IC Hack 2025: Europe’s largest student-run hackathon

Over 700 students, 100 volunteers, and at least a metric tonne of drinks, snacks, and food. 15 sponsors. Students from Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford, and more, all competed in five challenges, each set by the gold–tier sponsor for the chance to win bragging rights – and some nice merchandise – at Europe’s largest student-led hackathon. Running for thirteen years, Felix went to cover ICHack and see what the “hype” was all about. 

Guided by DoCSoc treasurer Aditya, eating a quick lunch in between helping run the spectacle, we walked through the Queen’s Tower Rooms, the SCR, and JCR where groups of up to five students were huddled around laptops, monitors, and even PCs they had brought in from home. Lined against the peripheries were rows upon rows of snacks, drinks, and surprisingly fruit – a cornucopia of goods – and tables where sponsors who had bought the appropriate tier could speak to students and entice them to work for them post-Imperial, if they showed the mettle. 

The tickets were “sold out in minutes,” said Aditya, and reselling was a common occurrence. Speaking to students, they all said the experience was “exciting,” and that they enjoyed being at the event. Some warned that one day of coverage was enough as tomorrow the room would “stink”: some students stayed overnight in a bid to get the edge over their peers, hoping to win in any of the five competitions. A team comprised of Cambridge and KCL students had come to compete because IC Hack was the big event for prospective software engineers. Whilst other universities did host their own events, it was Imperial’s event that had the biggest chance to network, the highest production value, and the coolest sponsors. This year the lanyard badges were made of plastic circuit boards and had a D-pad built in. Inputting certain commands, in the same way one could input a secret code on an old games console, allowed one to play Tetris.

Punctuating the time periods were a plethora of talks and workshops held by the sponsors. Frequent breaks were also set up officially, giving students a chance to unglue themselves from their seats and computer desks. In the evening, “fun events” would take place, part of the experience when you put 600 university students in one room. This year, Marshall Wace, the title sponsor of IC Hack, had organised a treasure hunt.  One veteran, who was competing in their third year told Felix that they would only have their picture taken if they won the karaoke competition, an event traditionally held at 2am on Sunday morning – they had won it last year and were hoping to retain their title this year. Other students, in their fourth year of competing told Felix that this year they would probably go home and sleep.  

Volunteers worked to ensure that nothing ran amiss during the intense weekend. Countless numbers of t-shirt and software-engineer-style three-quarter zip-ups emblazoned with IC Hack branding worked around the scenes, speaking intermittently by walkie-talkies. At the doors, a team of “security” would check if possible, entrants had the wristbands required to enter the stuffy hacking rooms, making it very hard for eager onlookers to lift a few crates of drinks, as they are prone to do. Outside on Dangoor Plaza, a waffle stand gave out free waffles to competitors, with a line stretching across the length of Queen’s Lawn. The atmosphere was abuzz with some frenetic energy. It felt Monster-energy induced, and driven by the same mix of determination and desperation one gets when they wander through Huxley. It felt locked in. Everyone was locked in. There was a role for everyone to play and they were playing it with full sincerity. 

We were able to enter the control room: two rooms in the Sherfield building that had been commandeered by the army of volunteers. Inside, the first room were boxes of merch, lanyards, designed in-house, and other items scattered across tables. On the projector, a timetable so detailed it looked like an image of a yellow Lego brick wall was on display. Students with any issues were told to arrive here, and given all the help they could. In the ten minutes we spoke to DoCSOC volunteers we saw at least two or three competitors come in and ask for help. In the other room, in a mass of bags, t-shirts, and coats sat ten volunteers. Some volunteers slept heads facing down on desks; others watched videos on their phones, and some talked amongst themselves. Speaking to a few of them, they were scheduled breaks. Typically, they worked in blocks of a few hours, and then got a chance to eat and rest.  

Seeing this energy, the enthusiasm of the students, and the overall nonchalance was refreshing. When most career based events are full of intensity, the ability for IC Hack, to the credit of DoCSoc, to have an event that is inclusive of all but doesn’t require one to put on the false airs of a regular corporate event.