​Calling themselves PairCode, a team of programmers from Raleigh-based WedPics along with community organizer Magdalyn Duffie will be going to Silicon Valley in November to compete for a $100,000 prize after winning BattleHack Raleigh.

The hackathon, which took place Sunday at HQ Raleigh, was sponsored by Braintree, an online payment platform acquired by PayPal, and PayPal, which want more developers creating apps for their services.

John Lunn, Senior Global Director of Braintree and PayPal Developer Relations, wrote about the event at HQ Raleigh in a blog posted by PayPal. He noted that 19 teams competed “fiercely.”

“PairCode hatched out of conversations between Magdalyn Duffie, former community organizer for Tech Talent South, and Jason Humphries, an iOS engineer at the fast-growing startup WedPics,” reported Allyson Sutton, Director at HQ Raleigh, who also served as one of the judges, for ExitEvent.

“Duffie was hosting weekly ‘Kids Code Tuesdays,’ free after school sessions where local kids could learn some simple coding skills through interactive lesson plans, but the classes continued to be waitlisted. She started looking for other ways to make free coding lessons accessible to any family that might be interested. Humphries, an iOS engineer, latched onto the idea and they knew they could develop something big.”

Wrote Lunn:

“BattleHack Raleigh took place in the heart of the historic City Market at 214 Martin Street where hackers were treated with true Southern hospitality. Hackers divulged in a Southern cookout with smoked pork shoulders, fish fry, mac and cheese & shrimp and grits. To top it all off, hackers ended the evening with an array of state fair sweets including deep fried twinkies, cotton candy and caramel apples.

“In the end, PayPal & Braintree announced Team PairCode as the winner of BattleHack Raleigh. James Lemieux, Jason Humphries, Brent Piephoff and Magdalyn Duffie of team PairCode built a pair coding app for beginner coders that challenges the players to build a basic front end website through a series of tasks using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Players engage in a back and forth dialog that teaches and promotes pair coding. The app includes links to outside resources for players to do research and purchase challenge hints via PayPal. Inspired by Magdalyn’s passion for teaching kids to program, the team decided to build this app to reach a bigger audience of beginner coders. Team PairCode will go on to represent Raleigh at BattleHack World Finals in Silicon Valley this November as they compete against the teams from around the world for the $100,000 grand prize …

“In second place, Team FixMyFolks created a web platform for fixing computers in local communities through charity-driven remote technical support. Team FixMyFolks took home Xbox One consoles. Finally, in third place, Team Forgone Conclusion won Adafruit ARDX kits for their app that incentivizes good driving behavior by awarding cash while charging those who drive recklessly.”

The next “hack” is in London.

For more about BattleHack, visit https://2015.battlehack.org/

To read the full blog about the event, go to: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-Forward/BattleHack-Raleigh-Names-PairCode-as-its-Winning-Hack/ba-p/967025

For more from ExitEvent, read: http://exitevent.com/article/wedpics-developers-and-coding-educator-win-battlehack-150423