaging to both participants andspectators.

After choosing the “Bartering/Haggling” category, The League ofPantless Gentlemen team began developing their app at 10 a.m. “Once wepicked a topic, we spent the first hour just hanging out, talking, andputting together some ideas – which really helped us. Once we had thatfoundation, as the designer I was able to write down the blueprint ofthe user interface, and the engineers broke up the functionally andattacked it,” said Matt Brooks, Hackathon 2.0 participant.

While each team built apps, the event buzzed with a live DJ, foodtruck rodeo, GameStop video game lounge, presentations, a jump castle,live band and open bar by Mix Bartending. The food, drinks, and fun wenton all day, giving participants and spectators ample opportunities tonot only enjoy the event, but learn what a Hackathon was all about.

After 11 hours of coding, the Build & Deploy team built the appsfrom the team repositories in GitHub and deployed them to Knappsack, a mobile application management platform. Apps with names like Tripppy, BarterBee, To-Do’ZZZ, PopDeals,PetNames, Lendable, and SitterLink were deployed to Knappsack anddistributed to each device for presentation and judging. Beginning at 10p.m., each team was given two minutes to present their app to thejudges and crowd.

It was amazing to finally see the ideas, the look & feel, andfunctionality of the applications. With twice as many competitors andthree times as many spectators, the competition was fierce this year!The teams did an awesome job of completing well-rounded apps in such ahigh-pressure situation. A majority of the teams said they plan tocontinue developing their apps in the future, and many spectators saidthis was incentive enough to learn mobile app development themselves!It’s inspiring to know that this event is a catalyst for such creativityand innovation here in Charleston, said Amanda Hodges, SPARC SoftwareEngineer and Event Organizer.

The judges, who had representation from Microsoft, Google, Red Hat,and Maga Design, delivered the final results to teams beginning at 1:00a.m. Apperture Science took home 1st place in the Native category, whilethe The Null Terminators, a team from Clemson University, won 2nd placein the Native category. Jack Russell Software took home 1st place inthe Framework category, and Team Honey Badger, from the College ofCharleston, won 2nd place in the Framework category. Apperture Sciencewon “Best in Show”, and walked away with $3,000 and two tablets fortheir efforts.

Be sure to check out all the Hackathon photos to get the real flavor of the event, and visit http://www.sparcedge.com to learn more about SPARC in get info on next year’s Hackathon.

About SPARC
SPARC provides software product development services and supportwith customers in the commercial, federal, and defense contractingindustries. SPARC offers a broad range of solutions in order to enhancecustomer-focused results in an industry driven by state-of-the-arttechnology. We infuse our services with robust scientific methods,complemented by modular information management technologies. Check usout online at http://www.sparcedge.com.