Boba Talk

#1: Ellie Popoca: Why Beginners Should Attend Hackathons, Finding Your Peers at UIUC, and the Future of AI

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Welcome to Boba Talk: Back to School season!

In the first episode, Sonny and Lillian sat down with Ellie Popoca, a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying Information Sciences and Game Design, a former Major League Hacking coach, and our amazing Curriculum Intern at Codédex. We chatted about the misconceptions of hackathons, hanging with the right people on campus, the future of AI, and much more.

Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us ⁠@boba_talk on Twitter⁠! If you like this episode, please leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

(0:00) Intro + bobas

(2:10) Ellie's coding journey and first hackathon

(3:55) What is a hackathon

(4:40) Comparing yourself with others

(6:05) Hanging with the right people on campus

(9:10) Concerns about the future of tech / AI

(11:15) Linguistics

(12:25) Hackathons as a learning experience

(15:00) Attending 40 hackathons and Ellie's favorites

Episode links:

  • Build an Interactive Soundboard with p5.js
  • Deploy a Website with Vercel
  • Cecilia La Place
  • Uncommon Hacks
  • HackGT

    • Keep up with Ellie:

    • Twitter: @exrlla
    • Instagram: @elliecodes.py
    • Website: https://popoca.io

      • Credits:

      • Co-Host: Sonny Li
      • Co-Host: Lillian McVeigh
      • Producer: Jay Yow

        • Happy coding!

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        Boba TalkBy Codédex