8 ms·

Five Years of Recurse Center

169 points by peruvian 10y ago

adwhit 10y ago
Recurse center (nee Hackerschool) changed my life. I was a miserable PhD student, playing around with poor-quality datasets, battling office politics and learning a bit of Python on the side. Saw Recurse Center as an opportunity to see if I might fit in with a techy crowd and perhaps provide some new inspiration. Went, loved every minute, met wonderful people, learned loads, had a blast. Got home, quit my PhD, quickly landed a developer job and haven't looked back since. My only regret is not doing so sooner. My story is not unusual. Apply to Recurse Center!
- peruvian 10y ago
  Hey, I'm the one that posted this story and I am headed to RC next month :-) So excited! What did you work on/study?
  - adwhit 10y ago
    I spent a lot of time learning new languages and filling in my missing computer-science education. You can do a lot in 3 months if you have no distractions! I was probably there 60 - 70 hours a week and have never managed to hit such a sweet spot of motivation, inspiration and productivity before or since. My PhD was a colossal waste of time in comparison. Actually it made me totally re-evaluate my ideas about education in general. A random selection from memory: * Emulator and debugger for a particular embedded hardware (MSP430) * Website that scraped Rosetta Code and displayed it in a less-annoying form * Genetic algorithm for graph problems * Nand2Tetris course * Two weeks trying and mostly failing to learn Haskell (took me another year to really 'get' it) * All sorts of other fun/dumb stuff. Boggle solver! Endless project Euler problems! Super Meat Boy!
nprescott 10y ago
On topic, I still don't have a good sense of what Hacker School/Recurse Center is. I understand that they place people looking for jobs - but is that the only people who attend (enroll?) or is it more like a private club? Some of the in-group signaling sounds off to me and I can only assume it's because I'm not the target audience ("canine facilitator", tattooing an RC logo on yourself, etc.). I'm not sure if everything is intentionally vague, but I suppose my (unasked for) suggestion would be to improve the messaging around what the center is and isn't. Tangential, but does anyone else find this (literal) page odd? It fails to load unless you load in two scripts from cloudfront, where upon it pulls down JQuery, D3, and the following 150+ modules (bundled, of course. I think most of this is for React?): AutoFocusUtils, BeforeInputEventPlugin, CSSProperty, CSSPropertyOperations, CallbackQueue, ChangeEventPlugin, DOMChildrenOperations, DOMLazyTree, DOMNamespaces, DOMProperty, DOMPropertyOperations, Danger, DefaultEventPluginOrder, EnterLeaveEventPlugin, EventConstants, EventPluginHub, EventPluginRegistry, EventPluginUtils, EventPropagators, FallbackCompositionState, HTMLDOMPropertyConfig, LinkedStateMixin, LinkedValueUtils, PooledClass, React, ReactBrowserEventEmitter, ReactCSSTransitionGroup, ReactCSSTransitionGroupChild, ReactChildReconciler, ReactChildren, ReactClass, ReactComponent, ReactComponentBrowserEnvironment, ReactComponentEnvironment, ReactComponentWithPureRenderMixin, ReactCompositeComponent, ReactCurrentOwner, ReactDOM, ReactDOMButton, ReactDOMComponent, ReactDOMComponentFlags, ReactDOMComponentTree, ReactDOMContainerInfo, ReactDOMDebugTool, ReactDOMEmptyComponent, ReactDOMFactories, ReactDOMFeatureFlags, ReactDOMIDOperations, ReactDOMInput, ReactDOMInstrumentation, ReactDOMOption, ReactDOMSelect, ReactDOMSelection, ReactDOMServer, ReactDOMTextComponent, ReactDOMTextarea, ReactDOMTreeTraversal, ReactDOMUnknownPropertyDevtool, ReactDebugTool, ReactDefaultBatchingStrategy, ReactDefaultInjection, ReactDefaultPerf, ReactDefaultPerfAnalysis, ReactElement, ReactElementValidator, ReactEmptyComponent, ReactErrorUtils, ReactEventEmitterMixin, ReactEventListener, ReactFeatureFlags, ReactFragment, ReactInjection, ReactInputSelection, ReactInstanceMap, ReactInstrumentation, ReactInvalidSetStateWarningDevTool, ReactLink, ReactMarkupChecksum, ReactMount, ReactMultiChild, ReactMultiChildUpdateTypes, ReactNativeComponent, ReactNodeTypes, ReactNoopUpdateQueue, ReactOwner, ReactPerf, ReactPropTypeLocationNames, ReactPropTypeLocations, ReactPropTypes, ReactReconcileTransaction, ReactReconciler, ReactRef, ReactServerBatchingStrategy, ReactServerRendering, ReactServerRenderingTransaction, ReactStateSetters, ReactTestUtils, ReactTransitionChildMapping, ReactTransitionEvents, ReactTransitionGroup, ReactUpdateQueue, ReactUpdates, ReactVersion, ReactWithAddons, ReactWithAddonsUMDEntry, SVGDOMPropertyConfig, SelectEventPlugin, SimpleEventPlugin, SyntheticAnimationEvent, SyntheticClipboardEvent, SyntheticCompositionEvent, SyntheticDragEvent, SyntheticEvent, SyntheticFocusEvent, SyntheticInputEvent, SyntheticKeyboardEvent, SyntheticMouseEvent, SyntheticTouchEvent, SyntheticTransitionEvent, SyntheticUIEvent, SyntheticWheelEvent, Transaction, ViewportMetrics, accumulateInto, adler32, canDefineProperty, createMicrosoftUnsafeLocalFunction, dangerousStyleValue, escapeTextContentForBrowser, findDOMNode, flattenChildren, forEachAccumulated, getEventCharCode, getEventKey, getEventModifierState, getEventTarget, getIteratorFn, getNativeComponentFromComposite, getNodeForCharacterOffset, getTextContentAccessor, getVendorPrefixedEventName, instantiateReactComponent, isEventSupported, isTextInputElement, onlyChild, quoteAttributeValueForBrowser, renderSubtreeIntoContainer, setInnerHTML, setTextContent, shallowCompare, shouldUpdateReactComponent, traverseAllChildren, update, validateDOMNesting, shallowCompare, shallowEqual, invariant
- otoburb 10y ago
  >>On topic, I still don't have a good sense of what Hacker School/Recurse Center is. Their about page[1] should help to clear up any confusion. It wasn't easily linked from the 5-yr announcement page, and I had similar questions in the past that were answered there. I think it takes time wrap one's head around the fact that the experience is free for the participant (other than living costs) which probably raises TANSTAAFL flags in your head, but they then go on to explain their business model in their FAQ[2]. [1] https://www.recurse.com/about https://www.recurse.com/about [2] https://www.recurse.com/faq https://www.recurse.com/faq
- scandox 10y ago
  I know it feels a tad hipsterish etc...but Mary Rose Cook works there and I think she seems smart, practical and not at all vague: https://maryrosecook.com/blog/post/a-practical-introduction-to-functional-programming https://maryrosecook.com/blog/post/a-practical-introduction-...
- adregan 10y ago
  While I was attending, I told everyone (family, friends, strangers at the bar) that I was at a computer camp for adults. I've also heard "writers' retreat for programmers."
AjithAntony 10y ago
> 0% graduation rate Any insight on what this is intended to mean?
- stijlist 10y ago
  RC's motto is "Never graduate!"
- peruvian 10y ago
  Aside from what stijlist said, you can't really graduate from RC. It's not a program with a list of things to do, a certificate, or a "path" to complete. It's literally just work on and learn whatever you want for three months (or half that) and build stuff. You can't really have a graduation for that.
wrangler 10y ago
This sounds very interesting. I've been professionally programming for about ~2 years (1 year co-op) in Java/Spring/Hibernate/SWT/Angular1.x and have been disheartened by the dry approach to programming taken in the projects that I've been a part of. I feel like I'm basically following templates and laying bricks and not really sharpening my skills; the days of invetiveness and fun I had during my CS days are few and far between outside of personal projects. I'm definitely considering taking a leave of absence or even quitting my current job to spend some time with wizards :-)
throwawayIndian 10y ago
I applied when I needed it the most. Was rejected for a reason that revealed more about them than about me or my readiness for coding skills. Now they're a must avoid at all costs!
- danso 10y ago
  Care to elaborate?
- eots 10y ago
  Could you share why you were rejected?
  - throwawayIndian 10y ago
    This was a few years ago. My application indicated that I wasn't looking for a job following the program and that I was only interested in becoming a "good developer". That likely didn't fit their business model.
    - vitno 10y ago
      That probably isn't why. I know several people who have attended who were on "company sabbaticals", as in they took time off for a few months then went back to their company. That obviously won't net RC any money.
    - sotojuan 10y ago
      > I was only interested in becoming a "good developer". This is probably too vague... for better or for worse RC applications are about culture fit like everything else. Just saying "I want to get better" is probably not good enough. Everyone wants to get better!
      - kevinr 10y ago
