As the UK’s electricity grid evolves with solar panels, electric vehicles, and smart homes, we need brilliant minds to make the complex world of energy distribution more engaging and intuitive to everyone.

The Challenges

Choose from four exciting challenges to work on, designed to transform how people understand and interact with the electricity network:

Ready to power the future?

Whether you're a developer, data scientist, designer, or domain expert, this is your chance to work with real energy industry data, learn from SSEN professionals, and create solutions that could genuinely impact thousands of customers.

Bring your laptop, bring your creativity, and help us build a transparent, accessible energy future for the UK.

Watt is a Hackathon?

Hackathons are time-bound events (8 hours in our case) where people from a variety of disciplines, including programmers, designers and engineers, collaborate to rapidly prototype solutions for challenges or on a particular theme or set of challenges.

Watt can I build?

We’re always excited to see what skills our participants will bring to the event. For Watt Works we have a number of challenges for you to choose from – how you solve those challenges is completely up to you!

We know how daunting coming up with ideas can be though, so we'll make things a little easier by publishing some ideas before the event that you might want to attempt.

To get a vibe of what people have made in the past, check out our write-up of our last event: Hack Pompey x Sea Change.

Do I need a team?

We believe that people have the most fun and build the best things when they work together.

If you don't yet have a team, don't worry! There will be plenty of opportunity to form a team at the event.

Some other things

• Community over contest
  Everyone is welcome, we care about this being a safe and fun environment.
• Free food and drink
  Breakfast, lunch, snacks are provided. We gotta keep you fueled throughout!
• Nab a free Watt Works T-shirt!
  When ordering your ticket, you’ll be prompted to select your shirt size. Tees will be available for collection at the registration desk on the day of the event.
• Bring your tools and equipment
  Laptops, craft supplies, pen & paper, Raspberry Pis. Whatever you need for your hacking/making!
  
  Note: the use of soldering equipment or any other equipment that can cause damage to furniture or materials at the venue are not permitted. If in doubt, please contact us before the event.

• 09:00—09:45: Doors Open - the event begins!
  Time to check-in and get your wristband, grab some free breakfast, drink some much needed coffee and mingle with like-minded hackers!
• 
  09:45—10:15: Opening talk
  We'll introduce ourselves, let you know what you can expect throughout the day and give you our top tips for making the most of a hack day.
• 
  10:15—13:00: Hacking begins
  You will either start hacking away if you know what you're going to make, otherwise you can join our group and idea forming session where we’ll help you to come up with a game plan for the day.
• 
  13:00—13:30: Lunch
  Enjoy some tasty food and relax for a bit!
• 
  13:30—16:00: Hacking continues
  After lunch comes the crunch, only 2 and a half hours to get your projects and presentations to a "good enough" state.
• 
  16:00-17:00: Show & Tell, and voting for the People’s Choice Award!
  While this isn't a competition, we will have some awards for the teams that do well.

Here’s what previous hackers had to say about Hack Pompey

“I felt immediately welcomed and inspired by the energy and creativity of everybody involved.” – Dan Branch

“Being able to ask someone ‘how do they do that’ and then being able to have a go has been invaluable to my business’s research & development.” – Helen Goss

“When I went the theme was Sustainability. My team’s project was Deathlaser, a browser-based game about destroying blocks which, in my opinion, is about as sustainable as it gets.” – Jack Travis

Fancy a longer read? Check out these post-event write-ups from the community

My First Hackathon by Michael Parker “I want to start by saying Hack Pompey was an absolute blast – thank you so much to the Hack Pompey team and Sea Change for putting this together. I'm writing this two weeks later, so I may have forgotten a few minor details, but this is how I won...”

The Power of Innovation by Andrew Zak “Very occasionally, Loadbalancer lets me out into the real world. Madness, I know. And the break from the office to participate in this local hackathon was just what the doctor ordered...”

Blahbarian by Zoe Aubert “We didn't know what we wanted to do and were hoping to find some inspiration when we got there. In the office, we have a Blahaj, and it's been the centre of a few shenanigans. In a moment of inspiration, I came up with the idea of...”

If you have any other questions, please drop us a line at contact@hackpompey.co.uk or reach out on social media.