Coming up at the end of February is hack.summit() 2016! The conference, dubbed “a virtual event for developers,” is presented by Pluralsight, and takes place Feb. 22-25 2016. Unlike many tech conferences and conventions, Hack.Summit focuses on social entrepreneurship.“Developers want to be involved in something larger than themselves,” hack.summit() founder, and TheServerSide.com Ed Roman explained. “Helping each other is the mission.” 

Hack.summit() prominently features a hackathon, slated to make history as the largest hackathon in the world. In addition, there’s a slew of speakers, including:

• Agile Co-Creator and TEE creator Kent Beck

• Ruby on Rails Creator Davie Heinmeier Hanson

• StackOverflow CEO and Co-Founder Joel Spolsky

• Executive Vice President at Microsoft Qi Lu

• Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard

• Creator of the Software Craftsmanship Movement Bob Martin

One of the many aspects of the conference that sets it apart from other tech conferences is its vast reach. Hack.summit() is larger than the Game Developers’ Conference, which gets a massive attendance. It’s the onus on non-profits that helped hack.summit() blossom into such a huge event. For the most part, people want to help, and after all, developers are people, not just engineers. Making a difference for important causes encourages devs to participate. Lots of organizations are uniting the development and social entrepreneurship spaces, like Code for America, and Women who Code.

Hack.summit() is comprised of two main events: a conference and a hackathon. It’s an educational event, and attendees have the great opportunity to learn from the top developers in the world. Last year, there were more than 64,000 attendees, from 157 countries.

“hack.summit() unites some of the top developers in the world to make a difference for non-profits in the coding space.” -- Ed Roman

People attend conferences to learn, and knowledge and experience remain at the forefront of hack.summit(). Essentially, talks are akin to video interviews between a moderator and speaker. It’s a 2-way hangout, via Crowdcast.io, where talks run from 8AM-5PM PT. Hosting a global event is challenging insofar as allowing all attendees to tune in, so the 8AM-5PM PT timeframe seemed best fit to offer the most overlap for potential attendees. Luckily, videos will be posted directly after the talk, available for free, on-demand viewing.  

Entrance is available in several fashions. There are multiple “payment systems,” accommodating a broad audience. It’s a “pay-what-you-want” event, where payments are donations made to the non-profit of your choice. Alternately, you can get a free ticket by simply spreading the word of hack.summit() on Twitter or Facebook. 

Details:

• What: hack.summit() 2016

• When: Feb. 22-25, 2016

• Where: Everywhere!

Check out the official hack.summit() website for more info, including registration, speakers, and more!