The Technica Fellowship Program is an 9-week initiative, running from June to August, designed for students of all skill levels — especially those with less technical experience who are eager to grow!
learn programming languages
learn professional development skills
collaborate on a guided web development project
build confidence within a supportive, mentorship-based environment
Project Work Sessions / Technical Workshops: Hands-on work on technical projects, guided learning sessions, and skill-building workshops.
Professional Development Workshops: Workshops focused on career growth, including resume building, interview prep, networking, and tech industry insights
OR
Bonding Workshops: Fun, interactive workshops designed to build team cohesion, foster relationships, and explore topics related to personal growth and community building
I remember going into the summer before freshman year with almost no web development experience and ended the summer having created my own personal website that I still use today. I absolutely loved the program and meeting other incoming freshmen going into computer science, everyone was super welcoming and we bonded a lot even though meetings were online.
Being a fellow at Technica introduced me to so many things, not just computer science; I was able to meet great people, learn about web development, and grow professionally. Having little to no experience beforehand, the Technica community supported me every step of the way and I really enjoyed my time in this program!
My experience as a Technica Fellow was both challenging and transformative. The projects we worked on, including working with APIs (something I hadn’t done before), pushed me to step outside my comfort zone and develop new technical skills. The supportive environment was invaluable — the directors and other fellows made it easy to feel comfortable and confident. I especially loved the bonding sessions, which helped me build lasting connections. I'm still very close with many of the fellows and even a couple of the directors who led those sessions! This experience not only helped me grow my coding skills but also made me more confident in my abilities as a developer.
My experience as a Fellow with Technica was amazing! It helped me develop a community of friends in tech before I started school which was very helpful. The skills and friends I've made through the program has been very beneficial to me starting out as a freshman.
I'm really glad I applied to the Fellowship the summer before my freshman year at UMD. Beyond all of the technical skills I gained through the collaborative project, I really enjoyed getting to know the other fellows and the organizers. The Fellowship introduced me to a community of individuals with similar interests and backgrounds to me, and I'm still close with many of the friends I made during that time! The professional development workshops were also very helpful for tips like networking and resume-building, which helped me land my internship this summer!
By the end of the Technica Fellowship Program, fellows will:
A hackathon is a technology-focused event where individuals and teams work on new projects in a short period of time. You can build anything you want. An app, a robot, a website. The only limit is your imagination!
People of a variety of genders are underrepresented in the tech world, and it’s up to everyone to change that! Technica’s goal is to create a welcoming environment where hackers can build cool projects and share their stories! You can learn more about gender diversity here.
While this hackathon does celebrate underrepresented genders, people of all genders are welcome!
No, you don’t need ANY coding experience to participate! If you do, that’s great! If you don’t, that’s also great! Students of all skill levels are encouraged to attend, even if you’ve never written a line of code. We’re very beginner friendly and are prepared to teach you everything you need to learn right here. We also have a beginners track to further help beginner coders start their tech journey!
