To go along with our theme, #BuildWithPurpose, the Compass Challenge will allow your team to focus on a cause that interests you.

Bitcamp has always been about bringing people together through their love for technology. This year, we want to bridge the gap between our hackers and the rest of our community by incorporating real-world problems at the forefront of our challenges.

Compass: an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows direction relative to the geographic cardinal directions.

Just as each of the four cardinal directions of a compass direct travelers to a destination, the four directions of the Compass Challenge represent real-world social challenges that your team can help solve with technology.

You’ll have the opportunity to act as consultants for the partner organizations aligned to each cause and work with company representatives to create a potentially viable industry product.

Participation in the Compass Challenge completely optional! Ultimately, it aims to empower hackers who wish to make a lasting change in their community.

1. Energy Sustainability with GOEFER Inc.

Think of the household items that stay plugged in day after day. While keeping electronics plugged in all day may be convenient, we often forget the impact this has on the environment and our bank accounts.

We challenge you to raise awareness regarding our regular energy consumption and help reduce energy use. Whether it be to help save money on your energy bills, sustain the natural resources we already have, or even allow for greener hackathons, there is an endless list of reasons for why energy sustainability grows increasingly relevant every day.

2. Continuing Education with Exerceo

How do we inspire individuals to continuously learn throughout their lifetime? We challenge you to design a product that will get and keep individuals excited about learning, no matter their stage in life. Think about who might use your product — is it burnt-out college students? mid-career professionals?

3. Mental Health Awareness with Sigma Phi Delta

Mental health is an issue that affects about 1 in 5 adults nationwide. That number increases to 1 in 4 when you narrow the demographics to college-aged adults. Community outreach and wellbeing are core tenants of SPD. We challenge hackers to effectively use software or hardware in their hacks to make a meaningful contribution to mental health quality of care, access, or support.

4. Create your own cause!

Are you passionate about a cause that is different from the ones listed above? We encourage you to create a hack that tackles a social good issue that you care about. Whether it be ending world hunger, animal rights, discrimination, or disaster relief, the options are endless.

Bitcamp is a place for exploration. You will have 36 hours to delve into your curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. With world-class mentors and 1,200+ fellow campers, you’re in for an amazing time. Whether you’re a seasoned hacker or completely new to the world of hacking, we’ll have something for you. Bitcamp 2019 is on April 12–14th at the Xfinity Center. If you’re ready for an adventure, we’ll see you by the campfire!

Since its founding, Bitcamp has always considered itself a design-friendly hackathon. In the past, this has been embodied by our design competition, Colorwar, which is one of the biggest Bitcamp events. However, while Colorwar allows designers a recess from participating in a hacker team, it does not resonate with designers as much as it could. It only takes one hour of the hackathon, which makes designers who are inexperienced hackers wonder what they would do for the rest of the time, and its rapid fire format doesn’t allow competitors to use the iterative design thinking process that design students learn in school. While it is an incredibly fun and exciting event and we have no intention of getting rid of it, we want Bitcamp to be a truly welcoming place to designers new to the tech scene.

Who is this program for?

If you’re a student designer from any design background or discipline, including user experience design, motion design, and graphic design, regardless of technical or programming experience, then the Design Den is for you. We want designers with an open mind, a willingness to work with new people, and a passion for creating new things.

Why should you participate?

Participating in Bitcamp as a designer is an opportunity to develop your portfolio in a creative environment and get feedback from professionals! You will work with design and engineering students from different backgrounds. Additionally, Bitcamp has workshops that teach technical skills like programming and hardware, opportunities to network with companies, and all kinds of fun events. Your Bitfolio will become a whole collection of new projects that you can polish and put in your portfolio.

How do I take part?

Since Design Den is a specialized program, the number of participants will be restricted. Don’t let this stop you from applying! We take in applicants of all skill levels!

To apply for Design Den —

1. Complete the general Bitcamp application by clicking the “Hack” signpost at bit.camp.
2. Then, complete the Design Den application by submitting your portfolio and information here. All applications are due by Sunday, March 31st at 11:59PM!
3. Stay tuned for more specifics on the application soon, and mark your calendar for April 12–14, 2019 — designers will be admitted based on their portfolio submissions.

Why does this matter?

At Bitcamp, we believe that design is important. Technology is absolutely central to the lives and livelihoods of everyone on the planet, and design is one of the few systems of thinking that allows a small group of creators to make something that actually helps such a wide variety of people. In other words, products that take advantage of design talent are generally better products. But hackathons, one of the major ways that tech students learn how to build things, don’t teach participants how to do this. We want the projects that come out of Bitcamp to be as thoughtful as real projects.

What can we do about this?

