The Bay

Before Shipwrecked, you'll need to earn your spot through participating in The Bay!

Your goal is to make a polished, fully deployed project that will go viral.

  • Install Hackatime on your computer and start coding.
  • Make 4 projects you are proud of (roughly 15 hours each), which you then promote to get other people to check it out
    • Most people will make 4-6 projects along the way, which they will only promote a few of.
    • Making projects that other people like is an iterative process! You will learn some important lessons along the way and apply those learnings to future projects :)
  • For example, let’s say you make a .gitignore file generator that you work really hard on to make it as polished and functional as possible, publish it on Hacker News, and get on the front page for a day; we would consider that as going viral!
  • You can find more thresholds for what we consider going viral for the event on this page.

You are welcome and encouraged to team up — try to find a partner to work on your project with you!

That sounds great and all, but what are the exact requirements?

To complete The Bay, there are 2 requirements.

  1. Each person must spend at least 60 hours (roughly 15 hours per project) and ship 4 fully deployed projects*
  2. Go Viral: Here’s what that exactly means.
    • You will make multiple projects. Only 1 of your projects must go viral to fulfill this requirement.
  3. Optional: Attend workshops, lightning talks, and other virtual events to help with your project!

What happens if I complete 60 hours but don't meet the requirements for my project going viral?

  • Our in-person experience, Shipwrecked, is capped at 130 spots.
  • If you go viral (according to these requirements), you are guaranteed a spot if you are within the first 130 people to go viral and complete 60 hours as per our requirements.
  • If you do not go viral, but ship high quality projects and log over 60 hours, you will be put on a waiting list. We will start inviting people from the waiting list in the order they were added, 6 weeks before Shipwrecked. We might, at our discretion, offer other opportunities for people to get their name off the waitlist and get an invitation to Shipwrecked.

TL;DR:

1. Build 4 projects in The Bay and try to make them go viral (see above for what going viral means). Spend 60 hours on quality work and you'll get an invite
2. Go to Shipwrecked on August 8-11 — a hackathon on an island in the Massachusetts Bay!

*This is super achievable! One way you could do this is every week, meet up with your friends either in person or over The Pier — our video game-like digital meeting space — for 5 hours, whether throughout the week or in one day. If you join for 12 weekends doing quality work, you should have 60 hours!

FAQ:

Can I work on a project I started before the event?

Yes! Only hours you put in after the event was announced will be counted

How much time can I log for art(video editing, traditional art, etc)?

Up to 20% of your time submitted can be art! You're welcome to do more though it won't count towards your hours.

Can I combine views across multiple platforms to reach the viral thresholds?

No. However, you may make multiple posts on one platform and combine those views as long as you combine them in good faith. (A bad faith example would be if you make 200 duplicate posts on reddit & get 3 of your friends to upvote each one)

We reserve the right to decide if a project meets the criteria. If you project does not meet the criteria, we will let you know how your project does not meet it.

Do my projects have to be open-source & usable by others?

Yes.

What requirements do my projects need to meet?

Your project needs to be shipped!

That means it must be at least one of the following:

  • Live website (that will remain up after the event)
  • App in production

Your project must have:

  • Open source code available on GitHub
  • A descriptive readme that explains how to use/install your project