Library collection
Everything dated you can sign up for — webinars, hackathons, capture-the-flag events, scholarship windows and pitch competitions. For a month-by-month view, use the events calendar.
152 entries, all free. Also in the Resource Hub with filters.
A long-running free listing of technology events, meetups, talks and job fairs in New York City, updated continuously.
Details: The most reliable single place to find what is happening in NYC tech this week. Most listings are free to attend; a few charge, so check each one.
LinkedIn's directory of live and upcoming professional events - webinars, audio rooms, panels, and hiring sessions you can register for and attend from anywhere.
Details: Free events are the cheapest warm introduction there is. Register, show up with one good question, and connect with the speaker the same day while you are fresh in their feed.
The running events calendar for New Jersey's tech and startup community: founder meetups, pitch nights, panels and networking sessions.
Details: Local rooms beat national webinars for actually meeting people. If you are anywhere near New Jersey, check this calendar monthly.
A free recurring coffee meetup in New York for tech professionals who have been laid off, are job searching, or are hiring, with a rotating format so you meet several groups in one hour.
Details: One of the warmer rooms for a job search in New York. Follow the calendar so you catch the next date.
A LessWrong community thread listing 2024 Secular Solstice gatherings and rationalist megameetups by city, with dates, locations and links posted by organizers.
A small, recurring in-person meetup for developers, tinkerers, and anyone building something technical — AI, cybersecurity, full-stack development, Linux/macOS, shell scripting, Git, and more.
From the site: There's almost nowhere left locally to just show up and work alongside other tech people in person. This is that: a small, recurring meetup for developers, tinkerers, and anyone building something technical, AI, cybersecurity, full-stack development, Linux/macOS, shell scripting, Git, or anything in
Details: Joining the Meetup group is free. Individual events may mention venue costs, but the group itself has no paywall.
Free online session with Brandon Waselnuk of Unblocked on giving AI coding agents real context so they produce usable work the first time, including a live before-and-after demo and two open-source tools to try.
Details: Free, online, 9:00 AM PT on September 23, 2026. Registration required.
Free introductory incident-response exercise from Women in Cybersecurity and SANS, where participants work a simulated cyber crisis as a team.
Details: Hands-on security experience you can actually name on a resume, at no cost. Open to WiCyS members, and student membership is cheap.
A free weekly live webinar where startup founders pitch and receive real-time public mentoring feedback from veteran advisor Sramana Mitra. Open to anyone to attend; pitching slots limited to IT/IT-enabled-services startups.
Details: Recurring weekly on Thursdays - 8:00 AM PDT
A free, two-day virtual summit on AI in education. Designed for educators at community colleges, public schools and other broad-access settings, with keynotes and participatory workshops on teaching, learning and AI policy.
Details: Free virtual AI education summit with practical workshops for educators. Useful if you teach or train people on AI tools and want classroom-ready guidance.
Two free live webinars on the 2026 AI for Humanity Report: a roadmap for philanthropy (Sept 29) and a roadmap for builders (Oct 7).
Details: Free with registration. Fast Forward funds tech nonprofits, so it is upbeat about AI in the sector.
Free SCORE session (sponsored by Visa) on non-traditional funding sources -- grants crowdfunding and more -- for early-stage entrepreneurs.
Details: 1:00 PM EDT
Free hands-on virtual workshop on data pipeline orchestration with Apache Airflow, run alongside Astronomer's Orchestrate Everything conference.
Details: Data engineering hiring still rewards Airflow experience. A workshop project gives you something concrete to put on the resume.
aws.amazon.comAWS re:Invent runs November 30–December 4, 2026. Free livestream registration opens November 9 and includes streamed sessions, guided hands-on labs, selected advanced chalk talks and live Q&A. This does not provide in-person conference access; the standard full conference pass costs $2,499.
Details: Free registration applies only to the online offering. In-person attendance requires a paid conference pass.
aws.amazon.comAdded Nov 9, 20260 opensFree SCORE webinar, sponsored by GS1 US, on how barcode data supports inventory management, e-commerce, and scaling across retail sales channels.
Details: Time-sensitive: this runs the day after this list was compiled (Sept 29, 1pm EDT), so register immediately if it's relevant.
Free SBA-sponsored entrepreneurship foundations training aimed at veterans and military-connected career changers considering business ownership.
Details: 8:30 AM-12:30 PM CDT both days
Free live conversation with Matt Wilson, CEO of Jack & Jill, on where hiring is heading, hosted by Hung Lee's Brainfood community. September 15, 2026, 2:00 PM BST.
Details: Listening to recruiters talk shop tells you more about how hiring really works than most job-search advice does. Free, and the replay is usually up afterwards.
A webinar on how to build an entrepreneurial mindset and move from idea to action.
Details: Entrepreneurship starts with mindset. This session focuses on moving from idea to action, which is often the hardest first step.
A curated community for fathers with young children (under 5) who are building ambitious careers in the middle of beautiful chaos.
Details: I love seeing communities built around real life constraints. If you are a dad juggling toddlers and ambition, peer support like this can be a real game-changer.
Free, community-led virtual workshops running five to eight times a week, 60-75 minutes each, led by members of the CreativeMornings community. Recent sessions cover SEO keywords and content repurposing, how AI is changing marketing, client presentations for freelancers, turning your process into content, freelancer client relationships, and reflective sessions on creative blocks. You create a free account and register for the ones you want; the site states plainly that they are free, funded by community donations and corporate partners.
