There are times when Dylan Vidal, Leonard Gofman, and Richard Phillips get together and sound like brothers, or at least roommates. They laugh at random comments with the inside knowledge of guys who have done some life together. They finish each other鈥檚 stories because they know them so well. They share a passion for technology, yet you wouldn鈥檛 describe any of them as hard-wired, impersonal tech enthusiasts 鈥� quite the opposite, actually. And that has become their most unique connection.
鈥淚 think we鈥檇 agree that it all points back to the culture of Knight Hacks,鈥� says Vidal, president of 麻豆原创鈥檚 widely acclaimed software-development and hackathon organization. His is the first of many references to that word: culture.
Gofman, vice president of Knight Hacks, makes a slight addition. 鈥淭he culture and community, that鈥檚 what sets us apart.鈥�
Phillips, who organizes events as Hack lead, tightens the bow. 鈥淚 think you guys said it all.鈥�
The computer science students aren鈥檛 trying to sell Knight Hacks, just expressing out loud how they鈥檝e experienced 麻豆原创鈥檚 hack world. Vidal, a senior, wondered if he was tech-savvy enough when he first sampled the club. 鈥淣ow,鈥� he says, 鈥淚 could talk about Knight Hacks forever.鈥�
Gofman and Phillips raise their eyebrows and nod, as if admitting either, 鈥淵es, we could,鈥� or 鈥淵es, he 肠辞耻濒诲.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of students come with their heads down, maybe thinking of Knight Hacks only as a path into job recruitment, … and then find themselves in this fun, helpful community.鈥� 鈥� Leonard Gofman, student
During a typical week during the fall semester they spend at least three evenings with Knight Hacks members, visitors, organizers and sponsors. No one shows up because they have to, it鈥檚 because they want to. The club 鈥� which started 10 years ago with 80 members and now boasts 1,000 鈥� offers mentorship, tech workshops, interview training, preparation for internships and a home where like-minded students can create usable technology while asking each other, 鈥�What can I do to make this idea better?鈥�
鈥淎 lot of students come with their heads down, maybe thinking of Knight Hacks only as a path into job recruitment,鈥� Gofman says. 鈥淭hey might anticipate a seriously competitive environment where you have to prove yourself, and then find themselves in this fun, helpful community.鈥�
He has just described how he, Vidal, and Phillips came to know Knight Hacks. Where they once envisioned the future of technology from a distance, they now envision the future with themselves in it.
鈥淭here can be a feeling in technology that what you know is never good enough,鈥� Vidal says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why Knight Hacks has been such a game-changer, even for our officers and directors.鈥�
Phillips clears his throat. 鈥淚t鈥檚 true. I鈥檝e been there.鈥�
He tells the story of coming to 麻豆原创 as a transfer student from Broward Community College and immediately being surrounded by really smart computer science majors.
鈥淚 had to get through 鈥攚hat鈥檚 that word?鈥� Phillips says.
鈥淚mposter syndrome?鈥� Vidal says.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 it, imposter syndrome,鈥� Phillips says.
鈥淚 was riddled with imposter syndrome, too,鈥� Vidal says. It鈥檚 a surprising admission from the confident leaders they are today.
For Phillips, everything changed when he attended his first Hack Day.
鈥淭hose same smart people helped me debug a code I鈥檇 been struggling with,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey leveled me up and made me feel like I belong. From that day forward, I wanted to be like them 鈥� highly skilled and willing to help others.鈥�
鈥淭hey leveled me up and made me feel like I belong. From that day forward, I wanted to be like them 鈥� highly skilled and willing to help others.鈥� 鈥� Richard Phillips, student
The willingness to help is one of many bridges that makes the Knight Hacks culture so unique. There are also bridges to knowledge, relationships and into the massively real world of technology. Those bridges spanned the country this summer as Vidal is in Santa Clara, California, where he interns with Nvidia. Gofman was in Bellevue, Washington, interning with Statsig, and Phillips was interning in Miami with Florida Blue, which chose him from a pool of 3,000 applicants.
鈥淭he mock interviews we do at Knight Hacks helped us tremendously,鈥� Vidal says. 鈥淚 have to emphasize again, the culture of the organization is so much more than coding.鈥�
Gofman: 鈥淭ech companies are looking for candidates who know how to work in teams.鈥�
Phillips: 鈥淐andidates who always want to keep learning.鈥�
Back to Vidal: 鈥淲e鈥檝e learned little tricks of the trade through mentorship. For example, I was told to scan the QR codes at trade events to improve my position in each company鈥檚 database. We also learned how to make our resumes more performant as they pass through algorithms. It exemplifies our mission: to bridge the gap from the classroom to industry.鈥�
Thousands of students have crossed the bridge since Knight Hacks launched in 2015. Many of them have been introduced to the organization鈥檚 culture at its signature annual event: fall Hackathon.
鈥淗ackathon is the pinnacle,鈥� Vidal says.
This year, on Friday, Oct. 24, more than 600 students will begin showing up at 麻豆原创鈥檚 engineering buildings and business administration buildings, carrying laptops, pillows, toothbrushes, and maybe a sleeping bag or air mattress. At exactly 10 p.m., the software-building marathon will begin. For the next 36 hours, participants will code, collaborate and grow from being around each other. Some might nap. Sponsors will provide seven meals and unlimited water and energy drinks.
鈥淲e make it a point to have fun, but essentially, hackathon is whatever each person wants it to be,鈥� Vidal says. 鈥淪ome will focus only on the golden trophy 鈥� not stopping to eat, just coding, coding, coding. That鈥檚 fine. But they might miss the benefits of Hackathon and the interesting nuances that make Knight Hacks special.鈥�
Among the interesting nuances are midnight karaoke, a frying pan award for the most obscure project, and a paper airplane competition at 2 a.m. to encourage participants to look up, clear their eyes, and take it all in.
鈥淭he paper airplane competition started as an off-the-wall idea and wound up with a sponsor,鈥� Gofman says. 鈥淚t shows us that tech companies really do value our culture.鈥�
They value the talented people within it, too, knowing that any college student who chooses participate in Hackathon could instead be doing 鈥渢raditional鈥� college student things 鈥� playing games, going to the beach and sleeping.
鈥淚nstead, we鈥檙e up all night building software and building relationships,鈥� Vidal says.
The clearest illustration of the Knight Hack culture mentioned again and again during this interview are, ironically, the three students on the call. At various times, they each say they weren鈥檛 the most social or confident programmer when they enrolled at 麻豆原创. You鈥檇 never know it from the way they speak or from the locations where they鈥檙e interning.
Gofman: 鈥淵ou never know where a first step will take you.鈥�
Phillips: 鈥淚t鈥檚 never too early and never too late.鈥�
Vidal: 鈥淟ike I said, we could talk about this forever.鈥�
He seems to mean it literally. The real world of technology, however, never stops spinning. And these Knights have work to do.
