- Hackathons as eSport? Introducing Hacker Rivals – A New Era of Competitive Coding
- 10-20 min full presentation
- www.HackerRivals.com
- Any day, any month
📝 Talk Summary:
What if hackathons were as fun to watch as they are to build? Join Matt Carolan, founder of Hacker Rivals, as he unveils a bold new experiment which launched in October 2025 at AWS Community Day: the world’s first eSports-style Hackathon.
This talk dives into how Hacker Rivals is reimagining hackathons into fast-paced, GenAI-powered showdowns built for both competitors and spectators. We'll explore how the format works (three 30-minute elimination rounds, one champion crowned on the main stage), and why it matters for the future of developer events and tech entertainment.
Expect:
A sneak peek at the next May 1st 2026 event
An open invite for developers to enter and compete
A collaborative live brainstorming session to shape the future of eSports coding
Discussion on how GenAI tools are leveling the playing field in real-time builds
Whether you're a builder, a thinker, or just curious about where tech events are going next—this session is your chance to get in early and help define it.
Speaker Bio
-
Matt Carolan
-
Mini-bio:
🎤 Intro Bio for Matt Carolan:
Please welcome Matt Carolan—a longtime cloud engineer, community builder, and the president of the Canadian Public Cloud Association. Matt’s been behind some of Vancouver’s biggest tech events, including the Cloud Summit and AWS Community Day. He’s also the creator of Hacker Rivals, a bold new take on hackathons that blends code with competition—think eSports, but for developers. Get ready for a high-energy session as Matt introduces the future of competitive coding!
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Picture for slides: (We like to include a picture of each speaker in our slides for the event intro) see www.MattCarolan.com
-
sure, open to ideas
-
www.MattCarolan.com www.CloudSummit.ca www.HackerRivals.com
-
Do you agree to the [VanJS Code of Conduct] yes (https://github.com/VanJS/meetup/blob/master/CONDUCT.md)?
📝 Talk Summary:
What if hackathons were as fun to watch as they are to build? Join Matt Carolan, founder of Hacker Rivals, as he unveils a bold new experiment which launched in October 2025 at AWS Community Day: the world’s first eSports-style Hackathon.
This talk dives into how Hacker Rivals is reimagining hackathons into fast-paced, GenAI-powered showdowns built for both competitors and spectators. We'll explore how the format works (three 30-minute elimination rounds, one champion crowned on the main stage), and why it matters for the future of developer events and tech entertainment.
Expect:
A sneak peek at the next May 1st 2026 event
An open invite for developers to enter and compete
A collaborative live brainstorming session to shape the future of eSports coding
Discussion on how GenAI tools are leveling the playing field in real-time builds
Whether you're a builder, a thinker, or just curious about where tech events are going next—this session is your chance to get in early and help define it.
Speaker Bio
Matt Carolan
Mini-bio:
🎤 Intro Bio for Matt Carolan:
Please welcome Matt Carolan—a longtime cloud engineer, community builder, and the president of the Canadian Public Cloud Association. Matt’s been behind some of Vancouver’s biggest tech events, including the Cloud Summit and AWS Community Day. He’s also the creator of Hacker Rivals, a bold new take on hackathons that blends code with competition—think eSports, but for developers. Get ready for a high-energy session as Matt introduces the future of competitive coding!
Picture for slides: (We like to include a picture of each speaker in our slides for the event intro) see www.MattCarolan.com
sure, open to ideas
www.MattCarolan.com www.CloudSummit.ca www.HackerRivals.com
Do you agree to the [VanJS Code of Conduct] yes (https://github.com/VanJS/meetup/blob/master/CONDUCT.md)?