Participating in the nf-core Hackathon 2025: the Sydney satellite

BY Magda Antczak, bioinformatician, qut & QCIF LTD

The nf-core hackathon was such a great mix - it offered something for everyone, whether you're a seasoned Nextflow user or just starting out with pipeline coding like me.

Working together in the same room was amazing, especially since so much of our work happens online nowadays. I finally got to meet people in person who I'd only known on Zoom before, and we collaborated on projects together.

Everyone was so helpful, and we even managed to sit down and figure out how to use nf-test to test pipelines—a task we'd been putting off because it seemed overwhelming. It turns out that it's intuitive and not as scary as we thought. We have even written some test cases for our pipelines!

On top of the productive work, the event was so well-organised. The room was comfy, the lunch was delicious, and we had snacks and coffee on hand whenever we needed. A big shoutout to Giorgia for her coffee runs and for looking after me like a mum when I wasn't feeling well. All in all, it was a wonderful mix of learning, collaboration, and camaraderie.

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If Magda’s experience has got you interested in the Aussie outpost of the hackathon, you can read BioCommons short report on the event here.

Information about the international event is here.

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