        From the Recurse Center Manual[0]: > Traits of an awesome Recurser > Here are three principles we believe in. If you're living up to these principles, you're doing well at the Recurse Center. > Be rigorous. Understand how and why your code works. Understand your tools. If you're working with a framework (like Sinatra or Flask), learning to use it is just scratching the surface. Go deeper. Learn how it works. > Strive for greatness. You're all at the Recurse Center because we believe you can be great programmers. Becoming great takes a lot of work. All of us who work at the Recurse Center are trying to become great, too. We don't think we're there yet. > Reflect on your progress. We're all getting better at programming, but we should also be getting better at learning. Reflecting looks different for different people, but we recommend two primary things. First, write a blog! Even if no one else reads it, writing prose is a great way to crystallize concepts in your mind and deepen your understanding. Second, get code review! It's so much easier to get better when you're getting feedback and advice. Ie. "I want to get better" is a core value of the Recurse Center. [0]: https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-principles https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-principles
pnathan 10y ago
I've always thought this sounds nifty. Unfortunately, I don't have 3 months and 10K to drop on it - I also am married and the sole earner, so my actual spend would probably look closer to 20K in order to attend (not to mention flight & being away from family). Anyway. Best of luck in the future!
- pyb 10y ago
  You can now choose to attend for a half-batch (6 weeks).
- xiaoma 10y ago
  As long as you're not a straight, white or Asian male they have grants.
  - wrsh07 10y ago
    Try not to be too bitter about this. It feels sucky, but imagine being born to a family (more likely single parent) where you didn't have the opportunity to learn how to program because you had to work and take care of your siblings and dropped out of high school as soon as you could so you could earn more to help feed your newest youngest sibling And even if you had managed to learn how to program, you didn't know anybody else who coded or could give you interview advice. So you took a bad coding job that provided no personal fulfillment and didn't help you learn how to code properly so you left to find a better career....
    - hueving 10y ago
      I don't understand why it would be possible for a white or Asian male to have helped raise family members. Why not make the grant explicit about the upbringing hardships it's targeting instead of being racist?
      - wrsh07 10y ago
        They're playing probabilities. I know they're are plenty of whites below the poverty line, but I think required reading in this case is this: http://thefeministbreeder.com/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person/ http://thefeministbreeder.com/explaining-white-privilege-bro... The linked essay unpacking the invisible knapsack is also really good. These are to help you understand why it's okay to specifically try to help black people (or other minorities). But I think they also help start a conversation. (Both are great links suggested here: http://theteej.tumblr.com/post/122334039549/hi-white-friends-things-have-been-tense-lately http://theteej.tumblr.com/post/122334039549/hi-white-friends...)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dynamicdispatch 10y ago
I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I find something very cliquish about the Recurse Center and the many high profile alums. At the end of the day, they seem like a fancy placement agency who happened to get some good developers attend their program. I've also heard from certain of their _non_ high profile alums and they've spoken about feeling left out (because most of the others were hacking away in Python whereas she was a Ruby developer and felt isolated). Since then I take everything said and written about the Recurse Center with a grain of salt.
- vfaronov 10y ago
  Somehow it's strange that a language difference as modest as between Python and Ruby should isolate people to the point where they can't fit in even on a 12-week retreat. I mean, that would probably happen to me if I went to a Ruby gathering, but it seems kinda wrong, a waste of talent that could be pooled and applied to more advanced projects instead. On the other hand, maybe it's precisely because the two languages are similar?
- pgbovine 10y ago
  (I've visited and been a resident ... I guess I'm one of the non-high-profile ones). From my N=1 anecdotes during several visits, the vast majority of attendees were not "high profile" (whatever that definition is) ... and most people spent most time heads-down doing work or pairing/in-meetings talking about work. from what i observed, there was very little showboating. it's not like a 3-month TED conference or something :)
  - beagle3 10y ago
    pgbovine's profile is not as high as it deserves to be See http://pythontutor.com/ http://pythontutor.com/ and http://www.pgbovine.net/cde.html http://www.pgbovine.net/cde.html - but really, all of https://github.com/pgbovine?tab=repositories https://github.com/pgbovine?tab=repositories is worth looking at.
