Microsoft OpenHack is a developer focused event where a wide variety of participants (Open) learn through hands-on experimentation (Hack) using challenges based on real world customer engagements designed to mimic the developer journey.
OpenHack is a premium Microsoft event that provides a unique upskilling experience for customers and partners. Rather than traditional presentation-based conferences, OpenHack offers a unique hands-on coding experience for developers.
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Overview
Containers OpenHack is focused on ‘Lift and Shift’ developer scenarios to move a legacy application, containerize it, and move it to Azure by using the developer’s choice of Containers Orchestrator (Azure Kubernetes Service or Service Fabric). The initial challenges start easy and help a new person understand the concepts of containers and the basics of Azure. Later challenges let developers understand the true power Azure can offer in completing complex tasks, including global deployment and scale-out.
Technologies:
Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Service Fabric, Azure Container Registry, Virtual Machine, Networking, Storage, Operation Management Suite, Log analytics
Overview
Developers attending the IoT + Data OpenHack will learn how to build an end to end IoT Solution, which includes securely collecting IoT telemetry data, intelligence on the Edge, archival, analysis, and visualization all while using the developer’s choice of tools, technologies, and services in Azure. Challenges are designed to mimic the developer’s journey to learn how data from IoT devices can bring insights and create impactful actions for businesses making a digital transformation. The best part of all - the whole event is set around the theme of an amusement park so everyone can enjoy the ride!
Technologies:
IoT Hub, IoT Edge, Azure Storage, Azure Stream Analytics, Spark on HDInsights, Azure Functions, Databricks, Data Factory, Power BI
Overview
OpenHack Machine Learning brings developers together to sharpen Machine Learning skills through a series of structured challenges to solve problems in the Computer Vision space. This journey explores Data Wrangling, Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and Custom Machine Learning solutions as well as neural networks on industry standard frameworks such as TensorFlow and CNTK and, finally, deploying the solution on the cloud.
Technologies:
Custom Vision APIs, Data Science Virtual Machine, Cognitive ToolKit and Azure Machine Learning as well as the VOTT image labeling tool.
Overview
During the Serverless OpenHack developers will explore how to quickly build and deploy Azure Serverless (Functions, Logic Apps, Event Grid & Cosmos DB) solutions while working alongside Microsoft engineers. Throughout this challenge-based hacking event, each participant will work to leverage serverless technologies to solve a series of increasingly difficult challenges, including building & debugging APIs with serverless functions, monitoring, managing and deploying a serverless project, creating workflows between systems and handling events, files, and Data Ingestion. The challenges are based on fun, interactive scenarios and allow attendees to play the part of an enterprise ice cream company.
Technologies:
Azure Functions, Logic Apps, Event Grid, Cosmos DB, API Management/Function Proxies, Azure Dev Ops, or GitHub, Application Insights, Dynamics 365/Office 365, Cognitive APIs, Event Hubs
Overview
The DevOps OpenHack is focused on the implementation of DevOps practices to achieve Zero Downtime Deployment targeting a managed Kubernetes cluster on Azure (AKS). The challenges are designed to mimic a developer’s journey to learn to “keep the lights on” while evolving a containerized application, collecting relevant usage data and minimizing downtime. The beginning challenges focus on building a CI/CD pipeline and monitoring. The next set of challenges focus on testing and ensuring production readiness. The advanced challenges focus on phased rollouts and disaster recovery. After the OpenHack, developers will have gained a skill set required to run DevOps in an Enterprise scenario.
Technologies:
Azure Kubernetes Service, GitHub, Azure Dev Ops or Jenkins (team choice) Log Analytics/Application Insights/Azure Monitor or Kubernetes Graphana (team choice), Istio
Overview
The Intelligent Bots OpenHack focuses on helping developers work in a challenge-based environment solving real life scenarios leveraging Microsoft Bot Framework, Azure Bot Service and integrating relevant Cognitive Services to build an intelligent bot. During the challenges, developers will start by setting up and deploying a bot intended to be used by a fictional company. Developers will also explore various channels such as Slack, Teams, Facebook, etc. to expand the reach of their bots. Challenges become more difficult as developers will add dialog flows to guide a user with the bot answering more complex questions and adding capabilities such as fuzzy search for parsing broader data sets. Finally, participants will add additional features that are common in bot implementations such as authentication, creation of an administrator’s portal for proactive user notifications, and bot to human handoff for escalations in a conversation.
Technologies:
Azure Bot Service, Cognitive Services such as QnA Maker and Language Understanding Intelligence Service, Azure Search and Databases. Teams will have the option to work with either JavaScript, Node.js, TypeScript or C#
Overview
The Modern Data Warehousing OpenHack allows developers to learn how to develop, implement, and operationalize a multi-source data warehouse solution on Microsoft Azure, leveraging technologies such as Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, and Azure DevOps. This is done by putting participants on teams and tasking them with challenges of incrementally increasing difficulty. In these challenges they will work with multiple and varied data sources and design, build, and deploy the architectural components necessary to empower the types of data consumption required by today’s organizations.
Technologies:
Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, Azure DevOps
Attendee at Serverless, London
“The event has definitely convinced me that Azure is the way to go as the primary cloud host”
MSFT Engineer at Containers, Sydney
“The amount of feedback and customer understanding leads me to believe that participation in these types of events is worth the engineering time and money needed to participate.”
Attendee at Enterprise Developer and Business Apps, London
“It’s been really epic. I loved meeting so many engineers from Microsoft. I think this is a right way to get professionals/companies on board with Microsoft technologies”
Attendee at IoT and Data, Singapore
“I came with the expectation that this event would be just another training event. But this OpenHack format is unlike the others. It’s challenging, it’s fun, it’s really a new way of learning”
MSFT Azure Specialist (GBB) at Zurich IOT + Data
"Challenges were not too easy and not too complex. OpenHack gives you the opportunity to take time with customers. We think OpenHack really helps build customer intimacy”
Attendee at Machine Learning, Las Vegas
“This was an enjoyable experience that taught me tenfold what I knew before about machine learning. It is not nearly as 'frightening' as I had previously thought - now it is much more inviting. Thank you!”
Attendee at Machine Learning Sydney
“I have participated in a few data science / ML events and this was by far the best run – and most challenging”