Acting as the largest hackathon in the metro Detroit area, GrizzHacks is a 24-hour event of innovation and collaboration. Students from Oakland University, the community and further are invited to join together for the third annual GrizzHacks at the OU Engineering Center on Sept. 22 – 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This event is free for all participants.

According to Joshua Tauberer, author of Hackathon Guide, a hackathon “is any event of any duration where people come together to solve problems.”

Participants gather to collaborate and solve problems that are presented by sponsors.

“This is the third year we are throwing GrizzHacks, and it is going to be the largest yet,” said Shriyash Jalukar, director of sponsorship.

GrizzHacks is a student run organization and invites all students of any major to participate in the event. This year, there will be over 300 attendees.

“You don’t have to be a computer science student, you don’t have to be a developer at all,” Jalukar said.

Introductory workshops will be offered during the hackathon for beginners on various different topics including how to develop a web app.

Unique to OU, GrizzHacks also offers students an opportunity to network with industry professionals in a casual and fun environment. Participants solve problems with their team and compete for prizes awarded by a judging panel of experts. Judges assess hacks based on design, innovation, potential for implementation and difficulty. Through judging, 10 projects will be chosen to present to the entire group, then final judging will commence. Winners will receive a prize that has not yet been determined, but over $5,000 in prizes will be given during GrizzHacks.

Hackathons started in California and quickly spread to universities and cities across the world. Some notable inventions that sparked from hackathons are GroupMe, Snapchat and Facebook’s “like” button.

“There is no other student organization that brings together so many students, professionals and alumni at one event,” Jalukar said.  

Sponsors of the event include Dynatrace, ESCRYPT, Ally Financial, Comerica Bank, Faurecia, Intrepid Control Systems, LyonsCG, Dataspeed, GitHub, Quicken Loans and Microsoft.

Participants will be provided food throughout and can bring their own hardware, though some will be provided at the event. Students are not allowed to begin their hack before the event but are encouraged to become familiar with tools they may use.

Teams consist of one to four people but collaboration within teams is encouraged. Students can register for the event without a team or idea because there will be an opportunity for team building and networking early on in the event. There will also be plenty of time to interact with professional mentors and engineers, meet recruiters and listen to great tech talks and tutorials from sponsors.

You don’t need to be an engineering major. If you have a passion for technology and the drive to change the world, you belong at GrizzHacks. Interested students can learn more about the event at grizzhacks.com. Registration is open until Sept. 22 and walk-ins are welcome.