Introduction

This page collects free tools, tutorials, and datasets to help you build your HackOut! project. You do not need to buy anything to participate. Workshop schedules, Zoom links, and recordings will be posted on Discord and in the Updates tab throughout January.

Tools and Technologies

These are suggestions, not requirements. Use whatever fits your project.

Code and collaboration

Learning to code

  • freeCodeCamp: free courses in web development, Python, and data
  • CS50x: Harvard's free introduction to computer science
  • MDN Web Docs: reference for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Apps and design

  • MIT App Inventor: build mobile apps with blocks, a good choice for beginners
  • Figma: design and prototype interfaces, free for students

AI and data

Hardware

Quantum computing

  • Qiskit: IBM's open-source quantum software toolkit
  • IBM Quantum Learning: courses on quantum computing fundamentals and algorithms
  • Cirq: Google's open-source framework for quantum circuits

Open data for real-world problems

Demo video

Inspiration

Start with a problem, not a technology. Ask who is affected, what makes it hard today, and what a working solution would change for them. Some starting questions:

  • Finance: How could a teenager learn to budget, avoid scams, or understand credit before their first job?
  • Biomedical: How could technology help someone manage a medication schedule, find accessible care, or communicate with a disability?
  • Sustainability: How could a school, neighborhood, or household measure and cut its waste, water, or energy use?
  • Lifestyle: How could everyday life become safer, more inclusive, or more connected for people who are often left out?
  • Quantum: Which problems in optimization, simulation, or cryptography could quantum methods approach differently, and what can a simulator show today?

More places to look:

  • UN Sustainable Development Goals: 17 global goals that work well as problem sources
  • Devpost project gallery: browse projects from past hackathons and see how strong submissions are presented
  • Your own community: talk to a teacher, a local nonprofit, a family member, or a classmate about a problem they deal with. The best Community Impact projects often start there.

Contact Us & Support Channels

  • Discord: [Coming Soon], for announcements, team-finding, workshop links, and help
  • Workshops: live on Zoom throughout January, led by BranchOut! and our sponsors
  • Help: ask in the Discord help channel or email [email protected]
  • Devpost help: the Devpost Help Center covers joining a hackathon, forming a team, and submitting