Details: A good low-pressure way to get practical skills and meet people in the same week, especially if conference tickets are out of reach. Two things to know: CreativeMornings also sells a paid CreativeGuild membership and job listings, so expect that to be mentioned, and sessions average about 450 registrations with roughly 210 people actually turning up live, so register early for the popular ones and check the date and time zone on their page rather than trusting a listing anywhere else.
A Supermoon Playbook session on using live events as a growth channel: how to design gatherings that build community, generate leads, and compound over time. New York, September 29, 2026, 5:30-7:00pm.
Details: Good one if you are building an audience without an ad budget. Events are the cheapest trust you can buy.
Free SCORE workshop on October 13, 2026 covering where small business grants actually come from, which ones you qualify for, and how to search federal, state, corporate, and foundation sources without wasting time on scams.
Details: Grant hunting eats time. Start with a session like this so you only chase the ones you can actually win.
The GatherVerse Women's AI Summit 2026 is a free virtual global gathering of women building the future of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, running September 15-17 and September 22-23, 2026, starting 8:00 AM PT each day. Sessions span technology, healthcare, education, business and community work, with a humanity-first focus on experiences, opportunities and what comes next at the intersection of AI and people.
Details: Free, online, and five days of it across two weeks — pick the two sessions closest to your field rather than trying to attend everything. The speaker list is also a ready-made list of people to follow afterward.
A free Google Cloud OnAir session on CodeMender, an AI agent that scans, verifies and fixes software vulnerabilities with developer review.
From the site: Discover CodeMender: the AI agent that autonomously scans, verifies, and fixes software vulnerabilities at machine speed, enabling rapid remediation with complete developer control.
Details: Free to attend, but you need to sign in with a Google or email account to register. It is Google presenting Google's own product.
Free live SCORE webinar teaching small business owners how to build an AI marketing agent for better content output.
Details: 1:00 PM EDT
A free one-hour online session on September 28, 2026 (1–2 p.m. ET) about helping middle managers turn a company's AI plans into everyday team habits. Speakers: Michael Domanic (Head of AI, Section) and Monika Saha (Chief Commercial Officer, Articulate).
Details: Free RSVP, but it asks for your work email, company and job title. Section sells AI training to companies, so expect the session to also promote their services. Useful mainly if you manage a team or want to.
Free live SCORE session (sponsored by Grow with Google) on using Google Workspace and Gemini AI tools to boost small-business productivity.
Details: 1:00 PM EDT
Free registration webinar on how technology is used both against and in support of refugees and people migrating. 1 October 2026, 12:00 PM US Eastern Time.
From the site: On October 3, 2013, 368 people, mostly Eritrean refugees, lost their lives in the Lampedusa shipwreck. On the 13th anniversary of the tragedy, join DAIR’s "Refugees, Migrants, and AI" project for an event that commemorates those who died and asks why, more than a decade later, Lampedusa keeps happening. Bringing toget…
Details: Free to attend with registration. Good if you want the human-rights side of technology rather than the product side.
LeadDev session on which engineering leadership skills hold their value as tooling, team structures, and AI expectations shift.
Details: Aimed at tech leads and managers, but the framing works for anyone: sort your skills into durable and disposable, then invest accordingly.
Annual gathering for builders, backers, and operators shaping the future of technology and business.
Details: NYC tech summits are great for meeting investors, founders, and operators in one room. Worth considering if you are local or can travel.
Free two-day virtual professional development summit on AI in education, co-hosted by the AI Pedagogy Project and the Data Nutrition Project: keynotes, hands-on workshops, course policy, assessment, and career readiness. Sept 16 12:00-3:30pm ET and Sept 17 1:00-3:30pm ET.
Details: If you teach, train, or support educators, this is a good place to see how AI policy is being translated into practice.
Free virtual Google event on Search and YouTube Ads best practices plus industry and consumer insight for growing a business.
Details: Details: worth registering even if you cannot attend live — the sessions cover paid-search fundamentals most small businesses skip.
SANS Institute's calendar of free live cybersecurity webcasts, combining expert speakers with hands-on topics such as threat hunting, incident response and security controls. A free SANS account is required to register; check the page for each session's date.
A no-cost SBA webinar on protecting a small business from common cyber threats: the tricks attackers use, simple security steps, and where to get help.
Details: Free, plain-language and aimed at owners rather than IT staff. A sensible hour if nobody at your business owns security.
Free Southwest Minnesota SBDC and Vivid Image webinar on teaching AI about a small business and developing repeatable AI workflows. The November 12 session is part of a four-session series; official host registration is free for small businesses.
Free Mason SBDC live webinar on local SEO, website optimization, social selling, lead generation and evaluating paid-ad spending. Held online December 9; Zoom access is provided after registration. The official SBA page lists a $0.00 cost.
A SC Piedmont SCORE webinar with SBA specialist Earl Gregorich on cash flow, economic trends, tariffs, labor shortages and inflation, using business processes and SBA resources.
Details: Free online live webinar; registration required. Scheduled for 12:00–1:00 p.m. EST.
