Eric Greenberg, Brett Martin and Mario Muniz would not be Computer Science majors if it weren’t for their dedication to and passion for the subject.
These students make time for roughly 12-22 units of school and homework, computer related part-time jobs and hobbies that range from photography to basketball. Despite being busy students at California State University, Stanislaus, each of them has found time to pursue programming outside of school at conventions called hackathons.
A hackathon is a convention, or sometimes competition, where computer programmers get together to design and create software in a short amount of time. On Jan 16, Greenberg and his team, led by Brandon Halpin, CSU Stanislaus student, competed in a 24-hour hackathon here in Turlock called the Valley Hackathon. His team won second place.
At this event, Greenberg and his team created an interface for the Xbox Kinect that would map out a skeleton onto the user. The gestures that the Kinect then picked up were read to a music program. This music program, called ChucK, was able to play a song designed by a teammate that would change based on the position of the arms on the Kinect skeleton. When a user in view of the Kinect positioned their arms a certain way, ChucK would play music based on their arms.
The project that Greenberg’s team created was the type of program that is inspirational to Muniz and Martin. Though they didn’t attend Valley Hacks with Greenberg, they were able to attend both hackathons at the University of California, Berkley, Calhacks 2014, and at the University of Michigan, MHacks V. The winning team at Calhacks 2014 programmed a mentally controlled flying drone.
“That’s so cool,” Muniz said. “College students making a mind-controlled drone in under 36 hours. I can be doing the same thing. Calhacks 2014 was one of the most incredible experiences of my life because there were over a thousand people just like me. People that were college students learning programming alongside me.”
The projects that Muniz and Martin were a part of involved an instant messaging program at Calhacks 2014, as well as social media based around bookmarks people have in common at Mhacks V. Though Muniz and Martin didn’t place or finish their programs at either Calhacks 2014 or Mhacks V, they both enjoyed the experience.
Martin’s goals for these conventions weren’t to win the competition but to meet people and make new friends.
“The hackathons are really a get together for people your age who are passionate about the same things that you are,” Martin explained. Being able to talk about interests in programming and to learn from other students was important to him, and also Muniz, who said that is his favorite part about his major. Greenberg agreed, but went on to say that the problem solving and the creation aspects are what he loves about computer science.
For the students thinking about changing their major to Computer Science, Greenberg, Martin, and Muniz say to follow your passion. If you’re interested in computer science you can always give it a try. Don’t change your major if you don’t love it.
“Do what you love,” Greenberg said. “See what you can really do to effect the world in a positive way.”