For the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of mentoring several SAS Hackathon teams, and the experience has been incredibly rewarding - both personally and professionally. I was able to connect with talented individuals from across the U.S. and Europe, gain insight into innovative ways to improve public service and witness the excitement of teams discovering new software capabilities.
Judging by the last two years, SAS Hackathon 2025 is shaping up to be another incredible event. While the official kickoff isn’t until late summer, I want to highlight why public sector organizations should start thinking about it now—planning and being ready to sign up once registration opens.
Why Participate?
- Hands-On Experience That Goes Beyond Demos
There’s a well-known saying: seeing is worth a thousand words. When it comes to technology, I’d take it a step further - trying it firsthand is worth a thousand words and countless technical demos. SAS Hackathon provides a unique opportunity to bring your own data (or leverage synthetic data we can help generate) and experience the full analytics lifecycle with SAS technology. Not only will you gain a deeper understanding of what’s possible, but you’ll also uncover any limitations—critical insights for making informed technology decisions.
- Direct Access to SAS Resources
Free trials are useful, but the overall customer experience often varies. When users encounter questions during a trial, they typically have to search for answers on their own—sometimes ending up with inefficient solutions, especially when working with new capabilities. SAS Hackathon offers a different experience. Each SAS Hackathon team is assigned a dedicated SAS mentor who provides onboarding support, technical guidance, and connections to the right subject matter experts at SAS.
For example, one of the teams I mentored last year initially planned to build a predictive model with structured data. Midway through the Hackathon, they decided to pivot and incorporate unstructured data by leveraging SAS Natural Language Processing (NLP)—a capability they had little prior experience with. To support them, I quickly connected the team with SAS NLP experts, arranged a knowledge transfer workshop, and within a short time, the team successfully implemented NLP into their use case. This kind of direct mentorship and hands-on learning is what makes SAS Hackathons such a valuable experience.
- Supporting Technology Modernization
Government agencies are naturally cautious when adopting new technologies. They must ensure security and data protection requirements are met, verify seamless integration with existing infrastructure, and, of course, evaluate the software’s functional capabilities. The SAS Hackathon provides a unique opportunity for agencies to test-drive new technology. Participants can assess how well it meets their needs, determine the required skill sets, estimate the time to value for a successful use case, and explore the underlying architecture. This experience helps teams build a strong business case for leadership, accelerating the approval process when their organization is ready to modernize and invest in new technologies.
From my experience as a mentor, I saw this firsthand. One team I worked with discovered advanced visualization capabilities in SAS that they hadn’t been aware of before. With guidance, they quickly integrated these features into their analysis, enhancing their project’s impact and strengthening their case for adoption.
If you’re passionate about innovation and problem-solving and want to drive meaningful change at your organization, I encourage you to participate in SAS Hackathon 2025. Not only you get to work on your use case with one of the best data analytics software, but you will also be a part of the vibrant Hackathon community which fosters collaboration, creativity, and a deeper appreciation for the potential of technology to drive efficiency and productivity in the public sector. Reach out if you want to learn more about #SAS Hackathon!
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