Devpost (formerly ChallengePost) is a platform that helps software engineers participate in software competitions (
hackathon
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. Th ...
s). Customers market their developer tools and jobs to the Devpost community. The company was founded by Brandon Kessler in 2009.
Origin
In 2006, Colin Nederkoorn initiated a public contest prompting programmers to develop a means for running the
Windows XP operating system through an
Intel Mac
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...
. Programmer Jesus Lopez eventually won the competition, which had accumulated over $13,000 in donations.
[Kim-Mai Cutler]
"ChallengePost launches problem-solving site with Wozniak, Betaworks onboard"
''Venture Beat'', June 29, 2009 Seeing this competition, Kessler soon developed ChallengePost as a means through which similar competitions could be facilitated and promoted.
At first, the company allowed any individual or organization to post a competition. Over time, their scope evolved. In 2015, ChallengePost changed its name to Devpost and focused exclusively on helping software engineers participate in hackathons, and eventually to find jobs.
Funding
In August 2011, ChallengePost raised $4.6 million in Series A funding from investors including former Apple executive Bob Borchers of Opus Capital and
Qualcomm
Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...
founder Irwin Jacobs.
[Peter Kafka]
"Crowdsourcing Platform ChallengePost Raises $4 Million"
''All Things D'', August 8, 2011
Hackathons and Jobs
Devpost now powers the majority of the world's in-person and online hackathons (software competitions), and helps software engineers find jobs, in service of the company's mission "To help developers find fulfilling work." After 2019, the platform saw a surge in online hackathons hosted on the platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notable clients
In 2010, ChallengePost was named the official online "challenge platform" of the U.S. federal government, previously overseeing the
NYC Big Apps contest in conjunction with the city of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, as well as
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
's Apps for Healthy Kids challenge in conjunction with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
[Erick Schonfeld]
"ChallengePost Becomes A Government Contractor"
''TechCrunch'', May 27, 2010Challenge.gov.
Devpost customers include Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Cisco, Atlassian, Twitter, and others.
See also
*
HackerEarth
References
{{Reflist
Internet properties established in 2009
Open innovation intermediaries
2009 establishments in New York City
Technology companies based in New York City