- thebenedict 10y ago
  I applied twice and was rejected. I didn't get the impression it was cliquish, but they're in a difficult situation. They write thoughtful blog posts on self-reflection, building an inclusive community and working hard to improve. These are values I identify with so it's disappointing not to be given an opportunity to participate, and no feedback after putting effort into the application. On the other hand they have a popular program and have to reject a lot of people.
throwawayIndian 10y ago
> a fancy placement agency This, a hundred thousand times!
- dang 10y ago
  We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118547 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118547 and marked it off-topic.
throwawayIndian 10y ago
> That probably isn't why. How do you know? Which companies exactly? Advantage in that case will be ofcourse that of future sponsors. Lame. The number of instant downvotes from those "invested" in this fraud is an ample proof of the problem. I'm outta here.
- dang 10y ago
  Your comments are getting downvoted properly because they're unsubstantive, insinuating, and prosecuting a grudge. Those are bad qualities for HN comments to have. And when you go as far as to call them a "fraud" and "fake" (which is demonstrably absurd), you're breaking the site guidelines outright, and that's not ok. Side accounts created to break the HN guidelines with are not allowed here, so please don't do any more of that. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118610 and marked it off-topic.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
throwawayIndian 10y ago
To become a "good developer" isn't vague at all. > RC applications are about culture fit ... No they're not. That's a standard canned response. The total amount of time their assessor spent on the demo app I sent along with my application <= 3 seconds. That's roughly the time it takes for an above-the-average webpage to load first time on the browser. I'm pretty clear about the recurse center program. It's fake. And nothing more than a sales pitch of "big names" from the developer community to lure people who can fall prey for it. Downvoters: keep 'em coming! :-)
- dang 10y ago
  We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118683 and marked it off-topic.
  - throwawayIndian 10y ago
    Okay. I'm glad that the feedback was read at least once. And that they want it to be only a convenient truth from here after. Enjoy :-)
ethagnawl 10y ago
Congrats, Recurse folks! You've come a long way and done outstanding work for both your students and the community - social rules, spirit of inclusivity and the endless list of blog posts, talks, etc. which have come about as a result of your program. Now, if only you'd start the Brain Dump meetup back up! :P (I'm being facetious, but those 2-3? events were transformative for me. I can only imagine what attending the program will do for one's personal/professional development.)
chris_7 10y ago
I've worked in offices with dogs and it's incredibly distracting (the barking!). Is that really a good idea for a learning environment? Oh, and I'm also allergic to them, though I'd never dare mention it.
- ramblenode 10y ago
  This is a small, hypoallergenic dog that I've never once heard bark. She's also very cute. ;)
  - sbahra 10y ago
    Can confirm.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
spydertennis 10y ago
ITT: People who want to talk about their own issues and not Recurse Center.
richardburton 10y ago
I am so glad I was accepted to RC. It had a huge impact on my life. Although I was one of the least experienced programmers in my batch, the staff and fellow students made me feel very welcome. My goal was to learn how to make iPhone apps. Here are some highlights: - A faculty member taught himself Objective-C to help me along. - Several other students were extremely kind with their time. - I learnt that even experienced programmers struggle through the debugging process, it’s just that they would find the cause of the problem in a minute and I would take an hour. That was reassuring. - I paired for the first time. - I made a bunch of new friends who are now scattered all over the world doing lots of interesting things. - We played lots of poker and got to see each other in a different environment (for science!). - RC gave me the confidence to keep plugging away at programming. It showed me that everyone has to keep learning. It taught me a frame of mind which I now apply to all programming problems. I am forever grateful to the founders and faculty for creating the Recurse Center.

