Melissa Schmitz: From Hackathon Winner to Working Professional

"The point of it is not always to make a business, of course. It's to have that experience."

Karin and Kelly chat with Melissa Schmitz about what it's like to win a hackathon, her experience working with virtual reality, and her decision to pivot from natural science to data science.

Topics discussed include: using virtual reality to train people on heavy equipment, how to succeed at your first hackathon, and building blocks of programming

Follow Melissa on LinkedIn and Medium for more!

Click here to watch a video about Raymond's Virtual Reality simulator.

Melissa's team, MMA, won Hack Upstate X! Read about their project here.

Our theme is "Enthusiast" by Tours. Listen to the full song here!

Follow Karin

Personal Site: kethorne.com

Instagram: karin_thorne

Twitter: kaythorne

E-mail: [email protected]

Business: [JS Webb Development LLC](jswebbdevelopment.com)

Instagram: jswebbdev

Twitter: @JSWebb_Dev

Business E-mail: [email protected]

Follow Kelly

Personal Site: kell.dev

Instagram: kellytoearth

Twitter: @kellytoearth

E-mail: [email protected]

Follow Salt City Code

Site: www.saltcitycode.com

Instagram: saltcitycode

Twitter: saltcitycode

E-mail: [email protected]

Special Guest: Melissa Schmitz.

Sponsored By:

• Hack Upstate: Special thanks to our sponsor Hack Upstate! Visit hackupstate.com to learn more about upcoming hackathons and get ready to code!
• Hack Upstate: Interested in becoming a full-stack web developer? Sign up for the Cohort 2 waitlist and the mailing list at Careers in Code for information on upcoming events and job opportunities!