MasterCard Masters of Code: New York

  How is a truly gifted Coder (as in programmers, designers and developers) distinguished today? For thousands of years, master artisans were honored with an insignia in recognition of their talent. A distinct object such as a pin or hat established their dominance in a field. “Coders”, as we define them here, have become the world’s newest artisans. Just as master builders were essential for the creation of a business 400 years ago, Coders are needed for everything from website creation to server maintenance and developing new in-house platforms. Yet there is no identifying seal showcasing the quality of Coders, their rank amongst peers or even their trials and accomplishments. Enter the MasterCard Masters of Code Competition. Through this intense series of hackathons we have one goal: to traverse the globe and engage the very best Coders. Each regional hackathon will have developers, designers and entrepreneurs using the MasterCard APIs to create masterful prototypes that demonstrate artful coding and design skills, while articulating clear business cases. The competition will be intense and the tension high, but we are looking to create a different experience for our participants. Each event will be held in one of the most thriving tech communities worldwide – and at the best venues there. Winners from each region will be flown out for the Grand Finale Masters of Code Hackathon in Silicon Valley to experience a MasterCard Priceless Experience – Northern California. The final itself will be just like the regionals with up to ten teams from the region events and one MasterCard elite team of Coders. The winning team will be recognized as the first Masters of Code Champions and given their Masters of Code Jackets, $100,000 and many other perks. Only the global winning team will be given this honor and privilege.   Regional Level: Each region has a specific Challenge, Featured API and Secret API that attendees can go after. While you don't have to use all three in your hack, bonus points will be awarded to those that do Regional Challenge: Create the best consumer experience using a combination of software and hardware. Featued API: Simplify Commerce Secret API: Shhh, you'll have to wait for the event for that one!  But you can check out ALL of the MasterCard API information here. Grand Prize* The MasterCard Masters of Code Champions will be crowned and will receive $100,000 USD, in addition to the following prizes*: Two weeks on-site at the MasterCard Start Path™ accelerator location in Dublin, Ireland, or an alternate remote program Six months of mentoring from a member of the MasterCard Open API executive team and the Start Path program team Free payment processing for up to $250,000 in transactions for the first 12 months using Simplify Commerce**.. *Prizes may be modified to accommodate regional availability and regulations of the winning team location **Legal Disclaimer: To qualify for this promotion, a Masters of Code team must apply to become and be approved as a Simplify Commerce merchant and actively transact via Simplify Commerce Gateway. “Actively transact means conducting a sales transaction that results in Simplify Commerce making a deposit to the checking account you have linked to your Simplify Commerce merchant account. If you qualify, Simplify Commerce will rebate the 2.85% + 30¢ per transaction processing fee for your first $250,000 in sales that occurs within 12 months after the company becomes a Simplify Commerce merchant. Should a transaction be refunded, it will not be eligible for a rebate. After the company reaches $250,000 in sales, processing fees will remain 2.85% + 30¢ per transaction (or the standard rate at that time).   Regional Winner New York Masters of Code Title: The first of it's kind. Place in the Grand Finale in Silicon Valley in December:  The winning team will be flown to Silicon Valley to compete in the Grand Finale Masters of Code hackathon (up to 5 members) MasterCard Priceless® Experience in Napa Valley and San Francisco – while at the Grand Finale in December   Regional Runner-Up Each regional runner-up team member will receive a $500 USD MasterCard gift card.   Pebble Challenge: Build the Best Hack you Can on Pebble Hardware Prize: One Pebble Watch for each Winning Team     Rules: Teams of up to 5 humans are allowed. You can also add 1 cyborg, Furby, drone, or Sphero. All team members must have completed the participation agreement to compete. We all start coding at the same time. This is done to keep things fair. Please don't come in and build on top of previous projects if you want to win. You must demo your hack in order to present. No slide-decks or power-points will be allowed. 2 minute presentation 1 minute Q&A from Judges. Teams have full ownership of everything they build at our events and are free to do with it as they wish. Each hackathon has its individual hackathon.io page, which projects should be submitted on. Submission time is 1pm Sunday. Winning teams will be subject to a code-review at some point following the event or immediately before winning.   Judging Criteria: All judging will be done on Hackathon.io Scores are out of 25 points for the following criteria:  Impact  (5 Points) Design  (5 Points) Creativity  (5 Points) Simplicity  (5 Points) Usage of MasterCard's APIs and Challenge (5 Points)   Saturday, November 7th Sunday, November 8th 09:00 - Doors open to Attendees 08:00 - Breakfast 09:30 - Breakfast of Champions 12:00 - Lunch 10:00 - Opening Ceremony and API Talks 13:00 - Hackathon Ends/Submission due on hackathon.io 10:30 - Team & Idea Pitches 14:00 - Demos Begin - Demos only, No slide decks 12:00 - Lunch (if your demo doesn't work, take us through the code- 13:00 - CODING BEGINS and Breakout Sessions what you did and where you got stuck. It's about 18:00 - Dinner is Served showing what you've learned and not about pitching an idea). 00:00 - Midnight Snack 17:00 - Winners are announced/Prizathon! CODE THROUGH THE NIGHT!  And that's a wrap!       By registering for this event you agree to give MasterCard and AngelHack your email address. We don't share what you share with us.