HACKATRUCK 2017

This month, the HACKATRUCK project concludes its 3^rd stage and readies itself for the 4^th with news on its menu. Since 2015, more than 5.600 students have already been trained in subjects such as Swift Programming for the iOS Platform and entrepreneurship. More than 25 universities, from several Brazilian religions, have participated in the project.
Since November 2015, when it started, the project has already gone through 25 education institutions, with 11 of those in the first stage, seven in the second and seven in the third. For the fourth stage, the prediction indicates that four universities will host the mobile lab.
“In the fourth stage we will have some specific changes, as we will always thrive to enhance the knowledge passed on to the students. The changes will target the inclusion of new topics in the menus, like in the EAD, to which a bit of JavaScript will be added, which is a pre-requirement for the new contents of the classroom course. The classroom course itself will include topics related to Bluemix, IoT and Cognitive Services (with the support of IBM Watson)”, Luís Rogério Gomes de Almeida, manager of the Department of Education of ELDORADO, reveals.
HACKATRUCK was conceived by IBM Brasil and Flex in partnership with Apple and carried out by the ELDORADO Research Institute. With an innovative methodological proposal, the mobile digital lab has a classroom which possesses cutting-edge devices and applications which happen to be stored in IBM’s cloud.
Inside the truck, the instructors of the ELDORADO Institute develop professional training activities, focusing on the SWIFT language for the development of iOS applications. In addition to the course, the participants can follow workshops on startups and entrepreneurship, and can be in touch with technological news, such as the 3D print and augmented reality goggles, for instance.
The HACKATRUCK spends three weeks in each higher education institution, with the participation of 56 students divided into two classes, one per period, one may take place in the morning and afternoon or afternoon and evening. The course has four hours per day, tallying 60 hours. At the end, the students who attain the pass criterion receive a certification of completion. For the 4^th stage, the proposal recommends that the truck should stay five weeks in each institution, keeping four hours of course per day, tallying 100 hours.
“Throughout the project, 4.296 participants have already been trained via EAD and 1.350 through the classroom courses on Swift. The project’s success is a reason for great pride and satisfaction. The HACKATRUCK is a “pollinizer” professional training project, since, in addition to providing the participants with the necessary conditions to develop themselves from a technical point of view, it also disseminates a work methodology which is based on challenges, one that can be used beyond the activities conducted”, Luis Rogério concludes.
For further info and the project’s schedule, check: http://www.hackatruck.com.br/