Today I participated in my first hackathon ever! I joined Hack for LA for National Day of Civic Hacking, and here I am (holding up the sign) with some of my awesome team members:
Today I learned:
- How to reduce the size of a geoJSON file by simplifying the geometry of a map in QGIS
- How to use the MapBox and ESRI Leaflet geocoding APIs
- How to parse JSON data using JavaScript and jQuery
- How to add markers to a Leaflet map
- How to create and switch between multiple branches in GitHub
- How to effectively use GitHub for a real team project
First time collaborating on a REAL GitHub project with my team at @HackForLA #hackforchange #NDoCH. Learning a lot! pic.twitter.com/VTtbukhvX4
— Liz Krane (@LearningNerd) June 6, 2015Hello from LA!!! @MAPTIMELA #hackforla shout out to maptimers in NY!! @MaptimeHQ pic.twitter.com/KHxOoSAXQa
— Omar Ureta (@theworksla) June 6, 2015Whew! What a day! After 10 hours at the hackathon, I walked home and spent the whole evening moving more stuff to my new apartment and cleaning. And first thing tomorrow morning, I’m doing it all over again!
I didn’t have time to work on my meetup website project today, but at least I did learn about lots of other interesting stuff from a diverse team of map-makers, graphic designers, programmers and writers. I saw lots of my friends there, too! There’s no substitute for the experience of building a real thing to solve real problems side-by-side with real people! I hope I can find a way to make similar experiences a regular part of my life. That’s why I started the Learn to Code LA meetup group, so hopefully I can build on this experience to make better events and share the same excitement with my community.