A free one-hour live SCORE webinar on bookkeeping, cash flow, financial statements and getting your books ready for funding. Sponsored by Visa. 22 September 2026, 1:00 pm ET.
Details: Free to attend live, and live attendees get the slides and recording link. The credit-card section is sponsor content — take that part with a pinch of salt.
A 90-minute SCORE webinar with attorney Barbara Weltman on year-end tax moves for small businesses, including new rules, deadlines, deductions and 1099 reporting.
Details: Attending live is free. The on-demand recording is sold separately through SCORE's course platform, so catch it live if you can.
Free live SCORE webinar comparing alternative small-business financing options, their costs and requirements when a traditional bank loan is unavailable. Registration is required; the official page lists the price as free.
Free live SCORE webinar on setting up an AI agent for a small business without coding or technical experience. Registration is required; the official page lists the webinar price as free.
SCORE mentor Karen Williams discusses federal market research, identifying subcontracting opportunities, and marketing products or services to prime contractors in an online webinar.
Details: Free online live webinar; registration required. Scheduled for 12:00–1:30 p.m. EST.
Free online workshop from Nervous System Mastery on working with AI without burning out: the four ways of relating to AI, spotting AI-driven dysregulation, and body-first practices between work sprints.
Details: Burnout is a career problem, not just a wellness one. If AI work leaves you wired and drained, this is a practical place to start.
An in-person tech social hosted by Supermoon with Avahi and Concord Visa: casual networking for founders, operators, and technologists. September 22, 2026, 5:30-8:30pm.
Details: Show up with one sentence about what you are working on and two questions. That is the whole prep.
Free IEEE-USA livestream webinar on navigating career evolution for engineers amid changing technology and workplace demands.
Details: Registration page explicitly states "No Admission Charge." IEEE members can also claim a PDH certificate, but attendance itself is not restricted to members.
A free series of afternoon Build Days in New York City where nonprofit and social sector leaders sit down with technologists to work on practical ways to use AI in their organisations. Run by Decoded Futures, a Tech:NYC program. Sessions run from Thursday 24 September 2026 through 22 October 2026, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, in person in New York.
Details: Free and in person, and the point is that you leave with something built rather than notes from a talk. Register on the event page and check which individual dates still have spaces, since the series runs across several afternoons. It is aimed at nonprofit teams, so go with a real problem from your own work.
Free 30-minute live session for job seekers, hosted weekly with a guest recruiter or expert: what is working in the market right now, open sharing, and LinkedIn networking. Cameras optional.
Details: Laid off, burnt out, or getting ghosted — this is a low-pressure room where you hear what is actually working from people in it with you.
Free SCORE webinar (sponsored by Pilot) on responsibly combining AI financial tools with reliable bookkeeping practices.
Details: 1:00 PM EDT
PayPal shares how it rebuilt its data loss prevention program around outcomes rather than tools, covering policy-as-code, AI-driven gap discovery, continuous SaaS data discovery, and AI endpoint agents for exfiltration detection.
An AWS-led session on why detection systems miss authorized-but-wrong actions, revisiting the concept of 'repudiation' and applying a correctness framework to securing newly deployed AI agents.
Cisco examines why static vendor questionnaires can't keep pace with AI, cloud dependencies, and fourth-party risk, and makes the case for a continuous, risk-based approach to vendor assessment.
A free WiCyS AI Affiliate webinar: "Security in the Era of AI: Implications for Cybersecurity Teams," presented by cybersecurity leader Noureen Njoroge. 24 September 2026, 12:00–1:00 pm. CPE/CEU credits available.
Details: Open to all career levels and registration runs through the linked event page. Good for anyone weighing a move into security work.
Free virtual session with a U.S. Army veteran and cybersecurity educator covering certifications, veteran-focused training and academic pathways into cybersecurity careers. Eventbrite registration is required; the official listing does not require WiCyS membership.
Palo Alto Networks hiring manager Fionnuala Zinnecker shares what helps non-technical and career-change candidates stand out in cybersecurity hiring, with a live Q&A on framing your background and leaving a lasting impression.
Free Workiva webinar for students on landing a software engineering internship: resume tips that clear automated screening, interview tactics, application deadlines, and a Q&A with current interns.
Details: If you are a student targeting an engineering internship, this is the kind of session where recruiters say out loud what they actually screen for. Go and take notes.
Free SCORE workshop on October 20, 2026 on writing the grant application itself: structuring the narrative, budget, and supporting documents reviewers expect.
Details: Take this one right after the finding-grants session — the pair works as a short course.
Zapier's annual virtual conference on September 23, 2026 at 9AM PT: live workshops, keynotes, and playbooks on connecting AI agents to the apps a business already runs on and automating critical workflows.
Details: Free and virtual, so the only cost is your morning. Go for the workflow sessions, not the keynotes — automating two repetitive tasks is worth more than another AI overview.
A skills-based volunteer hackathon in New York City where participants collaborate with 1% for the Planet Impact Partners to solve real fundraising, storytelling, and launch challenges in 75 minutes.
Details: A great way to donate your professional skills rather than just your money. If you are between roles and want proof of impact, this is a high-signal, low-commitment option.
A free hackathon (AWS Strands Agents SDK) to build an AI agent that automates repetitive real-world tasks. No purchase or payment necessary.
Details: Open now - submissions close this date; judging through Oct 8, winners announced ~Oct 14.
