About one year ago, President Barack Obama launched the White House TechHire Initiative to push employers to start thinking differently about the way they hire programmers. Today, HackerRank is announcing a partnership with the White House to help programmers prove their skills and get connected with companies in all 50 TechHire communities.
From the White House press release on March 9, 2016:
HackerRank, a platform that creates opportunities for programmers based on coding skills, will host a free online 24 hour TechHire Hackathon for bootcamp students and companies in all 50 TechHire communities. This hackathon will give student coders the chance to prove their skills and connect with employers.
We’re committing to hosting a free online hackathon exclusively for bootcamp students and companies in all TechHire communities. This online hackathon, also known as the TechHire Hackathon, will be a 24-hour online coding competition that will allow student coders a chance to prove their skills to employers who have made a commitment to the White House TechHire initiative.
The TechHire Hackathon is a chance for companies to assess the skills of thousands of coders from non-traditional backgrounds in a short amount of time. Rather than relying on resumes, pedigree and universities as a proxy for talent, the TechHire Hackathon will empower companies to find strong talent from a pool of nontraditional programmers.
It’s an honor to help the White House TechHire Initiative because it perfectly aligns with its own mission of creating opportunities for coders based purely on their skill, not school or pedigree.
Stay tuned on details of the TechHire Hackathon!