Welcome to Hacksoc!

A copy of my blog post, original found here.

Hello Everyone!

And Congratulations for getting this far! you’re awesome :)

We are hacksoc, the University of Nottingham’s official programming society and I’m Luke Geeson, The President here to give a big wave to all you freshers and returners! So I bet, you’re thinking, huh what is hacksoc?, let’s figure that out!

What is hacking?

Most people think hacking is breaking into a security system, or ‘testing’ it for breakpoints. This is the consensus, and the stereotype portrayed by mass media.

The word “hack” means “make”. Hacking isn’t about stealing Facebook passwords, it’s about meeting other passionate students and building cool software or hardware. We are the makers, the builders and the engineers!

HackSoc is the programming and technology society. If you want to learn about tech, share ideas, and build cool software and hardware? that’s what we do and you’re in the right place! Every week, we have programming tutorials for beginners, talks on more advanced topics, and attend hackathons throughout the country.

What is a hackathon?

A hackathon is a 24 hour long programming event. Hundreds of passionate students come together, form teams, share ideas, and help each other build innovative applications. University courses usually focus on theory but hackathons give students the chance to practice what they learn. These events always have free swag, free food, and developers from cool companies like Facebook and PayPal to teach you stuff.

HackSoc Storms BrumHack2!

Sounds scary, I wouldn’t want to be a drag :(

Not at all! Hackathons are all about community inclusion, we want loads of people to see how awesome it is. People of all capabilities attend hackathons to learn new things and help others out with things they know! Everybody wants to help foster the mentality and share knowledge, as knowledge is power!

In fact, at my first hackathon I was worried about exactly this! I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to help the team. Fortunately, everyone was massively supportive and helped me out. I didn’t make anything but it was awesome to be part of such a great community which nurtures this deep curiosity to learn! Needless to say I was hooked.

My first Hackathon at Studenthack2014!

I don’t do Computer Science or I can’t program :(

That’s fine, we love new people! we don’t assume any knowledge and can take you from zero to a competitive hacker in no time! With this, 40% of our members are not from CS and they do great! come along to the tech fest and see what we do!

This Semester’s Events

We have lots planned this year, including:

HackSoc TechFest: 1st October, 7.30pm The Hub
Goldman-sachs Guest speaker event: 8th October, 7.30pm, C60
Local Hack day, 10th October, 10am - 10pm, The Hub
Member talks on github and more! 15th October, 7.30pm, The Hub
Member talks on Travis, golang and more!, 22nd October, 7.30pm, The Hub
Esendex Guest talk: 29th October, C60
Women In technology: TBC
HackNotts: 28th/29th November, School of CS and more!

The above events are held in the school of Computer Science

Join today!

We welcome to students of all abilities. 40% of our members are not computer science students, with some of our most active members studying courses such as Medicine, Physics, Economics, or Philosophy. So join today and start revolutionizing the world with code!

Buy membership for the society at: www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/societies/society/hack/
join us on facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/hacksocNotts/
follow us on twitter: @hacksocnotts
drop us an email at: [email protected]
visit our site at: hacksocnotts.co.uk/