Ultimate Guide to the 2024 {code} Hackathon in Las Vegas!

No better way to make your mark during an event like this than to compete in the {code} Hackathon. This year’s Hackathon promises learning, collaboration, and personal growth. It’s Hackathon time, baby!

Theme: Empower Efficiency

The central theme of this year’s Hackathon revolves around demonstrating how VMware products and tools can save you, your team, the business, or customer precious time and spare you headaches. Whether you’re a VI Admin, work alongside one, or aspire to get into IT, this Hackathon is tailor-made for you. Our mission? To help you learn, and help make your life easier.

Kick Off Call July 18th, 2024

The fun starts July 18th with a community kickoff call that will include our judges, captains, team members, and {code} community members. We will discuss rules, expectations, and project ideas.

Sign Me Up

Judges

I love this part. Just like past years, we tried to recruit judges that have been community-focused, have shown growth in their own careers, and are willing to help those around them. We bring you: a Godfather of the Hackathon, {code} coaches, former Hackathon judges (2020, 2023), and a member of the VMUG Board of Directors. The following people you’re going to see are truly all about community and helping you get to that next level. Without further ado, here are your Explore Las Vegas 2024 {code} Hackathon Judges!

Alan Renouf – Technology Product Manager | Software Defined Edge, Broadcom

LinkedIn: Connect!
Twitter Handle: @alanrenouf

None other than one of the Godfathers of the VMware {code} Hackathon…Alan Renouf! The epitome of community. I don’t know about you, but I’d join the competition just to meet Alan.

Justin (JP) Sider – Chief Information Officer, Belay Technologies

LinkedIn: Connect!
Twitter Handle: @jpsider

Previous {code} Hackathon Judge, current {code} coach, PowerCLI Guru, VMUG Board of Directors. Most importantly, he’s a licensed soccer referee 🙂

Michael Roy – Product Marketing Engineer, Broadcom

LinkedIn: Connect!
Twitter Handle: @mikeroySoft

Once you meet Michael, it’s easy to see why he’s been a staple in the #vCommunity. For those new to the Hackathon, you may recognize Michael from his Tweet that went a little viral about VMware Fusion and Workstation.

Location

This year’s {code} Hackathon (Las Vegas) will once again be held in the beautiful Venetian! Conveniently located in Ballroom I on Level 2, right off the main hallway. Last year’s location is a distant memory 🙂

On the day of the competition, make sure to arrive promptly after the Expo lets out at 7pm. The first 100 attendees will have access to an open bar! Food and snacks will be available, too.

Important Dates

Below is the tentative schedule

Key Dates	Hackathon Agenda
July 18	Kickoff Call with Judge, and the {code} Community to Brainstorm Ideas and discuss rules, expectations, prizes, anything you’d like. Zoom Link
July 19	Official Hackathon Kick Off Date Call For Papers: registration for new Hackathon teams, new team members and proposals (remember to send us your photos and bios)
August 26	Presentations Due and Prizes Awarded
July 21	Coding kickoff for all teams
July 19 –August 22	Hackathon Training Sessions (Stay Tuned for Dates/Times/Links)

I’m excited about this one! Back in 2017, the team organized sessions like these at the Luxor in Las Vegas. I attended a great session, led by Cody De Arkland, where he showed everyone how to create an Alexa Skill and have it interact with the VMware Python SDK. This year, we’re hosting {code} coaches and speakers to help keep you learning and motivated along the way. All sessions will be streamed live on the {code} YouTube Channel, so bring your questions, and invite your friends!

Dates	Guest Speaker and Area of Expertise	Link
July 24 – 7am PST	Lino Telera – How to {code} a vInfrastructure from scratch using Terraform Cloud and Vault	Zoom
July 25 – 9:30am PST	Brock Peterson – Dashboard creation in VMware Aria Operations	Zoom
August 2 – 8am PST	Ryan Johnson – Using Terraform, Packer, GitHub	Zoom
August 6 – 6:30am	Jatin Purohit and Angel Petrov – vSphere API/SDK Latest Enhancements and Updates	Zoom

Participation and Final Presentation

All participants will have ~4 weeks to work on their projects. Each team can have up to 5 members, and remote participation is encourage. All teams will present their project to the judges on the 1st night of Explore (August 26th). This means that your team must have at least 1 representative attending VMware Explore in-person, so they can give the final presentation.

I surround myself with people that force me to grow. Here’s your chance. Will you accept the challenge? Join the {code} community -> https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-code/home

Network, Learn, Grow. No better way to make your mark than with some friendly competition at the {code} Hackathon w/Judges: @mikeroySoft @jpsider @alanrenouf See you there!#vexpert #hackathon #vcommunity Click To Tweet