When I was studying Computer Science at Harvard (a shocking 20 years ago this year), startups were nowhere on my radar. The big name recruiting on campus was Microsoft, where my former TA, Dean Hachamovitch, has been leading the Internet Explorer team for several years now. Things have improved a lot since then, but there are still too many talented computer science students being lured to large companies and/or Wall Street instead of joining a startup or even starting their own.
That’s why I am excited that HackNY this year is going to be twice the size of 2010. HackNY is a terrific program run by Evan Korth and Chris Wiggins with an awesome set of advisors including Etsy’s Chad Dickerson and Bit.ly’s Hilary Mason. HackNY brings talented Computer Science students from top programs around the country to New York for the summer to intern at great startups. Last year’s internships were a huge success with students and startups alike.
If you are a startup and have not yet applied, please do so immediately. Ditto if you are a student. In the meantime, thanks to Chris, Evan and everyone else supporting HackNY.