Build, Ship, Shape: Amazon Developer HackathonA free hackathon to build across Amazon devices and shape what comes next, hosted on Devpost.
From the site: Build across Amazon Devices and shape what's next.
Details: Free to enter. Read the rules on what rights you keep in what you build before you commit a weekend to it.
Build, Ship, Shape: Amazon Developer HackathonAdded Sep 21, 20260 opensA free online AI-application hackathon for eligible students above the local age of majority. Submissions close November 27, 2026 at 5 p.m. Eastern. No paid software, API subscription or purchase is required; Devpost registration and platform eligibility requirements apply.
Details: Restricted to eligible students above the local age of majority; companies and professional organizations are excluded. A Devpost account is required.
Atlassian's online hackathon accepts Forge apps integrating Atlassian products or platform capabilities from October 27 through December 22, 2026 at noon Pacific. Entry uses free Devpost and Atlassian developer accounts. Age, geographic and conflict-of-interest restrictions apply.
Details: Free entry requires Devpost and Atlassian Cloud Developer accounts. Participants must have reached the local age of majority; country and conflict-of-interest exclusions apply.
Free virtual hackathon open to students worldwide, run through Devpost with a submission deadline in mid-October.
Details: Open to current students (high school, undergrad, or grad) worldwide, ages 13+. No entry fee is stated on the page, consistent with Devpost's standard no-cost entry model, but it isn't spelled out explicitly. Submission deadline is Oct 10, 12:00pm EST.
A beginner-inclusive hackathon open to developers designers and innovators of all experience levels worldwide including those with no prior hackathon experience.
Details: No explicit fee statement found on the official page; appears free based on standard hackathon format -- worth a quick double-check before publishing. Winners announced Oct 21.
Free online hackathon for ages 13+ building AI projects for mental and physical health and concussion recovery, with cash and non-cash prizes and public voting on submissions.
Details: Social-impact hackathons are the friendliest entry point if this is your first one — judging rewards the idea as much as the code.
Free, beginner-friendly, in-person 24-hour hackathon hosted by RIT's Golisano College of Computing & Information Sciences, part of the MLH collegiate hackathon league.
Details: In-person only, in Rochester, NY. A specific fee wasn't stated on the event page, but MLH-league hackathons are traditionally free for participants (often including meals).
Canada's largest beginner-only hackathon, run by nwPlus on November 7-8, 2026, built for first-time hackers with hands-on workshops and no coding experience required.
Details: Beginner-only means nobody there expects you to know anything yet. This is the one to start with.
Free, 24-hour, in-person hackathon at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, with free food and swag. Open to college/university students from any school, plus high schoolers (minors need an adult present and can't stay overnight).
Details: Confirmed free to attend directly on the official site (food and swag included). Not limited to RPI students; recent grads up to 3 years out are also welcome. In-person only, so really only practical for people near Troy, NY.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's student hackathon, held in person in Troy, NY, on November 7–8, 2026. Registration via Devpost. Devpost page blocked automated checks; hackathons like this normally have no entry fee.
Devpost-hosted hackathon encouraging women's participation in technology; teams of 2-5 build a project and submit online.
Details: The Devpost page explicitly lists 'Free registration.' Open to students (17+) worldwide, standard country exclusions apply. The page is a little inconsistent about format (labeled Online in one spot, with a physical venue in Faridabad, India, in another) — submissions themselves happen on Devpost, so treat it as an online-submission hackathon unless you confirm otherwise.
Free online hackathon focused on building technology that addresses real-world community and global challenges, organized by the GIS Engineering Club.
Details: Students only (must be above the legal age of majority in their country). No entry fee is listed on the Devpost page, consistent with Devpost's standard no-cost model, but it isn't spelled out explicitly.
A virtual hackathon running October 26–November 4, 2026, with Meta models and a stated $1 million prize pool. Entry is free for selected applicants; applications close October 25 or earlier if the 20,000-participant cap is reached. Selection and eligibility requirements apply.
Free week-long online hackathon from Major League Hacking, November 6–12, 2026, themed around building whatever "builder" means to you, with live challenges and a Discord community. Open to anyone, anywhere.
A free global hackathon on November 14–15, 2026 using NASA and partner open data to address space and Earth challenges. Participation is available at in-person or virtual local events and through a virtual Universal Event. An account and registration are required; minors have guardian requirements.
Details: Official participant FAQ confirms no participation cost. Account, email verification and event registration are required. Participants under 18 must be registered and accompanied by a parent or legal guardian; local events may have additional requirements.
A free global hackathon on November 14–15, 2026 using NASA and partner open data to address space and Earth challenges. Participation is available at in-person or virtual local events and through a virtual Universal Event. An account and registration are required; minors have guardian requirements.
Details: Official participant FAQ confirms no participation cost. Account, email verification and event registration are required. Participants under 18 must be registered and accompanied by a parent or legal guardian; local events may have additional requirements.
A free global AI hackathon to build on open infrastructure, hosted on Devpost with Nebius and NVIDIA.
From the site: Build the next frontier of AI on open infrastructure
Details: Free to enter, and a decent excuse to try GPU infrastructure you would not normally pay for. Check what compute credits the organizers hand out.
A free competition to build computer-vision systems with OpenCV 5 and AWS, with cash prizes. Hosted on Devpost.
