By Jim Scott
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Hundreds of students came together and put their skills to the test this weekend hacking the software of local companies for hackNY's Hackathon event at New York University.
Hackers at the 24-hour event created new applications using platforms of local start up companies like Etsy and tumblr, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"We want to get students who understand the joy of building," Chris Wiggins, a Columbia professor who is a co-founder of hackNY, told the Journal. "You don't do that by inviting them to a job fair and asking them to put on a tie. You ask them to come and build and define for themselves what they are interested in building."
The students created code on existing sights that led to the creation of unique applications like a Twitter-based Balderdash game, the paper reported. At the end of the night each student showed off their work.
The Hackathon served as a way to bring together notoriously anti-social hackers and also gave them a public platform to show off their skills to future employers.
Hackathons are just gaining in popularity in the Big Apple, but companies like Yahoo! and Facebook have been holding them for years, according to the Journal.
