Yes. queer_hack is a community of LGBTQ+ students in tech. queer_hack 2020 is the inaugural hackathon run by queer_hack. queer_hack's mission is to increase the recruitment and retention of LGBTQ+ people in tech by supporting students throughout their educational journey. queer_hack 2020 is not our only programming by a long stretch; we run a peer study group server, weekly social nights, monthly workshops, and other one-off events to create a positive experience for LGBTQ+ students. You can get involved with our non-hackathon events here.

A hackathon is a weekend-long competition where teams work together to code projects and compete for prizes. There will be workshops, speakers, social events, and company recruiters as well. Hackathons are a great way for students in tech to try something new, gain experience, build an amazing prototype product, and/or land a job offer. You’ll leave the weekend with new knowledge and new friends!

We have several different digital platforms to facilitate socializing, workshops, panels, opening/closing ceremonies, hacking, and our sponsorship fair. You can check out the hacker guide as the event gets closer but we’ll be using Gather.town, Zoom, Discord, Brazen, and DevPost.

Any LGBTQ+ student over 18 years old attending a 2-year or 4-year educational institution can participate as a hacker (including graduate students). Everyone else please sign up to serve as a volunteer or mentor.

We will never share your information without your permission. On the registration form, we ask if you want to share your name, email, and school with sponsors or keep that information internal to queer_hack. When signing up for our public digital platforms, you can use your first name and some abbreviation of your last name if you wish. You don’t have to turn on the video when communicating over video chat if it makes you nervous. We also have a policy in our Code of Conduct that disallows participants from sharing your information without permission. That said, including queer_hack 2020 on your resume, social media, or in conversation may alert people that you are part of an LGBTQ+ community so please keep that in mind. Send us an email at uncqueerhack@gmail.com if you have specific concerns.

queer_hack 2020 is a beginner-friendly hackathon, which means we will have specific resources and workshops to help you get started! We are excited to have you here!

We will have at least two events for team formation so no worries if you don’t have a team in mind! There is no limit to teams but we recommend four or fewer people. If you don’t want to work with a team, you don’t have to, but we recommend it because making friends is one of the best parts of hackathons.

We’ve got exciting prizes like the Nintendo Switch, Oculus Quest 2 VR system, Apple AirPods Pro, and more! We will have creative digital swag this year, but due to shipping costs, we won’t ship out physical swag.

Yes. Check them out on DevPost closer to the hackathon. In short, credit any public APIs you use and don’t start writing new code until 11 AM on Saturday, December 5th.

It’s a funny little joke. If you take the middle letters out of queer_hack, it can be abbreviated to quack. It’s also a nod to rubber duck debugging, a practice where a programmer explains their code line by line to a rubber duck until they find the problem. Additionally, ducks are just cool.

Email us at uncqueerhack@gmail.com.