This post is part 1 of the QHack 2024 series
This year we've experienced some amazing things (like PennyLane's fifth birthday), hosted many exciting events (including the Canadian Quantum Cup), launched new projects (for example, the PennyLane Challenges platform), and helped thousands of quantum programmers just like you hone their skills and build awesome coding projects at our favourite quantum hackathon — QHack.
And the end of this year is the perfect time to plan for bigger and better things in 2024, and we're thrilled to announce that registration for QHack 2024 is now open!
Adventure awaits — join us at QHack on February 8th–22nd and find your way in the quantum world!
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What is QHack?
QHack is a world-renowned annual hackathon that takes your quantum programming to the next level and helps you connect with others in the community.
No matter where you are in your quantum journey, in a few short weeks you’ll upskill your knowledge and fast-track your coding skills in this event boasting life-changing prizes like mentorships, interviews with QHack sponsors, access to exclusive technology and more.
After four incredible QHacks in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, with fun coding challenges, inspiring hackathon topics, new friendships from across the world, and exciting prizes to boot, QHack 2024 will take your quantum journey to completely new heights.
5 best things to do and see at QHack 2024
The two short weeks of QHack are always jam-packed with exciting things to do and try, so mark your calendars and get ready for an adventure in the world of quantum.
Coding Challenges
If you've ever wondered how amazing at coding you really are, the QHack Coding Challenges will be your reason to gear up.
This year, we've created 21 unique challenges (using PennyLane) to test your skills and efficiency in quantum algorithms, quantum chemistry, or quantum machine learning. In a team of up to four and racing against other competitors, on February 12th–16th you will solve increasingly complicated quantum coding challenges, unlock new difficulty levels, climb the leaderboard and win incredible prizes.
But it's not all about high difficulty and speed — coding challenges are the perfect place to learn and build up your skills. If it's your first time, we will also be hosting tutorial sessions to give you step-by-step walkthroughs that will set you up for success. And past the heat of the competition, the QHack 2024 Coding Challenges will remain open until February 22nd, so you'll be able to try things out without competing, too.
Open Hackathon
If the high-octane adrenaline-fueled action of the Coding Challenges isn't your thing, you'll love the QHack Open Hackathon, on February 16th–22nd. This is your chance to showcase your creativity and technical chops. We'll set you up with an intriguing set of topics and let you decide exactly how to build a coding project that will help solve some of the most exciting problems in quantum.
Regroup with your Coding Challenge team, let your creativity shine, and show us something uniquely amazing. The open-ended topics let you use whatever hardware and software you want to achieve and demonstrate something that will impress our quantum computing experts and earn your team both glory and prizes. We can’t wait to see what you build.
And if you have a fantastic idea but can't run it on your own laptop, we've got you covered — our amazing sponsors will provide hardware access for top teams to run even the heaviest of scripts. If you've ever wanted to run your code on a quantum computer, this might be your chance, so don't miss it!
Streaming Sessions
On February 15th–16th QHack will be live on Twitch, where you can jump into the Streaming Sessions, with engaging tutorials, sponsor demos, and other highlights — all designed to help you create something cool and make the best of your QHack experience.
Get on board, join the chat, win swag in our raffles and throw some real bangers into the Q&A sessions with some of the most impressive people in the field.
In-Person Event
After a long break that started in 2020, QHack is finally going back to its roots and will have an in-person component!
We’re beyond excited to bring back a part of QHack that will let you spend two fun-filled days at Xanadu's headquarters in Toronto. Get ready for talks from leaders in the quantum field, engaging workshops to help propel your career and projects, and more.
The spots at this exclusive part of QHack are limited — so sign up and get your in-person QHack ticket today.
Community Fun
Above everything else, QHack is a place where the quantum community thrives — a place for you to make friends, start new projects, learn about cutting-edge developments in quantum computing, and discuss the future with experts around the world.
At QHack 2023 more than 800 teams from 100 countries submitted thousands of Coding Challenge scripts and dozens of interesting Open Hackathon projects to level up their quantum programming skills and compete for some incredible prizes, and you can even check out the winners' code in our QHack 2023 summary post. But if you're like us, QHack is a lot more than a competition – it's a chance to join the (very friendly and welcoming) family of quantum programmers in style.
This year we've opened a Discord server and it's never been easier to connect with experts and enthusiasts alike, find your perfect teammates and create the best quantum memes on the planet (yes, the Meme Contest will return this year, as well!). You don't have to speak perfect English, you don't have to live in a large city, and you don't have to have a doctorate in quantum machine learning — we can all find our place here and make a difference.
Get ready!
If you've never participated in a coding challenge or hackathon before — let alone QHack — here are some tips and tricks from the QHack 2023 winning teams to get you started!
- Read the documentation. There's no better way to learn a new technique or algorithm than by carefully reading the documentation for the software library you're using (for example, PennyLane) — and it's also a great way to find a simpler way of solving your problems.
- Practice by solving old Coding Challenges. You can even use the PennyLane Challenges platform now! We'll be including more new (and old) challenges in the coming months, and this is the simplest way to try them out.
- Learn how to use specific quantum algorithms. Sometimes we all need to brush up on the basics. Regardless of whether you're just starting out or you're a maven in the field, there's always something you might have missed. For example, the basics of quantum chemistry or quantum natural language processing? We recommend the PennyLane Codebook for a introduction to the basics, or even blog posts that summarize and guide you through a topic (like our post on quantum machine learning).
- Look for inspiration and don't get discouraged. Creating a cool and unique hackathon project is rarely simple, especially when you only get a week to do it. Look through research and coding projects you find interesting, listen to talks by leading experts (we recommend the QHack 2023 playlist), and think about what you could do that could make a difference. If you're not sure where to go next, the massive collection of PennyLane Demos has many interesting examples that will catch your interest.
- Find an awesome team. Working in a team always makes things easier — at least that's what we've heard from SunnyDelft, a QHack 2023 team that won prizes in both the Open Hackathon and the Coding Challenges! Yunzhe from SunnyDelft says that finding a team for QHack 2023 really changed things for him. Instead of being on his own, he had teammates he could rely on for help and inspiration — together, they solved all QHack 2023 Coding Challenges in less than 12 hours and created a winning Open Hackathon project, which they plan on expanding together.
And stay tuned: from now until QHack we'll keep sharing more useful resources to help you and your team shine at both QHack and beyond. You'll learn how to make a great hackathon submission, hear advice from QHack 2023 winners, and we'll even give you a behind-the-scenes peek into the coding challenge workshop at the PennyLane Team.
You can keep an eye on the PennyLane Blog, join the PennyLane Discord server or the Xanadu Slack workspace, follow us on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or Youtube, or get coding advice on the PennyLane Discussion Forum.
There's no reason to postpone your future! Pack your best quantum coding skills, gather your friends and teammates, and join us on February 8th–22nd, 2024, at QHack, a journey to celebrate all things quantum.
About the author
Ivana Kurečić
🐢 Focused on the adoption and implementation of innovative technologies