We can create a program tailored specifically to designers that lasts throughout the hackathon! Design students can meet recruiters from tech companies, learn tech skills, and have an opportunity to practice their design skills in an environment more like the real world, while the engineers who work with them can learn from them and be in an environment that is more like an actual tech company. The sponsoring companies can meet design students, learn what schools and programs they come from, and make connections that could bring more resources into underfunded design schools.

How do we make this happen?

This year at Bitcamp, we are allowing students to participate specifically as designers. These designers will function like mentors: teams can request a designer with a specific set of skills and be matched with someone who can help them through a task such as creating a logo for their product, theming their website, or conducting research to figure out the best way to lay out their interface. Designers will work with many teams over the course of the hackathon and build a Bitfolio of the designs that they create, which will be judged for prizes.

Bitcamp is a place for exploration. You will have 36 hours to delve into your curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. With world-class mentors and 1,200+ fellow campers, you’re in for an amazing time. Whether you’re a seasoned hacker or completely new to the world of hacking, we’ll have something for you. Bitcamp 2019 is on April 12–14th at the Xfinity Center. If you’re ready for an adventure, we’ll see you by the campfire!

Colorwar features fast-paced design challenges for our Bitcamp participants to get their creative juices flowing.

Are you ready?

Bitcamp’s 9th annual Colorwar design competition is on its way! Colorwar features design challenges for our Bitcamp participants to get their creative juices flowing.

1. Register for Bitcamp 2023

You must be registered and attending Bitcamp to be considered for the main event. Everyone can still submit for fun though!

2: Submit your design by 1 PM on Saturday, April 8

Create a visual that expresses your interpretation of Bitcamp’s “Find Your Frontier” theme. Then show us that image on Twitter (@bitcmp) or Instagram (@bitcamp) with the hashtag #colorwar2023. We will be accepting submissions before and during Bitcamp, a few hours before Colorwar happens! After the submissions are reviewed, those who qualify to compete in Colorwar will be announced and tagged on Twitter and Instagram, prior to the start of the competition!

Please note that all submissions must be individual!

3: Compete on Saturday, April 8 at Bitcamp

We’ll select a few finalists for the main event at Bitcamp. Contestants will battle it out through five rounds of knockout design challenges. Judges and the crowd will determine one victor.

Need some inspiration?

Check out past entries from competitors!

Think you’re ready to compete? Check out the full set of rules here, and good luck!

Bitcamp is a place for exploration. You will have 36 hours to delve into your curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. With world-class mentors and 1,000+ fellow campers, you’re in for an amazing time. Whether you’re a seasoned hacker or completely new to the world of hacking, we’ll have something for you. Bitcamp 2023 is going to be held at UMD’s XFINITY Center on April 7–9th. If you’re ready for an adventure, we’ll see you by the campfire!

Bitcamp has always celebrated entrepreneurship, with keynote speakers such as Brendan Iribe (founder of Oculus), as well as student entrepreneurs from Startup Shell, Maryland’s student-run incubator. This year, we are taking our commitment to entrepreneurship to the next level with Bitcamp’s new Venture Trail! The goal of Venture Trail is to introduce entrepreneurship as a viable career path that is open to everyone.

What is the Venture Trail?

The Venture Trail will consist of a set of workshops, panels, and prizes designed to expose tech students to the bustling world of entrepreneurship. We at Bitcamp realize that technical knowledge alone is not enough to bring a new product to life. As a result, it’s important that students become involved, or at least expose themselves in the world of tech entrepreneurship.

Why is it important to get students involved in entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is an important aspect of our everyday lives, especially in the technology field. No breakthrough technology can come to life without a concrete business or marketing plan. The perspective of student entrepreneurs is invaluable when shaping new technology startups, ideas, and products. It takes the efforts of both engineers and entrepreneurs to focus on the design details of a product as well as the big-picture of where it is headed.

How do we make this happen?

The goal of the Venture Trail is to help facilitate students to getting started with entrepreneurship. We want students to realize that entrepreneurship is not just about launching a business, but a lifestyle of innovating and solving real-world problems. So what stops students from getting involved with entrepreneurship?

Risk: Jumping into a new idea is scary. It sounds like an incredible amount of time commitment, and you don’t believe you have the time to juggle both school and your startup, so you feel like your options are either to just focus on school or drop out.

While entrepreneurship is often associated with dropping out of school, there are many students who balance student and entrepreneurial lifestyles. Through the Venture Trail, we aim to expose hackers to life as a student entrepreneur. We will have a set of workshops , as well as a student panel for hackers to engage with student entrepreneurs working on diverse issues.

Lack of Exposure: The bustling world of entrepreneurship can be hard to navigate, especially if you do not know anyone in it. Through the Venture Trail, we will have opportunities for students to engage with key players in the space, such as Venture Capitalists. Venture Trail is open to anyone interested in entrepreneurship, regardless of whether they have worked on their own venture or not.