169 points by peruvian 10y ago

Recurse center (nee Hackerschool) changed my life. I was a miserable PhD student, playing around with poor-quality datasets, battling office politics and learning a bit of Python on the side. Saw Recurse Center as an opportunity to see if I might fit in with a techy crowd and perhaps provide some new inspiration. Went, loved every minute, met wonderful people, learned loads, had a blast. Got home, quit my PhD, quickly landed a developer job and haven't looked back since. My only regret is not doing so sooner. My story is not unusual. Apply to Recurse Center!

peruvian 10y ago
Hey, I'm the one that posted this story and I am headed to RC next month :-) So excited! What did you work on/study?
- adwhit 10y ago
  I spent a lot of time learning new languages and filling in my missing computer-science education. You can do a lot in 3 months if you have no distractions! I was probably there 60 - 70 hours a week and have never managed to hit such a sweet spot of motivation, inspiration and productivity before or since. My PhD was a colossal waste of time in comparison. Actually it made me totally re-evaluate my ideas about education in general. A random selection from memory: * Emulator and debugger for a particular embedded hardware (MSP430) * Website that scraped Rosetta Code and displayed it in a less-annoying form * Genetic algorithm for graph problems * Nand2Tetris course * Two weeks trying and mostly failing to learn Haskell (took me another year to really 'get' it) * All sorts of other fun/dumb stuff. Boggle solver! Endless project Euler problems! Super Meat Boy!

nprescott 10y ago

On topic, I still don't have a good sense of what Hacker School/Recurse Center is. I understand that they place people looking for jobs - but is that the only people who attend (enroll?) or is it more like a private club? Some of the in-group signaling sounds off to me and I can only assume it's because I'm not the target audience ("canine facilitator", tattooing an RC logo on yourself, etc.). I'm not sure if everything is intentionally vague, but I suppose my (unasked for) suggestion would be to improve the messaging around what the center is and isn't. Tangential, but does anyone else find this (literal) page odd? It fails to load unless you load in two scripts from cloudfront, where upon it pulls down JQuery, D3, and the following 150+ modules (bundled, of course. I think most of this is for React?): AutoFocusUtils, BeforeInputEventPlugin, CSSProperty, CSSPropertyOperations, CallbackQueue, ChangeEventPlugin, DOMChildrenOperations, DOMLazyTree, DOMNamespaces, DOMProperty, DOMPropertyOperations, Danger, DefaultEventPluginOrder, EnterLeaveEventPlugin, EventConstants, EventPluginHub, EventPluginRegistry, EventPluginUtils, EventPropagators, FallbackCompositionState, HTMLDOMPropertyConfig, LinkedStateMixin, LinkedValueUtils, PooledClass, React, ReactBrowserEventEmitter, ReactCSSTransitionGroup, ReactCSSTransitionGroupChild, ReactChildReconciler, ReactChildren, ReactClass, ReactComponent, ReactComponentBrowserEnvironment, ReactComponentEnvironment, ReactComponentWithPureRenderMixin, ReactCompositeComponent, ReactCurrentOwner, ReactDOM, ReactDOMButton, ReactDOMComponent, ReactDOMComponentFlags, ReactDOMComponentTree, ReactDOMContainerInfo, ReactDOMDebugTool, ReactDOMEmptyComponent, ReactDOMFactories, ReactDOMFeatureFlags, ReactDOMIDOperations, ReactDOMInput, ReactDOMInstrumentation, ReactDOMOption, ReactDOMSelect, ReactDOMSelection, ReactDOMServer, ReactDOMTextComponent, ReactDOMTextarea, ReactDOMTreeTraversal, ReactDOMUnknownPropertyDevtool, ReactDebugTool, ReactDefaultBatchingStrategy, ReactDefaultInjection, ReactDefaultPerf, ReactDefaultPerfAnalysis, ReactElement, ReactElementValidator, ReactEmptyComponent, ReactErrorUtils, ReactEventEmitterMixin, ReactEventListener, ReactFeatureFlags, ReactFragment, ReactInjection, ReactInputSelection, ReactInstanceMap, ReactInstrumentation, ReactInvalidSetStateWarningDevTool, ReactLink, ReactMarkupChecksum, ReactMount, ReactMultiChild, ReactMultiChildUpdateTypes, ReactNativeComponent, ReactNodeTypes, ReactNoopUpdateQueue, ReactOwner, ReactPerf, ReactPropTypeLocationNames, ReactPropTypeLocations, ReactPropTypes, ReactReconcileTransaction, ReactReconciler, ReactRef, ReactServerBatchingStrategy, ReactServerRendering, ReactServerRenderingTransaction, ReactStateSetters, ReactTestUtils, ReactTransitionChildMapping, ReactTransitionEvents, ReactTransitionGroup, ReactUpdateQueue, ReactUpdates, ReactVersion, ReactWithAddons, ReactWithAddonsUMDEntry, SVGDOMPropertyConfig, SelectEventPlugin, SimpleEventPlugin, SyntheticAnimationEvent, SyntheticClipboardEvent, SyntheticCompositionEvent, SyntheticDragEvent, SyntheticEvent, SyntheticFocusEvent, SyntheticInputEvent, SyntheticKeyboardEvent, SyntheticMouseEvent, SyntheticTouchEvent, SyntheticTransitionEvent, SyntheticUIEvent, SyntheticWheelEvent, Transaction, ViewportMetrics, accumulateInto, adler32, canDefineProperty, createMicrosoftUnsafeLocalFunction, dangerousStyleValue, escapeTextContentForBrowser, findDOMNode, flattenChildren, forEachAccumulated, getEventCharCode, getEventKey, getEventModifierState, getEventTarget, getIteratorFn, getNativeComponentFromComposite, getNodeForCharacterOffset, getTextContentAccessor, getVendorPrefixedEventName, instantiateReactComponent, isEventSupported, isTextInputElement, onlyChild, quoteAttributeValueForBrowser, renderSubtreeIntoContainer, setInnerHTML, setTextContent, shallowCompare, shouldUpdateReactComponent, traverseAllChildren, update, validateDOMNesting, shallowCompare, shallowEqual, invariant

