So..... I finally did it. I attended a rat camp and it was, well, amazing!

I actually haven't attended many summer camps before, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I think the main difference from my usual studying to the camp was the focus on math. The way I started out programming & getting into the world was always a "move fast break things" attitude that always suited me well. For math though, this approach didn't work at all. You can't necessarily "move fast" when you're dealing with number or set theory, and I'm not even sure what "break things" would mean in this metaphor.

Lets start by listing out the things that I absolutely loved at the camp:

Going on hour long hikes in the middle of a forest

Hacking away at a side project while having an endless (literally) supply of fresh bakes cookies

Teaching Next.js and react at midnight and struggling to wrangle repl.it issues

Playing Amongus in real life and writing website automations for the game in 30 minutes

Critiquing random economic, public health, and social models (without end)

Going on a trek to see cows (and finding a frog, naming it Bob, and lamenting when he ran away)

Learning the optimal way to pair people up for optimal speed dating efficiency (also set theory on the side)

I can't really think about anything I necessarily didn't like about the camp, though I definitely think I could have been more productive in working on some of my side projects. Every time I go to these events I'm always amazed by one thing, and its the people. They always influence me in huge ways, and this time is no different. Just having people around me to nerd out about AI, or go on crazy hikes with.

==== Heres a quick writeup I did post event

making friends, i also think kairos was a huge introduction to set theory and how to be more confident about math problems. economics from first principles, haskell, and set theory (ALSO BIOOOO, something something contagious vaccines)

i didn’t expect to learn too much in terms of job skills, but meant to make friends. i think this worked and was a great intro and works out. i completed a decent 1v1 with everyone and finished my goals

moral philosophy contexts, how to approach stats problems/quant, 

i want to get better at set theory and number theory and read GEB and read decision theory

I went to my first 🐀 camp (rationality is so very cool)

The Hacker Zephyr, a hackathon on a train, that went across the country, was one of the craziest, and most fun experiences of my life.

The way I ended up finding out about being accepted to the Zephyr was super funny. As soon as pairings were announced for the 2021 National Debate tournament, I hopped onto a call with @max, where he invited me. During the whole time, my partner was beside me, asking tons of questions, and prepping for our upcoming round. At that time, I couldn't have known how much that single call, and train could change my life. And here I am, 2 flights, 4 train rides later, writing about what happened. 

In the past year or so, I've lost contact with what I liked about programming. Entangled in school, assignments, efficiency points, I ended up losing sight of what this all was for me, just a way to make. The Zephyr was unlike any other hackathon, because there was no real competition, but just a collective goal, of making 500 ships (projects) during the entire ride. They were themed around the idea of "building your own internet", where we had a full on intranet setup on the train. This was the perfect setup, for me to build tons of micro-projects, that just spurred my inner maker, especially being surrounded with other excited people like me 24/7.  Meeting people like the Libermans, and people at Vercel, also gave me perspective onto why I do these things, that risks are normal, and what I'm actually working towards whenever I create a project or company, a better world and community.

The Zephyr also gave me the nuance to life I've been searching for in so long. I saw so many different places, and experienced so many new ideas. All of these, combined with everyones perspectives, really gave depth to things I've seen. For example, the simple fact of looking at how people formed connections, and how almost everyone we met was so friendly, really gave me the sense that we're all in this together. Almost every person we met, helped us and had good intentions behind what they did. Along with that, the sheer fact of looking out and seeing the sheer vastness of the desert as soon as you wake up, just gives you the perspective of how small you really are, compared to the Earth.

I've also gotten to bond with my friends so much over this trip. At the start I only knew the other 41 people through interactions on the slack, and mostly online, and now I value them as some of my best friends. I just wanted to let everyone on the train know how thankful I am for ya'll, and that that train ride, truly, was a life changing experience.

For pictures, check out on the ZephyrBook or check out my highlights!

42 people. The worlds longest hackathon (3,502 miles). A life changing adventure.

Hackathon stickers are the best. Not only do you get to put them on your laptop for clout and design, you can trade them for EVEN cooler stickers. But the best thing hands down, is the memory with each sticker. Be it the pains and work of organizing a hackathon, or the joy of staying up the entire night getting that one bug, every time you look at the sticker, you remember everything that happened. The best part is that each and every sticker you get is usually limited to whatever is at the hackathon, so sticker trading becomes amazing, with limited stock of almost every sticker as time goes on.  They're also amazing to give out for advertising clubs *cough* *cough* HackClub.

Along with all those benefits, hackaton stickers textures are amazing. I'm not just talking about those cheap 'ol paper stickers that leave a weird residue when taken off, but the epic vinyl stickers. Not only is the vinyl texture amazing and not feel cheap, it comes off easily. This  allowed for you to swap off stickers when you get tired of one, or if one deteriorates, which makes it just that much more cool. Though one of the best stickers I got was at a conference where one of the booths gave out wooden stickers. I regret not taking a handful, but the sticker remains on my laptop to this day, as one of the coolest stickers. Its an amazing conversation starter, and is definitely a unique sticker that people remember.

As you can tell, I have quite a big sticker collection, and plan on getting more! I also can't wait for in person hackathons to start trading again and see some cool new stickers!

STICKER STICKER! Why stickers are so great for hackathons, and generally some of the best swag if done right.

<p class="para">The Global COVID19 Hackathon was great, because it helping me create something that people can use in the real world! I ended up making the <a href="https://globalcovidregistry.org">Global COVID19 Registry</a> which helps recovered patients match with donors, and volunteering opportunities! This is great because people who have recovered are immune to the virus, and can help people who are sick, and hospitals that need volunteers! So if you are recovered, please sign up!</p>

A global hackathon for COVID19 which I participated in!

<p class="para">Going to <a href="http://hackmerced.io/home">Hack Merced</a> was an amazing experience! The main reason is because it was my first ever college hackathon. This was a huuuge difference from high school hackathons, where the objective is to learn and win, here, most of the people would just try to connect and have fun! It was a great change of scene.</p>

<p class="para">Here I got to prototype on of my ideas, <a href="https://devpost.com/software/ghym">Ghym</a>, which is a decentralized network for cloud computing. You can read more on the devpost, but I ended up winning first place in the moonshot category, and the best use of MongoDB! That was amazing, because MongoDB is my favorite production database (Airtable doesn't count). Some other cool things that happened, was that I got possible offer to have an internship at LANLL this summer, which is amazing! Overall an amazing experience, and I hope to go there next year again!</p>

<p class="para">My first hackathon I have ever organized was <a href="https://angelhacks.org" class="link">AngelHacks</a>! Angelhacks is a 12 hour hackathon that happened at Snap HQ! It was a large hackathon (120 people) for mostly beginners! It provided a fun mentoring enviorment, while still keeping it competitive with prizes like Airpods, and a tour of SpaceX on the line.</p>
<p class="para">At the hackathon, I did a lot of things from securing sponsors to helping with logistics, but officialy, I was the Director Of Tech. I taught a workshop, <a href="https://s.neelr.dev/intro_slides" class="link">Intro to Programming</a>, which taught the basics and data types. I also made a CTF at the event to teach the new programmers pentesting, and to look at things at a different angle.</p>
<p class="para">Overall I loved organizing AngelHacks not only for the people that that I met and the joy of getting companies interesting in sponsoring us, but I made many friends made connections with the otehr organizers, became closer, and made new friends!</p>

My experiences from hosting my first ever hackathon, from 0-10!

#hackathons

Kairos!!

The Hacker Zephyr.

Stickers

Global COVID19 Hackathon

Hack Merced

AngelHacks