#22- Jonathan Gottfried: empowering hackers, launching impactful hackathons

Today's episode is with Jonathan Gottfried, co-founder of Major League Hacking (MLH). We have discussed several topics from organizing hackathons to fostering diverse events and building the next generation 00:00 Intro 00:41 Jon's intro 00:51 Rewarding aspect of building and growing MLH over the years 02:19 MLH's role of documenting stories of student hackers 05:34 MLH's impact on participants career 08:58 MLH's contribution to foster a sense of inclusivity and diversity 12:32 Organizing events of people from different skill levels 14:50 First time hackathon experience 16:26 Challenges that aspiring software developers face when transitioning to a technical founder 19:01 Developers preferring to create B2B services than B2C 21:55 MLH collaborating with Fortune 500, FANG, Big Four companies and the impact it has on people's careers 23:58 Key attributes essential for individuals to become successful technical founders 26:11 Finding a good co-founder 27:28 MLH shifting from LLC to C-corp then B-corp 30:02 Transitioning to B-corp inspiration for other companies who might want to consider 32:06 Translating hackathon collaboration skills to the software industry 34:49 MLH initiatives reaching global reach, how MLH addresses cultural and societal nuance 37: 38 MLH activities affects on becoming a developer evangelist 40:21 Difference between evangelist and developer relations 41:05 MLH mentorship from alumni/experienced hackers 43:18 MLH challenges and obstacles when starting and running it for the past 10 years 45:41 What sparked Jon's interest into the world of hacking and technology 52:08 What developer evangelism means to Jon 53:53 Jon's experience as a developer evangelist at Twilio 55:24 The State of Developer Education podcast 57:12 Consideration of the idea of pursuing something new in the future 59:30 Going outside the comfort zone to starting something new like a startup 01:02:31 Mental health question 01:07:03 Outro If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter Follow us on: Website: https://www.reconfigured.co Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reconfiguredco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconfiguredco YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reconfiguredco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reconfiguredco LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfiguredco/