ECPI University CIS Students Take Top Honors in Hackathon
Commercial and residential plumbing supply giant Ferguson Enterprises recently hosted its first-ever “Up to Code” Hackathon at its Newport News, Virginia headquarters, giving local college students a chance to test their skills and gain some valuable experience. A hackathon is an intense, pressure-packed competition where teams of programmers, software developers, and graphic designers collaborate to create innovative software solutions.
According to a report in the Daily Press, Ferguson Product Manager Bianca Chesimard had participated in other hackathons and thought this would be a good way to invigorate the company's information technology and e-business teams. Chesimard challenged the 29 participants to create mobile solutions that would be useful to Ferguson customers – plumbers, builders, and home repair professionals, as well as heating and air technicians.
When the dust settled, a team that included three students from ECPI University’s Newport News campus took top honors. Software Development students Carla Lincoln and Christina Waterfield, along with Network Security student Arthur Champion were part of Team Max Perigee, and will share the $500 prize. They created an app and web-based scheduling manager called “PlumbWorks” in which customers can order plumbing fixes or heating and air repairs through the app while the business manager assigns the work to technicians who can check their scheduled jobs in real time. When changes are made, the app sends notifications.
According to the Daily Press report, company officials were exceptionally pleased with the event, as it provided a venue for cross-departmental collaboration between Ferguson employees – who volunteered their time – and members of the community. What’s more, CIO Kevin Barnes says the hackathon offered the company an opportunity to showcase its own IT department and engage potential employment candidates, especially important as demand for IT talent currently exceeds supply nationally and regionally. In recent years, Ferguson has grown dramatically. It is now a $13.8-billion-dollar company with more than 1,400 locations and over 23,000 associates nationwide.
“We appreciate Ferguson hosting this terrific event,” says ECPI University Newport News Campus President Dr. John Olson. “We are proud of our students and competitions such as this allow them to demonstrate their skills and ability to successfully compete with anyone.”
ECPI University and its Newport News campus offer a wide range of Computer and Information Science programs with concentrations in:
- Software Development
- Cyber and Network Security
- Cloud Computing
- Web Development
- Database Programming
Each of these programs is offered in ECPI University’s year-round, accelerated format which means you can earn a Bachelor’s degree in as little as 2.5 years or an Associate’s in just 1.5 years. Want to learn more? Contact ECPI University’s Newport News campus today.
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