About HackTheU
HackTheU is Utah’s largest hackathon and was held for the first time on November 11th-12th of 2016.
HackTheU is what’s called an “invention marathon,” a place where you can learn, build, and share your creations with others. Get together your friends or meet new people at the hackathon and create a team of up to 4 members. Then get working on an awesome project for the next 24 hours.
At the end, we’d love for you to share and present your creation to all of us. We’ll have judges look over the project and give out awards and prizes for various categories. You don’t need to be super comfortable with programming, all you need is a drive for technology. You’ll have plenty of support from our sponsors and fellow attendees to help get your creation off the ground.
HackTheU Themes
Financial Technology
Create new innovations in the field of Financial Technology.
Some examples may include:
- Utilize blockchain technology
- New tools and apps to promote financial security for consumers
- Innovative ways to send money, such as a system like Venmo
- Easier to use budgeting software for the modern age
- Integrate existing APIs - such as Galileo Processing's, Facebook Payments, or Venmo - into your project
Community
Contribute to your community.
Some examples may include:
- Apps for your local animal shelter, school, or neighborhood
- Apps to help individuals with disabilities - such as dietary restrictions, hard of hearing, or mental disabilities - in your local community
- Contribute to an open source project
- New systems to help run organizations around your university
- An app for an existing social media site
Entrepreneurship
At the heart of Silicon Slopes with best-in-nation resources like the Lassonde Institute, get your start-up off the ground.
Some examples include:
- Revolutionize an existing payment model, such as a subscription based movie pass
- A non profit to fill a need in your local community
- An organization that seeks to address some of the world's problems stemming from the proliferation of the Internet
Day 01 full schedule
September 08, 2018

Check-In / Mingle / Light Lunch
Opening Ceremony
Keynote Speaker : Clay Wilkes - CEO and Founder of Galileo Processing
My Tech Journey - Creating Success from Failure
Location: Goldman Sachs Workshop Room
Trina Limpert - eBay
Predict Crypto-Currency Prices
Location: OC Tanner Workshop Room
Tyler Folkman - Ancestry
Blockchain Workshop (Ballroom)
Location: Goldman Sachs Workshop Room
Jordan Hensley - Galileo
Workshop
Location: OC Tanner Workshop Room
Goldman Sachs
Dinner / Slideshow Karaoke
Workshop
Location: Goldman Sachs Workshop Room
OC Tanner
Internship Panel - Midnight Pizza/Snack
Location: Goldman Sachs Workshop Room
Karen (MS), Jack (MS), Emerson(FB), Cole (L3), Mia (Instrucuture)
Day 02 full schedule
September 09, 2018

Breakfast
Lunch
Judging
Closing Ceremony
A. Ray Olpin University Union
Frequent Asked Questions
Q. Can I Attend?
As long as you are a student at any college in the world and are 18 or older, you are invited to apply to HackTheU!
Q. What to do in Hacktheu?
Essentially hackers will follow these steps:
1. Register for a hackathon
2. Join or form a team
a. Form a team: Think of a project idea to work on (maybe something you’ve kept on the back burner? or some new technology you want to learn? it can be an app, a start-up idea, a website, a new command line tool, a new service, new container, etc) and post your idea to the world asking for people to come work on it with you.
b. Join a team: Either before or during the event, connect with other attendees and find a project idea you want to work on.
3. Work on the project for 24 hours with tons of food, coffee, swag, mentors, tech, and sponsors to support you through the night.
4. At the end, submit the project for judging. If we like your project enough, you can win prizes for it.
Q. Will There Be Food?
Absolutely! Your meals for the weekend will be free and there’ll be plenty of snacks and drinks to keep you energized. If you’ve got specific dietary requirements, you should let us know and we’ll be more than happy to make arrangements.
Q. What If I Don’t Know How To Code?
Not a problem! The entire Major League Hacking team knew very little when they each attended their very first hackathon. It’s entirely irrelevant what your experience is going into a hackathon, it’s more about your interest in technology. Every MLH Member Event is passionate about making their hackathons very welcoming and beginner-friendly. If you’re wanting to learn how to code outside of a hackathon, there’s a fantastic blog post that you should read. After, you should check out the following: Treehouse, Codecademy and the Major League Hacking blog to get started.
Q. I Just Graduated, Can I Still Come To An Event?
Yes. Anyone who has graduated within the last 12 months is still eligible to attend an MLH Member Event hackathon. After that, there’s plenty of non-student hackathons that exist for you to consider attending.
Q. How Do I Get There?
If you live in the Salt Lake area, you can travel using the UTA Red Line. You can also take the buses that come to University of Utah. If you from out-of-state, you are responsible for arranging your travel accommodations.
Q. What About Travel Reimbursements?
We will reimburse carpooling.
For carpooling you can go to our facebook or discord page and tag your post with the state and/or university you are coming from! Like so: #utah #universityofutah
We will be reimbursing up to $0.25 per mile driven to get to the hackathon and back, so long as you have at least 3 hackathon attendees in your car (driver included). Original receipts must be kept and submitted.
Q. How Do Teams Work?
Each team consists of a maximum of 4 members. You can create a team and designate teammates during registration, or you can register as an individual. Admission decisions will be all-or-none, so either all of your teammates will receive admission if selected or none of your teammates will receive admission. You can even form a team during early hours of the Hackathon.
Q. What hardware are available to borrow?
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Q. Where Will I Sleep?
While it may be tempting to hack all night, we will also have dedicated on-site sleep spaces for those of you trying to get some shut-eye.