Hackers + Academics = 'Hackademy'

As a little kid, Cameron Stoughton was really into video games. At 20, he's still really into video games, but now he looks at them more from the inside out. The 2010 Alvirne High School grad is studying game development and design, with a special concentration in programming, at Southern New Hampshire University.

Last week Stoughton, of Hudson, was one of 17 college students from across New England who attended an invitational four-day "Hackademy" at Dyn Inc., in Manchester.

So how is a Hackademy different from, say the recent Boston-based Hackathon by TVNext won by Nashua's Jenny Lamere?

Dyn's Hackademy was designed to merge the educational opportunities of an academy with the technical passion of a hackathon. Like code camp for grown kids, hackademy was open to college juniors with technology majors and featured coding workshops, networking opportunities and a mini-hackathon – a chance to collaborate on web app projects in a team setting.

“Hackademy is designed to get a bunch of bright young tech enthusiasts to come to a place like Dyn and learn how to build web apps,” said Jeremy Hitchcock, the Dyn CEO, who helped conceptualize the idea of the Hackademy.

Dyn (pronounced 'dine') is a Manchester-based tech company founded in 2001 that helps clients provide faster websites and email delivery using what's known as Internet Infrastructure As A Service or IaaS. Some clients include Twitter, Tumblr, Netflix, Pandora, Etsy and others.

“Everybody talks about building cool web apps and technology, but a lot of people don’t know how to get started. We hope this is a way people can get started and learn,” Hitchcock said.

As a kid, Stoughton was first captivated by a game called Commander Keen, featuring 8-year-old Billy Blaze.

"That was the first game I really enjoyed playing. When Billy Blaze's parents went to sleep he would go to Mars and fight aliens in his own homemade rocket ship," says Stoughton. "It's just a really good concept, and extremely cool concept, and still is. It's definitely still one of my favorites. That was the first game that got me interested in the inner-workings of a video game, about what goes on under the hood."

Game playing is usually the beginning of the evolution of a programmer. For Stoughton, it meant teaching himself C++ programming language used for gaming.

"I didn't get what I really needed until college, although I did dabble with scripting languages for a game called "Doom," which allowed me to change certain aspects – like instead of using a plasma rifle I could make an arm that throws snowballs," Stoughton said.

Stoughton's story is fairly common among programmers, says Rick Gallin, Director of Talent Management for Dyn Inc. Their innate love for imagining what might be possible is well rooted in the favorite games of their youth. But instead of just having fun trying to master the art of game playing, programmers want to understand the how and why of the technology that can transport a kid into an alternate reality. 

It's that same technology that drives the practical application of inventive apps in our everyday lives.

There were about 40 applicants for Dyn's inaugural Hackademy, Gallin said.

"We tried to really zero in on the juniors who are in that critical junction. By senior year they're getting ready for the job market. We are hoping to plant seeds as to what they like and what don't about programming. We'd like to think maybe the next Mark Zuckerberg is here," Gallin said.

Momentum is stirring within the local tech community to put New Hampshire on the  map and become a draw to talented young minds, like those participating in the Hackademy, who might otherwise seek post-college employment on the West Coast or in other tech hubs.

While the program at Dyn was designed to be beneficial for the students, it also offers a unique way for Dyn to recruit future talent, Hitchcock said. 

“We wanted to bring students in to see what it’s like at a technology company,” Hitchcock said. “We hope we veer some of them off to do cool startups. And then, as their senior year continues, they think about our cool work environment and want to be part of it. Maybe some of them will come back to Dyn and be part of our team.”

Prior to Hackademy, Stoughton said he hadn't heard of Dyn.

He said having the opportunity to think outside the box during the Hackathon was one of the best parts of the experience.

"You have to set aside all preconceptions about what's possible and just come up with an idea," Stoughton said, of the Dyn challenge.

"It's awesome here. It's a great environment, and I think it would be really interesting developing here, as a career," said Stoughton, who is still working on his own end game. 

"My dream job, once I graduate, would be a game programmer for any given game company, although I'm also getting interested in mobile applications," Stoughton said.

The 17 Hackademy participants were divided into five teams and, for their final day, presented the following apps:

·   Roommate Finder, an app to help people find roommates with similar interests

·   Nodeflyer, an aerial assault simulation game

·   My Tyme, a social event calendar on the cloud

·   Document Similarity Finder, an on-line document search engine

·   DRAWesome, an interactive art web application