A good excuse to explore that side project idea

If you're like me, you have at least a half-dozen (half-baked) ideas for side projects sitting on your "idea shelf" waiting for the right opportunity to come along and give you that spark to get started.

At my day job (Bridge.Academy), we found that many of the incoming developers entering our program shared the same experience so we decided to do something about it and formalize the process of picking up a new technology you are trying to learn and applying it through a side-project with a program we're calling "The Bridge Tournament".

It's designed to give you that extra bit of motivation to take your side project idea off the shelf, pick up a brand new technology and start building the damn thing.

Also we're giving away over $50k in scholarships for good measure :)

Here’s how it works

Each month new applicants to join Bridge.Academy participate in a tournament in order to demonstrate their ability to quickly pick up new skills through working on a project of their choosing.

Applicants receive points based on their progress. The more impressive your pace of improvement, the higher your score will be and better your chances of winning.

The Process

1. Submit your application · Due this Sunday. You’ll describe yourself and your project.
2. Vote on projects · Monday. Other applicants & Bridge Mentors will also vote on your application. Applicants will only see some of your responses.
3. Submit weekly updates · Due every Sunday. You’ll submit a progress update once a week.
4. Vote on updates · Every Monday. Get points from other applicants based on your progress. The more impressive your work, the higher your score will be.
5. Get invited to join the Bridge Core Program. The highest scoring applications will receive the Bridge offer.
6. Demo Day & beyond. After 3 months, Bridge members will present their work during a “Demo Day”, which will be streamed live online.

You can read about past tournament winners and their projects here:

https://medium.com/the-spectrum/bridge-academy-alpha-cohort-roundup-c7ad524ba69d

You can read more about how the tournament works and find links to apply here:

https://medium.com/the-spectrum/announcing-the-bridge-academy-tournament-725998fc5126