We are very excited to kick off our very first podcast by speaking with a 4th year co-op student at Carleton University who just finished his internship at Google—Omar Flores!

0:08 - Intro

0:42 - Omar introduces himself

1:04 - Brief history/what was your first hackathon?

3:48 - Why did you decide to get into hackathons?

4:48 - What's the most important thing to do at a hackathon?

8:41 - Advice for people who don't have much on their resume

10:02 - What goals should students have during hackathons?

10:54 - How did a hackathon land you your first opportunity?

16:50 - Why other passions matter

18:40 - About work ethic

21:48 - How did you aim for such high goals?

25:25 - What is your personal strategy you use for hackathons?

26:28 - Have you ever organized/mentored at a hackathon before?

33:03 - Last advice for young hackers

Omar's LinkedIn

Omar's personal site

Hack The North

Before applying to and participating in his first Hackathon, Omar’s background included basic html and css. When he attended the mighty Hack The North at UW, his technological perspective changed forever. In the 3 years since, Omar has been fortunate to attend each Hack The North, and has not looked back since.

Omar was first motivated to attend alongside his friends, and was actually influenced by one to apply. Above all however, Omar wished to learn; he wasn’t focused on winning at first and desired meeting and talking to as many people in diverse backgrounds as possible, and this helped him greatly.

Omar maintains that when you begin talking to people, you’ll realize the community is not that intimidating as they will continue to attend the same events and become more recognizable; you can engrain yourself in the community and make yourself a known face by continuing to attend, too! Something else he highlights is gaining career advice by talking to career professionals as it was the gateway to his first major opportunity.

Omar can’t stress attending these events enough, and he goes more in depth into why as well as his own individual experiences regarding this throughout the podcast. Additionally, Omar goes into other interests and how it’s encouraged to have/talk about your other interests at these events, rather than solely gearing yourself towards tech.

To hear about this and many other awesome things regarding Hackathons, job/internship opportunities, networking, mentorships, and so much more, listen today!