A positive force in a sometimes bleak world: A hacker's first RHoK journey.

By Daniel Coady

Melbourne Summer Hackathon – 2018

I’ve always been really passionate about technology and being a positive force in what might sometimes seem like a bleak world. Random Hacks of Kindness is the perfect marriage of both passions and I was eager to join in, hacking to make a positive change.

Now, I’m only a first year Computer Science student so I’m not some amazing developer. Up until the hack I was pretty much just a hobbyist, making small applications and learning bits and pieces as different technologies interested me. I managed to talk with the folks at Anika Legal and I was excited about their idea to help both those who don’t have easy access to legal information and advice and law students who struggle to get real world experience. I decided to help them realise their vision and jumped on board, but soon found out that I was out of my depth. I had barely touched the basics of web development and here I was, about to help them make a site using tools and libraries that I had never used in my life.

This ended up not mattering though, since the other developers on our team were honestly the nicest people I have ever worked with (and I’ve been a part of a few teams for different projects now!) and guided me through the process. They taught me an insane amount of stuff in the space of two days and I soon found my place in the team, helping with UX and UI design.

This meant I had to start working with the team at Anika as well and they were nothing short of a pleasure to work with, extremely nice and open to ideas. Not only did this make the hack itself easier, but it also made it fun and exciting to progress on the project.

After we had finished hacking for the weekend we all went to the pub and celebrated a job well done, chatting with other hackers and change makers over drinks. I talked to many different and interesting people who shared a wealth of knowledge with me that I don’t think I could have obtained otherwise.

So in the space of a weekend I managed to meet some of the nicest people I now know, learnt about a wide array of web technologies, gained experience in working with a team of people that have a vast array of skills, and of course had a fantastic time! Random Hacks of Kindness is an experience that I can safely (and will) suggest to my mates in the future.