Hackathon to Internship for Computer Science Students

Daniel Stone (OR 2019) commented:

“Earlier this year, we decided to attend the University of Reading R U Hacking hackathon - a 24 hour event in which we were challenged to collaborate and produce a piece of software that we would present in order to win prizes. Since the four of us are going on to read Computer Science at University, this was the perfect event to test our collaboration and programming skills. At the end of the session we had created a website that detects roofs in rural areas of Africa using satellite imagery. The program optimised water tap locations so that each tap's load was as balanced as possible.

This caught the attention of one of the hackathon sponsors, BMI, a leading roofing company. They later invited us to their brand new tech hub in Reading and had us present to executives from their US parent company. From this, they've decided to create a brand new internship programme starting with our team in which we will be working for 6 weeks in the summer on a project with Agile development techniques. At the end of this, we're off to New York, USA where we'll be having tours of their sister companies. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity.

We would definitely recommend anyone interested in technology or even business, to form a team and attend a hackathon - the people you meet and support that's available at these events are great fun.”

Click here to see the BMI journey of “Hack the Roof team” www.linkedin.com/posts/bmi-group-roofing

Mr A M Robson, commented:

“We are exceptionally proud of our alumni, who seek out opportunities to extend their knowledge further and gain opportunities like these with large organisations such as BMI. Involvement in the Hackathon promotes student innovation, collaboration and leadership.  Reading School provides the foundation for our pupils through academic excellence and growth mind-set, whilst actively seeking out opportunities for effective school partnerships with local and international organisations to drive advancement.  I wish Daniel, Jack, Matthew and Abhyuday the very best on their trip in New York and I am sure this internship will put them in good stead to undertake their study in Computer Science at the University of Durham and the University of Warwick in October.” 

If you are interested in working in partnership with Reading School or your organisation wishes to share details of competitions which would benefit our pupils please contact Jas Chhokar, Society Manager at events@reading-school.co.uk

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