Veterans Hackday 2011

On Veterans Day, 11/11/11, LinkedIn and the White House will join forces to kick off the first ever Veterans Hackday. We are looking for hackers to put together projects that can improve any aspect of a veteran's life. To encourage you, we've got a phenomenal lineup of judges and prizes:

The hacking starts on November 11. In the meantime, spread the word, add the event to your calendar, follow @LinkedInEng for updates, and join the LinkedIn Veteran's Day Hackday Group to discuss ideas, find teammates, and ask questions.

Update, 11/29

The 11 finalists presented their hacks and the judges have picked the top 3:

Veterans
MOCHA
Aid Patrol

Congratulations to the winners! If you missed the presentations, check out the video here. You can also see all the great hacks in the gallery.

Update, 11/16

The deadline has passed, the hacks are in, and the finalists have been picked! Check out all the amazing projects in the gallery.

Join the Group

See the Hacks

1. Build the project from scratch

We want a fair competition, so please don't submit projects you've been working on for months. You can form teams and plan the project ahead of time, but all the code should be written during the competition itself.

2. Submit the project online

Projects must be submitted online using the Veterans Hackday website between November 11 and November 14, 2011. Your project submission must include:

Title
Description
Team member names
Contact email
Contact phone
At least one of:

URL to try the hack
URL of a video demoing the hack. We recommend using YouTube for hosting.
URL of a presentation about the hack. We recommend using SlideShare for hosting.
URL of a screenshot. We recommend using imgur for hosting.

Remember, the judges will be picking winners based on the submitted materials, so the more you can give them to work with - demo URL's, screenshots, videos - the better!

3. You own your code!

LinkedIn will NOT make any ownership or usage rights claims to your code. Be aware that it is a public event, so we will reserve the rights to the PR for the hacks and the hackday. We want to be able to show off what you build, but the code belongs to you.

4. Picking winners

The judging will be in two stages: a pre-selection round by LinkedIn staff on Thursday, November 17, where we will select the finalists from all submitted projects. This will be followed by a public judging ceremony on November 29 where our celebrity judges will pick the winners and award awesome prizes.

The fine print

For more information, check out the official contest terms.

Macbook Air

The best reward is doing the hack itself: learning new things, working with teammates, and the pride of helping our nation's heroes. But a cool prize doesn't hurt either. The winners will take home 11" Macbook Airs as our way of saying 'thank you' for helping veterans.

iPad 2

$100 gift card

1. What is a 'Hackday'?

LinkedIn has a tradition of dedicating one Friday per month to a Hackday competition. Engineers in the company are encouraged to form teams, work on any project they can dream up, and put it together in one day. Just about anything is fair game, from build tools, to trying out new technologies, to entirely new products and business lines. The engineers then get the chance to present these projects to the entire company, including the executive staff, with the best projects winning prizes and getting turned into real products.

Some great resources on Hackdays:

Hackday Video
Intern Hackday Video
LinkedIn Labs: a directory of previous Hackday winners
Hackday posts on the LinkedIn Blog

2. So what's a 'Veterans Hackday'?

On November 11, 2011, LinkedIn will be hosting a special open Hackday competition. We are encouraging hackers from all over the country to form teams, hack for a few days, and build something that will benefit veterans. It's a chance to honor your country's heroes, compete with the best and brightest, and to win some awesome prizes. This hackday is one of three initiatives that's part of LinkedIn's partnership with the White House to help veterans.

3. What kind of hacks are you looking for?

Anything that can make a veteran's life better is fair game. Think of ways you can help veterans find jobs, homes, education, deal with medical problems, build support networks, or even just a way for us to say thank you. Check out the ideas section and data section for more inspiration.

4. When is this all happening?

11/11/11: Hacking starts (add this to your calendar)
11/14/11: deadline to submit hacks
11/16/11: all submitted hacks are put into a gallery
11/17/11: pre-judging to select finalists
11/29/11: the celebrity judges pick the winners

5. Does the hack have to be related to LinkedIn?

Nope. We're looking for any hacks that help veterans. Although you are welcome to make use of the LinkedIn Platform, it's not a requirement.

6. What can I win?

Check out our fabulous prizes.

7. How do I get in touch with other hackers?

Use the Veterans Hackday Group to form teams, discuss ideas and ask questions.

8. I submitted my hack but need to add/update something. What do I do?

Just submit the hack again. We'll de-dupe on our end.

The best ideas solve problems. To help spark your creativity, here are some articles and websites that discuss problems veterans face and the kind of help they need. Check out the data section for data sets you can incorporate into your hack.

Want to discuss ideas with others or find some teammates? Head over to the Veterans Hackday Group.

Here are some relevant data sets that you can use in your hacks. Use these along with the ideas section for inspiration.

The deadline has passed and the hacks are in! Here are the projects our amazing hackers put together:

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Thanks! We got your submission!

What's next?

11/16/11: all submitted hacks are put into a gallery
11/17/11: pre-judging to select finalists
11/29/11: the celebrity judges pick the winners

I submitted my hack but need to add/update something. What do I do?