Every year, students at Florida International University (FIU) organize ShellHacks, which has become the largest hackathon in Florida. The event, run by the student group INIT FIU, brings together participants to collaborate on building software projects such as apps and games over a 36-hour period.
ShellHacks began in 2017 with about 100 attendees and has since expanded significantly. The most recent edition featured workshops, a career fair with more than 85 recruiters, and prize pools that included Apple M3 laptops and AirPods. Planning for the event starts nine months in advance and involves logistical efforts such as ordering large quantities of food and drinks.
Elizabeth Hechavarria, a cybersecurity major and senior director of ShellHacks, described some of the challenges involved in organizing the event: “The weekend of ShellHacks is actually one of the easiest parts. The most difficult pieces are trying to reach deadlines, getting the venue in order, placing the catering orders, and executing all of the planning. I was sending about 200 emails per week in the months leading up to this year’s ShellHacks.”
Skylar Hall, a computer science senior who leads technical workshops at INIT FIU, explained what distinguishes ShellHacks from other similar events: “ShellHacks is our heart and soul. And because we take such good care and preparation, we bring top companies and top talent. We obsess over the theming, the marketing, the layout, the food and the technical support. Most of all, the people here are super nice, and everyone wants to help each other.”
Cesar Villa-Garcia co-founded INIT FIU and ShellHacks while he was an FIU student; he now works as a product manager at American Express but remains involved with ShellHacks as an alumnus. Villa-Garcia noted: “One reason we draw such large crowds is that word has spread that FIU is a really great school to start your career in technology. The corporate presence at the hackathon is massive. Our students and alumni keep getting big internships and job opportunities. Also, FIU as a university has made a lot of investments in the computer science and technology space. I think that both things have increased the attention on ShellHacks.”
The corporate involvement at ShellHacks is substantial each year. According to Hechavarria: “We’re looking at 35-plus sponsors. Each sponsor usually brings a team of recruiters so that they can speak to multiple students at once. We had around 100 recruiters in total this year to speak to our nearly 1,500 attendees.” She added that many recruiters are themselves graduates of FIU: “At least 40%. The whole Microsoft team this year was made up of alumni.”
Villa-Garcia also mentioned ongoing engagement among alumni working at major companies: “At American Express right now, we have a group chat of over 50 FIU alumni that I put together. When ShellHacks was coming around, I reached out and said, ‘Hey guys, do you want to volunteer, do you want to help the students?’ I was able to get 10 people to sign up and become mentors.”
Students attending ShellHacks often stay on site throughout its duration; Hechavarria noted: “The hackers are welcome to sleep where they hack. I’ve seen people just bring sleeping bags, air mattresses, floaties—like pool floaties—to sleep on during the event.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an increasing role at ShellHacks as well. Villa-Garcia said: “The very first thing that comes to mind is the number of students that now reach out asking for more AI-related events and activities… There’s much more demand from students wanting to learn these skills.” This year’s title sponsor was Google Cloud ADK/A2A with an emphasis on building AI agents for competition projects.
Organizers also focus on preparing participants through training programs outside of ShellHacks itself via INIT FIU tracks designed to build foundational skills before guiding students toward project development—and ultimately participation in ShellHacks.
Villa-Garcia highlighted some key skills developed by organizers through their work: “With organizing a hackathon comes the ability to work in a team… When you go into industry as an engineer… you’re put in there to work and collaborate with designers, marketing, product [and] business… The other one is [the] ability to communicate and present ideas…”
He added: “This hackathon put many of us on the path to leadership in tech… so we are happy to come back and help current students.”
