Why Florida?

Florida has been an untapped reservoir of talent in the past few years. The University of Florida jumped from unranked in the Spring 2015 MLH hacking standing to 29th in the Fall 2015 MLH standing, then 2nd in the Spring 2016 standing (behind University of Waterloo, ranking UF #1 in the US). In one year we disrupted the entire previous hacking hierarchy of school rankings and carved out a place of our own.
We’ve also seen incredible growth in the number of hackers, including a more diverse demographic. With organizations such as WiCSE (Women in Computer Science and Engineering) being vital in the creation of SwampHacks, an open environment to all hackers has become a staple within the UF hacking community.
Rapid expansion in student participants leave ripe openings for new talent. Due to the incredible distance from Florida to the cluster of hackathons in the NorthEast or West Coast schools, plenty of skilled students are foregoing hackathons opportunities in further areas. Due to this distance, a strong community has began to form in our state, prompting the establishment of the first inter-collegiate, state-wide hackathon organization: Florida Hackers. This network of hundreds of students will be a key player in SwampHacks 2017.
As the largest hackathon of Florida, SwampHacks will not be tapping into the talent of our own university but will also serve as a nexus for the Florida hackathon season. Our combination of prominence on campus and in our state sets SwampHacks as a gateway opportunity for fresh minds to meet established companies and showcase their hidden abilities.