From the site: Build vision systems that see, reason, and act with OpenCV 5 and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Win money and bragging rights!
Details: Free to enter. useful portfolio work if you want to show applied vision skills rather than describe them.
Global online hackathon for building AI agents with Qloo, Gemini and Google Cloud tools. Official rules state no purchase or payment is necessary. Open to legal adults and eligible teams or organizations, with geographic exclusions; submissions close October 30 at 11:45 p.m. Eastern.
An online QNX 8.0 development hackathon with submissions open November 2–December 15, 2026, closing at 2 p.m. Eastern. Eligible adults can submit applications, components, ports or developer tools targeting QNX. Entry and non-commercial development tools are free; account, licensing and geographic restrictions apply.
Details: Free entry requires a Devpost account and acceptance of QNX software terms. Participants must be adults; geographic and conflict-of-interest exclusions apply. Public repository, build instructions and demonstration video required.
A free global hackathon challenging developers to ship a mobile app and start generating in-app revenue. No purchase or payment necessary to enter.
Details: Open now - submit by this date.
Open build events aimed at government and public-service problems, with past hackathons and what each one produced.
From the site: State Capacity Ecosystem hackathons, past and upcoming: large open build nights and targeted single-agency builds. See what got built.
Details: Look at a past event before signing up for a future one — the write-ups show what actually got built, which tells you the level expected.
Free two-day online student hackathon building next-generation cybersecurity solutions, with about $6,600 in cash prizes, open to ages 13+ working solo or in teams of up to four.
Details: A weekend hackathon gives you a finished project to talk about in interviews. Ship something small and complete.
An online competition to create AI Skills for UGREEN NAS using its developer package. Eligible adults in permitted jurisdictions can enter without owning NAS hardware. Round 1 closes November 15, 2026 at 11:45 p.m. Pacific; invited finalists receive limited free remote hardware access and submit by November 30.
Details: Official rules state no purchase or payment is necessary. A Devpost account and UGREEN Skill Developer Package are required. Participation is restricted to adults in permitted jurisdictions; companies are excluded and geographic restrictions apply.
One of the oldest and largest capture-the-flag competitions, designed as an entry-level jeopardy-style CTF for students breaking into security, with a September qualifying round and a November final round. Run by NYU's student security group.
Details: A CTF placement is real, checkable evidence of security skill. Enter the qualifier even if you only solve a couple of challenges.
An entry-level capture-the-flag competition explicitly designed for undergraduate students trying to break into cybersecurity.
Details: Free status inferred from this long-running academic CTF's history; not explicitly restated on CSAW's 2026 page at time of research.
A free online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag run by Cyber Hacktics with U.S. Air Force veterans for Cybersecurity Awareness Month. 17 October 2026, 14:00 UTC to 19 October 2026, 00:00 UTC.
From the site: DEADFACE CTF features jeopardy-style challenges and is hosted by Cyber Hacktics and veterans of the United States Air...
Details: Beginner-friendly as CTFs go, and a real thing to point at in an interview. Free to play.
A community-run jeopardy-style capture-the-flag competition held in support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month open to all.
Details: Cash prizes offered with no entry fee mentioned; free status inferred rather than explicitly re-confirmed for 2026.
A free online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag run as part of the 7th EOCON conference. 20 November 2026, 10:00 UTC to 22 November 2026, 10:00 UTC.
From the site: EyesOpenCTF 2026 is a FREE CTF competition organized as part of the 7th edition of EOCON. This year, the competiti...
Details: The organizers state plainly that it is free to enter. Good weekend practice across a range of challenge types.
Free jeopardy-style capture-the-flag qualifying round from Hong Kong's CERT, with an Open division alongside student categories; top teams advance to an in-person Hong Kong final.
Details: The event page doesn't state a fee explicitly, but HKCERT's CTF has historically been a free, HKPC-backed community competition. Confirm the Open division's eligibility for non-Hong-Kong participants before committing.
8-hour online jeopardy CTF, teams of 1-4, explicitly described as 'free and open to participants across India and internationally.' Marked 'casual' by organizers. Runs Nov 14, 15:30-23:30 UTC.
Details: This is the one CTF this week that explicitly states it's free on its own page, which is a nice confirmation versus the usual implied-free pattern. Times are UTC.
A free capture-the-flag run by George Mason University's Competitive Cyber Club, played in teams.
Details: Free to play. The scoreboard shows a start of 11 September 2026 and no published end time, so check the site for the current round before planning around it.
A free online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag organised by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. 6 November 2026, 17:00 UTC to 7 November 2026, 17:00 UTC.
From the site: REGISTRATION IS NOW AVAILABLE! BOO!! Welcome to SpookyCTF 2026! Organized by the New Jersey Institute of Techno...
Details: Registration is open. A 24-hour format, so it fits into one weekend rather than eating a week.
An 11th-edition online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag competition from the University of Central Florida's Hack@UCF club open to all skill levels.
Details: Free status inferred from this event's long free-community history; not explicitly restated on the 2026 page.
Free 48-hour online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag competition November 20-22, 2026, run by the University of Florida Student InfoSec Team, with challenges in pwn, reverse engineering, forensics, and cryptography.
Details: Student-run CTFs are usually the most welcoming. Team up with two or three people and split the categories.
A cybersecurity capture-the-flag competition explicitly welcoming every skill level from complete beginners to professionals.
Details: Access code: chctf2026. Qualifiers are virtual; finals are in-person in Grand Forks ND on Oct 26.
Apply for a scholarship covering WiCyS 2027 conference registration, all activities and meals, plus two nights of shared lodging. Applications run 2–30 September 2026.
Details: Free to apply, and the award covers the expensive parts of attending a technical conference. Applications close 30 September 2026, so this is a now-or-next-year thing.
A multi-tiered free cybersecurity skills-training scholarship aimed at students and career changers seeking a cybersecurity job within about 1.5 years.
Details: Page describes this as for "WiCyS members" -- confirm whether WiCyS membership itself is free before publishing.
Open prize for images, memes and short media that communicate a hopeful, concrete vision of the long-term future, with published entries and awards.
From the site: Make something short and shareable about a realistic, hopeful future. The best short-form media wins $10,000.
Details: A low-barrier way to get creative work in front of this community. Read the past winners before entering.
Google-owned platform hosting data-science and machine-learning competitions, many with cash prizes. Free to enter; a strong way to build a portfolio.
Details: Free to enter and useful for a portfolio, but Kaggle is owned by Google and some competitions require agreeing to sponsor terms — read each competition's rules before submitting work.
Global call for AI projects that help people and communities unlock economic opportunity.
Details: Free to apply. Check deadlines and eligibility on the page.
Pitch competition for established Connecticut businesses with a practical way to use AI, data or analytics to solve a current business challenge. Competition November 12, 2026, 6-8pm at SCSU School of Business, New Haven, CT. Applications close October 16, 2026.
A Google Quantum AI prediction competition on Kaggle about reducing the resources quantum applications require. About three months remained to enter as of late October 2026; joining requires a free Kaggle account.
Free monthly AI building challenge from IBM SkillsBuild and BeMyApp: learn the tooling, submit an AI project for judging, and attend the AI Builders Conference on September 16, 2026 with IBM experts and developers. No cost to register or participate.
Details: Challenges like this give you a finished project to point at, which is worth more in interviews than another certificate.
A free eight-hour online beginner-focused Jeopardy CTF on November 14, 2026, 15:30–23:30 UTC. Participants may enter solo or in teams of up to four, including international players. Challenges cover web, cryptography, forensics, OSINT and miscellaneous topics.
Details: The organizer states that entry is free with no hidden costs. One registration is required per team; solo participants and teams up to four are accepted.
Online jeopardy-style capture-the-flag cybersecurity competition, November 7-8, 2026 (from 12:00 UTC). Listed on CTFtime.
Kaggle featured code competition in which participants identify which language model produced a given text.
Online hackathon from Nebius and NVIDIA on Devpost: build AI on open infrastructure. $50,000 in cash prizes. Submissions close October 30, 2026 at 10:00am Pacific.
A free student case competition from the NRF Foundation: teams solve a real retail problem for scholarship money and a trip to NRF's annual event.
From the site: All of the details you need to participate in the University Retail Challenge and compete for the $30,000 scholarship.
Details: Case competitions are the fastest way to get a real business problem on your resume when no one will hire you yet.
Online hackathon run by PayPal on Devpost: build something new with PayPal and AI. $67,500 in cash prizes. Submissions close November 12, 2026 at 12:00pm Pacific.
Pitch competition from the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute at the University of Alabama for innovators and early-stage businesses. Ten $1,000 prizes. November 17, 2026; registration portal is open.
Annual Halloween capture-the-flag competition organized by NJIT's Cyber Security Network. Beginner-friendly with harder challenges mixed in; categories include binary exploitation, cryptography, forensics, OSINT and web. Hybrid: in person at NJIT and online, November 6-7, 2026. AI assistance is allowed but discouraged; automated AI solving agents are banned.
Kaggle playground competition on a classic open problem in combinatorial geometry: pack n non-overlapping unit squares into the smallest possible container across 1,000 puzzles. Partial submissions are allowed, and most puzzles have no proven optimal solution. About nine months remained to enter as of late October 2026; joining requires a free Kaggle account.
A free-to-enter prize for young people solving real problems in their communities, with cash awards and no application fee.
Details: No entry fee and real money attached. Worth a shot if you are young and already building something.
A free four-week online business competition starting 24 October 2026, with over $1 million in prizes, live expert support, tools and business playbooks for people starting or growing a business.
Details: Free to enter and the four weeks of playbooks and live sessions are worth it even if you never place. Sign up early so you get the pre-work.
Every open XPRIZE challenge with its prize purse, deadlines and entry requirements — multi-million-dollar competitions in health, climate, education and AI.
Details: Free to enter and open to teams anywhere — a real route to funding if you have a technical idea and a team.
Session page and recording of Carole Cadwalladr's talk on tech billionaires' political power, at the 2026 International Journalism Festival.
Details: A campaigning journalist making her case; festival recordings are free to watch.
Out in Tech's career-talks event series for LGBTQ+ tech professionals, with sessions on job searching, interviews and career growth.
Details: Event dates and formats change — confirm details on the page before planning around a session. Out in Tech membership is free.
The Sustainable Media Center hosts a live debate at Mintz in New York on September 23, 2026: Gen Z is fluent in AI but anxious about the future it is creating, while Gen X and older bring experience, skepticism, and sometimes more optimism. Free registration on Eventbrite.
