SAS Hackathon 2025 | Individual Student Track | Participant Guide + Discussion Forum

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Hackers Unite! It's finally here!

And by "here" - I mean that SAS Hackathon 2025 officially kicks off on Monday, September 15th. Which - depending upon when you read this - means that there is still time to sign up today: https://www.sas.com/sas/events/hackathon.html

Once you're signed up for the Student Track of the 2025 SAS Hackathon, this article serves two purposes:

An easy-to-use participant guide with steps on how to prepare.
A discussion forum where you can crowdsource support from the broader SAS Community.

How to prepare for the SAS Hackathon Student Track

Take digital training

Join SAS Skill Builder for Students to get free access to digital learning to help you prepare for the game. (Note: an academic email address is required.)

Once in SAS Skill Builder for Students, we recommend you take:

Machine Learning using SAS Viya

Modern Data Science with SAS® Viya® Workbench and Python

Register for free learning software

Cortex is played using our free learning software. You will have the option of using:

SAS Viya for Learners – A low- or no-code option, perfect for those new to analytics or SAS.

SAS Viya Workbench for Learners – Code in your preferred programming language. Best for more experienced hackers.

Add important dates to your calendar

Date	Event
Sept 15	Game begins
Sept 15 10:00-11:30 AM EDT	Kick-off session: Learn how to play SAS Cortex for Academics, including game set up and leaderboard submission
Sept 22 10:00-11:30 AM EDT	Office Hours: Take your predictive modeling to the next level
Sept 29 10:00-11:30 AM EDT	Office Hours: General game support. Bring your questions!
Oct 6 10:00-11:30 AM EDT	Office Hours: Last week! Join us for guidance on how to refine your models before the last leaderboard submission
Oct 10 12:00 PM EDT	Leaderboard closes. Winner announced.

Discussion Forum

Post your comments and questions below — we’ll be here to support you on your hacking journey!

LGroves

I'll post this one right away - as I suspect it will come up several times in the Hack. But if your SAS Profile is currently linked to a non-academic email address, then you won't be able to access our software and SAS Skill Builder for Students.

Fix that issue by reading @Rachel_McLawhon's useful article here: Oops! Need to Update Your SAS Profile to an Academic Email?

Happy Hacking!