Lack of Diversity: People from underrepresented groups stay away from the startup space because they feel like they don’t belong, and their ideas don’t matter. In Venture Trail, we will be highlighting initiatives and groups that focus on inclusivity within the entrepreneurial space.

How can I get involved in Venture Trail?

To get involved with the Venture Trail, be sure to attend the Venture-marked events at Bitcamp! These events will be visible on our schedule, so be sure to follow us on social media for more information. To compete for the prize, you can select Venture Trail when submitting your project at Bitcamp (via Devpost)

Hackathons are incredible spaces. They let people of all levels explore technology, learn new skills, and create amazing projects in just one weekend. But for someone who has never been to a hackathon, simply attending one can be overwhelming. Experienced hackers seem to be out and about — running to workshops, talking to sponsors, and forming teams with an idea already in mind — leaving a first-time hacker lost as where to start.

Why does bringing beginners into hackathons matter for tech?

Thanks to technology’s dynamic nature, problems in every field, from public health to music, are being solved with a tech-oriented mindset. People whose experience doesn’t lie directly in the path of technology are starting to pursue a technical background that will enable them to combine technology and their primary interests. Beginners are the perfect people to pioneer the blending of their own background with technology, and a hackathon is the perfect space to start.

When someone with a passion for an idea is equipped with the skills to bring that idea to life, the results are amazing!

What can we do about this?/How do we make this happen?

At Bitcamp, we want to make sure each hacker gets the chance to unleash their full potential and pursue their passions, even if they’ve never even written a line of code. That’s why we created the Scout Trail. The Scout Trail is designed to introduce first-time hackers to hackathons and the tech world. There will be specially marked “Scout Trail” events, including introductory coding workshops and sessions to guide beginners through all the essentials of hackathon culture, like using Slack, or submitting your very first hack. Beginners can then immediately apply their newfound skills to a project and enter for the “Best Scout Hack” prize, which not only celebrates their final product, but also the skills they learned while creating it.

Why should you participate in Scout Trail?

The Scout Trail is for people who are new to the hackathon or tech scene, but are eager to learn more about it. By participating in the Scout Trail, you’ll get a kickstart to your first hackathon and meet awesome hackers, both beginners and veterans, that you’ll learn from and bond with even after the weekend is over. Beginners will also get a solid foundation in tech so they can continue learning after Bitcamp. Before you know it, you’ll be ready to tackle issues and create groundbreaking solutions in their classes, jobs, or even your next hackathon!

How can you take part?

To join the Scout Trail, make sure to first register for Bitcamp as soon as possible. After registering, keep an eye out for the confirmation email. You’ll get a chance during confirmation to choose which trail you’d like to join.

If you select Scout Trail, you’ll be free to jump around to workshops outside of the trail during Bitcamp. However, we’ll have Scout Trail workshops specially marked on our schedule, so you can get the most of your weekend.

Register for Bitcamp now at http://bit.camp and get ready to mark your trail!

Bitcamp has come a long way since our inception. This year, we will be launching a new Trails program to expose students to the diverse opportunities available in the expansive world of tech. Whether you are a new or veteran hacker, and whether you want to utilize your skills in design or entrepreneurship, we want to provide a meaningful way for each of you to “Mark Your Trail!”

Hacker Trail: The classic hackathon experience! Build anything cool that comes to your mind, and don’t be afraid to try new technologies. The sky is the limit, and we will have plenty of workshops with topics ranging from Web Development to Machine Learning. There will also be mentors around the clock to help you throughout the weekend, as well as many sponsor prizes for you to compete for.

Design Trail: Through this Trail, you will have the opportunity to submit a portfolio of your design work for the chance to participate in Bitcamp as designers. You will act as a mentor and contributor to multiple teams at the event, while developing a portfolio of your designs (your Bitfolio) which will be judged at the end of the hackathon by design professionals.

Venture Trail: The bustling world of entrepreneurship can be hard to navigate, so we want to offer you the opportunity to hear from key players in the startup space: venture capitalists and student entrepreneurs! We will have workshops geared towards taking your hack to the next level and working on a venture as a student and beyond. Participants in this trial will be able to compete for the “Best Potential Startup” prize, judged by veteran entrepreneurs!

Scout Trail: Bitcamp is all about exploration and pursuing your passions, regardless of your experience level. If you’re a first-time hacker, you’ll learn how you can combine your interests with tech to create something awesome. We will have special beginner-oriented workshops and sessions to guide first-timers through both the world of coding and hacking, covering essentials such as how to form your own team, make use of mentors, and submit a project. Beginners will also be able to apply their newly developed skills to a project to compete for the “Best Scout Hack” prize.

Bitcamp 2018 takes place on April 6–8. Apply now at https://apply.bit.camp/!