Details: Cross-generational conversations about AI are rare and usually more honest than either side's echo chamber. Worth the trip if you are in New York.
Free virtual three-day conference run by AI Builders Network, 14-16 October 2026, with 300+ planned speakers on building and shipping AI systems in production.
From the site: Join the AI Builders Global Conference 2026 - a 3-day virtual conference for AI builders, founders, and investors. 200+ sessions across 8 tracks and 47 topics, live workshops, pitch competition, and networking.
Details: Ten of the speakers now have full profiles on the People page. Pick the two or three talks closest to your own work rather than trying to watch a three-day event end to end.
LeadDev event on managing AI coding agents across an engineering team.
Details: Check whether registration is free; LeadDev runs both free and paid events.
A public, continuously updated calendar of events, workshops, hackathons, networking sessions and career programmes aimed at students and early-career people. Each row lists who it is for, the date, the application deadline, the location, the cost and a registration link, with ready-made views for free events, online events, London events and things closing soon.
Details: Free to view, no account needed. The "Free Events" and "Closing Soon" views are the fastest way in. It is UK-heavy, with a lot of London listings — check the location column before you plan around anything. Always confirm the date and deadline on the organizer's own page, since a shared calendar can fall behind.
Access Now hybrid side event during UNGA81 High-Level Week on human rights in AI governance.
From the site: Hybrid Side Event during UNGA81 High-Level Week
Unblocked's free webinar on giving AI coding agents the right context so they produce mergeable code the first time.
Details: Free to attend, but it is run by Unblocked to show off its own paid product, so expect a pitch. Check the date on their page.
Program for Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology conference on "de-datafication," held October 6, 2026, with sessions on the threats data collection poses and paths toward reducing reliance on mass data collection.
Pulse NYC's calendar of AI Week events in New York City. The page loads its calendar in a way the automated check could not read, so dates and ticket prices were not confirmed.
A free virtual career fair from CareerCircle on November 17, 2026 (12:00–3:00 PM EST) where job seekers meet recruiters and hiring managers from participating employers. Registration is required.
A free public talk series in Stromness, Orkney bringing residents together to discuss what AI is, what it changes and what it could mean for the community. The opening session on September 29, 2026 features Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mei Fong, Chief Storyteller at the Windfall Trust, on why AI is different from past technologies and how the Trust stress-tests its potential impact on jobs, income and communities. Sponsored by Aquatera; no cost is listed to attend.
A free in-person summit at The Times Center in New York on October 29, 2026, on moving from broad AI principles to real-world accountability. Registration is through Luma.
All Tech Is Human's Responsible Tech Summit convenes leaders from civil society, research, government, industry, academia and philanthropy on October 29 at The New York Times Center in Manhattan, themed "From Principles to Power: Embedding Accountability in the AI Era."
Global summit series bringing together human rights and technology communities. The RightsCon Continues Summit takes place online across the globe.
From the site: The RightsCon Continues Summit will take place online across the globe on September 22.
Rights x Tech event on data, technology, and power, held Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
Details: Small, discussion-heavy events like this are where you actually meet people. Go with one question you want answered.
Free virtual career fair for Women in Cybersecurity members on September 23, 2026, connecting attendees directly with WiCyS strategic partners hiring for internships and part- and full-time roles at entry, mid, and senior levels.
Details: Members only, so join WiCyS first. Bring a one-page resume and a two-sentence introduction you can paste into chat.
LeadDev's event listings for engineering leaders. Free meetups and online workshops run year-round; the LDX3 and LeadDev conferences are ticketed.
Details: Free meetups and online workshops; the conferences need paid tickets.
A free, live, online one-day conference on 22 October 2026 with 122 speakers across four tracks: BUILD (building with and of AI), LEAD (managing an AI-native organisation), SECURE (trust and safety) and a business track. Sessions are 30-minute practical implementation talks from engineers and managers at OpenRouter, Microsoft, Accenture, Qualcomm, CVS Health, Mastercard, Anaconda, Illumina and MITRE. The organisers state there are zero vendor pitches. Registration is free; the site also publishes free directories of AI conference dates, deadlines and free virtual events.
Details: Worth the calendar slot if you want to hear how AI is actually being shipped inside large companies rather than how it is marketed — the 30-minute implementation format and the no-vendor-pitch rule are the reasons. Register free and pick the track that matches your job; the talks run in parallel, so you cannot see everything live. Check their own page for whether replays are posted, and confirm the start time in your own time zone.
An in-person networking event in New York City for engineers, product managers, and technical professionals navigating layoffs or searching for their next opportunity, co-hosted with 645 Ventures portfolio startups that are hiring.
Details: I love the bell-ringer format: every 10 minutes you meet someone new. If you are a recently impacted tech worker in NYC, this is one of the warmest rooms to walk into.
Major League Hacking's week-long online community event for Hacktoberfest, starting October 9, 2026. Free registration on the MLH site.
Free SCORE Zoom workshop on AI for small business owners, November 5, 2026. Note: this session had reached capacity when checked; the registration form offers a waitlist.
Two-day in-person AI summit in New York, November 9-10 2026 at Borough of Manhattan Community College, bringing together Latino leaders, builders and professionals for responsible-AI talks and hands-on workshops. Seating is limited.
