ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Computer hacking isn’t always a crime and, in fact, it could even help with some of the challenges in New Mexico, like farming.
The Desert Dev Hackathon is all about this. It’s a judge competition where programmers design a working prototype within 30 hours. Then, they have to pitch it.
Justin Elder now knows all about this.
“This is my first time, and it’s really exciting to be here,” Elder said. “When we broke at the end of the day, we all went home and continued to work on our project.”
Elder is the spokesperson for Team Chile. He and 70 other hackers start out with an assigned theme. This year, it’s agriculture.
“I used to run a food pantry at a 100% free reduced school. There’s definitely a need for more access to healthy food,” Elder said.
Software developer Sahithi Neela works in a similar realm. She’s trying to mitigate harvest losses with her website, “Crop-Pulse.”
“Not a lot of younger generation want to get into this. There’s a lot of farmers who are still following the old methods of irrigation systems,” Neela said.
Farmers, teachers and tech mentors spell out the major problems for these hackers to find a solution. Then, they have to present their ideas in a strict time window: Three minutes.
See Neela and Elder present in the “Level Up New Mexico” segment in the video above.
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