The Bourbon Friday Show with Matt Menietti from GlobalHack

EQ readers can get a 25% discount on tickets to GlobalHack VII using the promo code: EQSTL2

On this episode of the Bourbon Friday Show we had the opportunity to talk with Matt Menetti, Executive Director of GlobalHack, about GlobalHack’s upcoming hackathon on October 12-14.

Committed to Workforce Development

Many people in the St. Louis region may know of GlobalHack through their widely-renowned hackathons—which are indeed, a big part of what they do.

What people may not know, though, is that GlobalHack also engages with the community through their youth classes and camps, as well as various other programs aimed at introducing young minds to the world of coding and different aspects of software development and computer science.

With classes ranging from beginner friendly CS First, which is geared towards younger students, to more advanced courses such as Youth Coding League for middle school students, there’s no shortage of educational opportunities.

And in a time where computer science education is still seen as more of a “nice to have” skill instead of a requirement, these opportunities have never been more important.

Social Impact through Technology

While these initiatives to fill those technology educational gaps are important for future generations, another big part of GlobalHack’s mission is also about driving social impact through technology —in which the hackathons play a large role.

In fact, each GlobalHack hackathon is aimed at creating a technology driven solution to a large-scale social issue. Over the course of 36 to 48 hours, participants will ideate and ultimately create a functioning prototype of their solution to be presented at the end of the weekend.

By working on these types of issues in a fast-paced hackathon setting, Menietti believes that it’s not only more compelling for the participants, but also has the potential to drive more impact for the community since large organizations often can’t move as fast to provide solutions.

By contrast, hackathons do exactly that: identify and solve problems quickly.

For more information or to participate on this year’s GlobalHack IIV hackathon on October 12-14, check out EQ’s previous coverage or visit: globalhack.org.

Bourbon Innovation

The bottle this week was Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon Whiskey, which is fitting since both Bourbon Friday founder Erik, and guest Matt both hail from Iowa.

And while Iowa isn’t typically the first state many people think of when talking about bourbon, all bourbon is in fact created with one of Iowa’s largest exports: corn.

EQ readers can get a 25% discount on tickets to GlobalHack VII using the promo code: EQSTL2