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Deadline to sign up: Wednesday July 8
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Session 2 runs: July 13-August 7
⏰ Deadline to sign up: Wednesday July 8 📅 Session 2 runs: July 13-August 7
Hack Your Summer
A free 4-week program for college students and recent grads to build something real — and show the world.
What you’ll build
Pick a project. Build it over 4 weeks. Ship it publicly.
Code & tools: a mobile app, data dashboard, or other technical tool.
Analysis & strategy: an investigative report, research summary, or policy memo.
Creative content: a zine, podcast, interactive puzzle, or digital archive.
A community initiative: an advocacy campaign, or a plan for starting a nonprofit.
Physical prototypes: a sensor project, robotics concept, or other tangible prototype.
To fuel your sprint, we’re surrounding you with people who know how to build big things.
Every week during Hack Your Summer we host live, interactive fireside chats with leaders across aerospace, artificial intelligence, public policy, entertainment, and community organizing.
Speaker lineup
Michelle Khare
YouTuber, TV host, stunt performer, actor, and former professional cyclist. Creator and host of the documentary series Challenge Accepted.
Megan Smith
Entrepreneur, engineer, former 3rd U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President. Former VP at Google and CEO of Planet Out, now CEO of shift7.
Jeff Weiner
Former CEO of LinkedIn who led the company's growth through its IPO and acquisition by Microsoft. Now Executive Chairman of Next Play Ventures.
Sarah Guo
Venture investor and entrepreneur. Youngest person to become a General Partner at Greylock Partners. Founded Conviction in 2022, a venture firm focused on early-stage AI-native software companies.
Reid Hoffman
Co-founder of LinkedIn, Inflection AI, and Manas AI, and an early investor in AirBNB, Facebook, and OpenAI. Partner at Greylock and host of the podcasts Masters of Scale and Possible.
Cady Coleman
Chemist, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, and former NASA astronaut who logged over 4,300 hours in space across three missions, including a six-month stint aboard the International Space Station.
Jennifer Pahlka
Technologist and former founder of Code for America and U.S. Digital Response; also served as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, and is the author of Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.
With more to come!
Plus live sessions and workshops with people who’ve built careers at:
18F — a16z — Adobe — Amazon — Anthropic — Apple — Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — Cisco — Council on Foreign Relations — Dell — Devoted Health — eBay — Eventbrite — Fast Company — GitHub — Google — IBM — Intel — LinkedIn — Lyft — Masters of Scale — Meta — Microsoft — NASA — the NBA — Nike — NOAA — NVIDIA — Oracle — PayPal — Pinterest — Salesforce — Smithsonian Museum of Natural History — Square — StitchFix — TED Conferences — Twitter / X — Wealthsimple — White House Office of Science & Technology — Yahoo! — Zoom
Including:
Marina Nitze, Crisis Engineer & Partner @ Layer Aleph | Former VA CTO
Brandon Middleton, Head of Education @ Replit | Adjunct @ Stanford & Campus.edu | ex-AWS ex-MSFT
Kyle Frankovich, Senior Data Scientist @ Harvard | Ex-Apple
Alyssa Fu Ward, Executive coach and Data Scientist | Ex-Meta, Ex-Twitter
Sherman Leung, Emergency Physician @ Stanford | Venture @ a16z bio+health
Daniel Whiteson, Physics Prof @ UC Irvine | Podcast host and TV show creator for PBS Kids
Austin Steinhart, Data Visuals Editor @ Council on Foreign Relations
Eve Troeh, Executive Producer @ Masters of Scale | Former Senior Editor/Producer at NYTimes, ESPN, and Marketplace.
Faye Zheng, Product, Life Sciences @ Datavant
Stephanie Mari, Coach @ Autotelia | Former Learning & Development Lead @ Alloy, Harry’s, and Better.com
The team behind Hack Your Summer
From scaling core products at LinkedIn, to founding and growing Coding it Forward, to leading the Insight Fellows Programs, we've accelerated thousands of careers.
DJ Patil
Ariana Soto
Kathy Copic
Special thanks to our partners
We are thrilled to give Hack Your Summer participants direct access to resources, thanks to in-kind contributions from our generous partners.
Two sessions this summer
Join the one that works for you. Or do both!
No matter your major or experience level.
→ A community of builders
→ Mentor support
→ Events & workshops
→ A project to show the world
YOU GET
If you’re curious and ready to build, you belong here.
What is Hack Your Summer?
Hack Your Summer is a 4-week program for college students to build undeniable proof of their capabilities and expand their professional networks.
This isn't a traditional internship. It's not a class. It's not a bootcamp. It's a structured sprint designed for students who want to tackle big challenges, and make real impact.
Whether you are coming from the lab, the terminal, the theater, the public square, or the studio, we provide the framework, community, and mentorship to turn your ideas into concrete, public-facing deliverables that bridge the gap between academic training and professional execution.
Why join us?
This isn't a traditional internship. It’s a 4-week sprint designed to deliver:
Real-world agency: You aren't waiting for an assignment. You are arriving with a problem you’ve been itching to tackle – or the drive to find one – and the hunger to see it through.
Expert mentorship: Access a network of 100s of mentors and industry leaders (including DJ Patil) to offer guidance, pressure-test your logic, and help you unblock technical hurdles.
Interview readiness: Practice crucial skills by talking through your experience, explaining your choices, and telling the story of what you built.
Peer support: Make new connections to jump-start your professional network, beyond your home institution.
Accessibility: Hack Your Summer is free + unpaid.
If you’re eligible, you’re in.
You’ve applied to college. You’ve applied to clubs. You’ve applied for jobs. You’ve applied for internships. Enough. We believe in you!
This is not another hoop to jump through. We want you to build.
We’re keeping Hack Your Summer as open as possible because the point is not to impress us. The point is to create work that future employers, collaborators, and mentors can see.
What will you build?
You will build a public-facing project that proves exactly what you can do. This could be:
Code & Tools: GitHub repository, browser extension, or public data dashboard.
Analysis & Strategy: Investigative research report, white paper, policy memo, or operational playbook.
Creative Content: Anthology / zine, curated digital collection, screenplay or podcast pilot.
Journalism: Investigative or data journalism
Community Initiatives: Implementation blueprint for social programs or organizations.
Physical Prototypes: Functional hardware rig, robotics, 3D-printed enclosure, or printable tabletop asset.
We’ll bring in guest speakers and resources for inspiration and guidance across a range of core domains, including: Tech & Security; Science, Climate & Energy; Creative Media & Games; Policy & Community; and Healthcare & Public Health.
We’re not just looking for participants; we’re looking for builders who are ready to put their ideas into motion. There is something uniquely powerful about time spent building in the open, and we can’t wait to see the projects – and the professional confidence – you develop over these four weeks.
When is it happening?
To provide maximum flexibility for summer research and travel, there will be two sessions in summer 2026:
Session A:
Deadline to sign up: Wednesday, June 10 Extended to Friday, June 12 at 12am (midnight) PT
Starts: Monday, June 15
Ends: Friday, July 10
Session B:
Deadline to sign up: Wednesday July 8
Starts: Monday, July 13
Ends: Friday, August 7