NEWS

Olsen Budanur, 22, a Davidson, North Carolina, resident and Davidson College computer science student has been named one of 2023’s MLH Top 50–a list compiled each year by Major League Hacking (MLH) of the organization’s most inspiring community members. The recipients are recognized for their exceptional contributions to the technology ecosystem & STEM education.

Budanur stood out from other applicants for being an avid community organizer. After joining Davidson College, he created the school’s first student-led hackathon Hack@Davidson, bringing in over 90 participants and raising more than $6,000 in funding. He also founded Competitive Coding at Davidson, prepares members for software engineering jobs and internships, hosts workshops, and competes in hackathons.

“It has been an honor to be able to contribute to this community, and I hope to continue to make a positive impact and inspire others to pursue technology and innovation,” says Budanur. “I have found a true passion for building and coding things from scratch and I am excited to continue pursuing this in my future endeavors.”

Budanur began coding in middle school, creating simple apps, but he didn’t attend his first hackathon, VTHacks 7, until high school, which inspired him to major in computer science. Outside of attending and organizing hackathons, Budanur enjoys working with many programming languages and frameworks and building new projects.

“Participating in hackathons and becoming a part of the hacker community has been a truly transformative experience for me,” says Budanur. “Being surrounded by other like-minded individuals who share my passion for technology has been incredibly inspiring, and I have made lifelong connections as a result.”

“It is a high honor to be chosen as an MLH Top 50 recipient as each is selected from a pool of more than 150,000 active community members, comprising 1 in 3 new programmers in the United States (and even more abroad),” says Nick Quinlan, MLH Chief Operating Officer. ”To be selected is to have your achievements recognized as the top percent of the top percent of new technologists today.”

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Major League Hacking (MLH) is a mission-driven organization and certified B-Corp focused on empowering the next generation of technologists. MLH runs the largest community of early-career developers worldwide that now has more than 500,000 members. Through programs like hackathons, internships, and workshops, community members count on MLH to gain practical hands-on experience, build their professional networks, and ultimately launch their careers. MLH works with employers like AWS, Facebook, and Capital One to identify, train, and hire amazing, diverse technical talent directly from that community.

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