From the site: Join the Latino AI Summit NYC, November 9–10, 2026 at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Our first in-person AI event brings together Latino leaders, builders, professionals and allies for responsible AI conversations, community and hands-on AI workshops. Limited seating.
Details: A rare in-person AI event aimed at community rather than vendors. Check the ticket page before you plan travel - seating is limited and the site does not publish a price on the live page.
Major League Hacking's week-long online Global Hack Week, 9-15 October 2026, themed around Hacktoberfest and open source. Daily workshops streamed live, mini-events in the MLH Discord, and social, technical and design challenges you can complete solo or with others for points.
Details: Free to join and beginner-friendly; everything runs on Twitch and Discord. The page now lists the Hacktoberfest theme rather than the open-source wording the link suggests, and MLH says details are still being added, so confirm the schedule on their page before planning your week.
Registration form for the New Jersey State Data Center's Annual Network Meeting on 29 and 30 September 2026. The State Data Center is New Jersey's official partner in the Census Bureau's programme for making population, housing and economic data usable locally; the network meeting is where affiliates and data users are brought up to date.
Details: Worth knowing about if you use public data for job targeting, grant writing or a business plan — these are the people who make state figures usable. Be aware of what the link is: a bare registration form asking name, organization, email and phone. It states no fee, no agenda and no venue or joining details, so ask the State Data Center directly before you plan travel around it.
The fourth global online PyLadies conference, 5-7 December 2026, free and run across multiple timezones in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese and Chinese. Tutorials, open-source sprints with project maintainers, panels on Python and career growth, open spaces and networking.
Details: Free, online and explicitly welcoming to first-time speakers and first-time open-source contributors, with no prior experience required. Runs on Discord to keep the barrier low; the sprints are the fastest honest route to a first real contribution.
Real-time data streaming for AI: a global chip manufacturer shares what worked, what failed, and what they'd do differently. Includes CIO insights on evaluation, implementation, and vendor selection for enterprise AI data infrastructure.
From the site: Real-time data streaming for AI: a global chip manufacturer shares what worked, what failed, and what they'd do differently. Includes CIO insights on evaluation, implementation, and vendor selection for enterprise AI data infrastructure.
Details: Virtual fireside chat with GlobalFoundries and Redpanda on real-time data migration for AI. Useful for anyone evaluating streaming data infrastructure, enterprise AI adoption, or semiconductor/tech career paths.
Free one-day virtual festival on influencer marketing, with sessions from brand, creator and marketing leads. October 21, 2026, 10am–5pm ET, online.
A bimonthly virtual series from The Privacy Center at Georgetown Law and Tech Policy Press launching October 22 on Zoom. Rather than another "AI governance" conversation, the dialogues dig into questions upstream of tech policy — power, labor, war, justice, privacy, art, community and human consciousness. The kickoff features remarks from Dr. Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study; free registration.
An in-person New York evening (Tue 13 Oct 2026, 6:30–9:30 PM) of drinks and candid talk with ex-consultants from Accenture and McKinsey who moved into AI startups — no panels, just stories about going from advising companies to building one.
Details: Registration needs host approval and the address is shared after you're accepted. No ticket price is shown.
The fifth edition of The Startup Station's Speed Pitch in New York: 36 startup spots, each matched into guaranteed one-to-one meetings with investors instead of the usual keynote-and-mingle format. Confirmed funds include New York Ventures, New York Bay Capital, Hexa-AI, Vamos Ventures, Gaingels, Yan Ventures, Lightscape Partners, Valued Ventures, BuenTrip Ventures, Zavo Ventures and Ensemblex Venture. Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 4:30–8:30 PM; registration is by host approval and closes October 15. Investors apply through a separate link.
Details: Guaranteed meetings are rare — come with a two-minute version of your pitch and a clear ask, because 1:1 slots here are short.
Free U.S. Small Business Administration webinar via Zoom on starting a business, October 6, 2026.
Free 30-minute Educate 360 webinar on how attackers are using AI and what the updated CompTIA Security+ covers, October 13, 2026, 12:00-12:30pm Central.
Free IEEE-USA livestream webinar on how engineering careers are changing in 2026, October 7, 2026.
Free virtual conference on 9 December 2026, 8:30am to 2:00pm Pacific, on running streaming data and AI agent systems in production. Sessions cover streaming plus SQL and agents on one platform, locking down agent access with an agentic data plane, streaming at scale, and open Q&A with the product and engineering teams. Speakers are engineers, architects, customers and industry experts.
Details: Worth a morning if you work with data pipelines and want to hear how agents are actually being governed in production rather than demoed. Two honest flags: it is the vendor's own event, so the answer to most architecture questions will be Redpanda, and registration asks for your job title, company and work email, and signs you up for their marketing email. Use a filterable address if that matters to you.
A free live hour with Yash Thakker covering the AI safety concepts every builder and operator needs: the core failure modes to know before hitting them, a live look at AgentBeam catching an unsafe agent trajectory, and a checklist of best practices for running agents safely. Free with email registration; a recording is included.
An experimental bootcamp in Berkeley, California, where creators post short-form videos about AI risk every day. The first cohort of 57 creators (July 2026) tracked 112M+ views; the next is tentatively January 2027, with rolling applications.
