At Hack the North 2025, hosted at the University of Waterloo, we got a front-row seat to how today’s students are rethinking software development. Coding isn’t a solitary task—students are embracing collaborative, AI-powered tools, which gives us a sneak peek at the future of software development. What we saw at Hack the North really drove home the importance of giving emerging talent the tools that will shape the next generation of software engineering. In this post, we’ll highlight some of the exciting moments from the hackathon and show how introducing students to Graphite is helping them level up their teamwork and code quality.

Celebrating collaboration with the Graphite Dream Team award

Our role at Hack the North went beyond the usual sponsorship. We wanted students to actually experience the power of Graphite, so we set up the "Graphite Dream Team" award. This award recognized the team that nailed both technical execution and teamwork, in addition to building their project with Graphite and stacked PRs.

By using our platform in some of their hackathon projects, students got a firsthand look at how Graphite accelerates code reviews, boosts team collaboration, and raises the bar for code quality through stacking and its AI features. Rachelle DeMan and Krish Krish took home the prize for their project, Tango. This tool monitors your clipboard and responds to simple voice commands, letting you quickly transform, search, or generate content without switching between apps. 

Their work demonstrated both technical skill and smart collaboration. We were also thoroughly impressed with their use of stacking, how they thought about AI, and their clear vision for improving developer productivity—which are all qualities that make them stand out as the next generation of engineers. 

Students leading the way in AI-assisted development

Hack the North students are clearly exploring what’s possible with AI-enhanced tools. Many were using AI-powered IDEs and tools like Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code to generate code faster, troubleshoot on the fly, or spark new ideas. But even with these powerful assistants, a human perspective is still critical. Graphite helps bridge that gap by giving students a structured way to review AI-generated code, making sure it’s reliable, maintainable, and high-quality.

At Hack the North, we provided all participants with access to Graphite Agent, which includes Graphite Chat and our AI code review capabilities, as well as led a workshop that showed them how to stack, use these AI tools, and responsibly review each others’ work. By combining AI-powered assistance with structured human review, Graphite is empowering developers of all skill levels to innovate confidently while maintaining code quality and best practices.

Learning to engineer for the future

Beyond AI, these students are practicing the fundamentals of building great software: collaborating effectively, managing complex projects, and integrating tools like Graphite into their workflow. By mastering these skills early, they’re learning how to thrive in a fast-moving tech landscape. They’re also becoming adaptable, thoughtful engineers who can tackle whatever challenges the future of software development throws at them.

Looking ahead, it’s clear the next generation is driving change. At Graphite, we’re excited to support these emerging engineers with the tools and workflows they’ll need to build the future of software, together.