First APS Hack Day 2019

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See below for the schedule and resources from this past event.

  • When: November 15, 2019
  • Time: 1:00 - 5:00 PM
  • Where: Duane Physics G126
  • Who: All APS Members are Invited
Most hack days are used in the corporate world to get a bunch of employees together to finish a coding project in a fun way. This APS Hack Day will exist to instead bring together the department to support each other, learn something new, and to have fun. Bring your projects, coding troubles, and strange errors to the first APS Hack Day to spend an afternoon learning, problem-solving, and socializing.

2019 Schedule + Resources

Topic + Speaker

Resource
Intro to GitHub - Brian Alden Demonstration on GitHub
How to Write Clean Code + Test-Driven Development - Dan Larremore Slides on Clean Code
More (Great) Talks by Dan
Data Structures + Algorithms - Avery Schiff Demonstration + Slides on GitHub
Machine Learning in Astronomy - Hayley Roberts Demonstration + Slides on GitHub
How to Make Movies - Zach Berta-Thompson Demonstration on GitHub + a Fun Exercise!

Why Have an APS Hack Day?

The mismatch betwen the number of astonomy PhDs being created each year and the number of permanent research positions is at an all time high. Along the way, many students are also gaining the skills needed to become successful employees in tech world. Providing formal training to help cement these skills and give information about these job prospects helps prepare students for non-research careers while also expanding their horizons.

  • ~35% of astronomy PhD graduates will secure a permanent research position
  • 4 times more postdoc positions open than faculty positions per year
  • 2 or more postdocs have become a standard for PhDs looking for faculty positions
  • 344% increase in demand for data scientists since 2013
  • $95,000+ average base starting salary for data scientists