otoburb 10y ago
>>On topic, I still don't have a good sense of what Hacker School/Recurse Center is. Their about page[1] should help to clear up any confusion. It wasn't easily linked from the 5-yr announcement page, and I had similar questions in the past that were answered there. I think it takes time wrap one's head around the fact that the experience is free for the participant (other than living costs) which probably raises TANSTAAFL flags in your head, but they then go on to explain their business model in their FAQ[2]. [1] https://www.recurse.com/about https://www.recurse.com/about [2] https://www.recurse.com/faq https://www.recurse.com/faq
scandox 10y ago
I know it feels a tad hipsterish etc...but Mary Rose Cook works there and I think she seems smart, practical and not at all vague: https://maryrosecook.com/blog/post/a-practical-introduction-to-functional-programming https://maryrosecook.com/blog/post/a-practical-introduction-...
adregan 10y ago
While I was attending, I told everyone (family, friends, strangers at the bar) that I was at a computer camp for adults. I've also heard "writers' retreat for programmers."

AjithAntony 10y ago

> 0% graduation rate Any insight on what this is intended to mean?

stijlist 10y ago
RC's motto is "Never graduate!"
peruvian 10y ago
Aside from what stijlist said, you can't really graduate from RC. It's not a program with a list of things to do, a certificate, or a "path" to complete. It's literally just work on and learn whatever you want for three months (or half that) and build stuff. You can't really have a graduation for that.

wrangler 10y ago

This sounds very interesting. I've been professionally programming for about ~2 years (1 year co-op) in Java/Spring/Hibernate/SWT/Angular1.x and have been disheartened by the dry approach to programming taken in the projects that I've been a part of. I feel like I'm basically following templates and laying bricks and not really sharpening my skills; the days of invetiveness and fun I had during my CS days are few and far between outside of personal projects. I'm definitely considering taking a leave of absence or even quitting my current job to spend some time with wizards :-)

throwawayIndian 10y ago

I applied when I needed it the most. Was rejected for a reason that revealed more about them than about me or my readiness for coding skills. Now they're a must avoid at all costs!

danso 10y ago
Care to elaborate?
eots 10y ago
Could you share why you were rejected?
- throwawayIndian 10y ago
  This was a few years ago. My application indicated that I wasn't looking for a job following the program and that I was only interested in becoming a "good developer". That likely didn't fit their business model.
  - vitno 10y ago
    That probably isn't why. I know several people who have attended who were on "company sabbaticals", as in they took time off for a few months then went back to their company. That obviously won't net RC any money.
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    > I was only interested in becoming a "good developer". This is probably too vague... for better or for worse RC applications are about culture fit like everything else. Just saying "I want to get better" is probably not good enough. Everyone wants to get better!
    - kevinr 10y ago
      From the Recurse Center Manual[0]: > Traits of an awesome Recurser > Here are three principles we believe in. If you're living up to these principles, you're doing well at the Recurse Center. > Be rigorous. Understand how and why your code works. Understand your tools. If you're working with a framework (like Sinatra or Flask), learning to use it is just scratching the surface. Go deeper. Learn how it works. > Strive for greatness. You're all at the Recurse Center because we believe you can be great programmers. Becoming great takes a lot of work. All of us who work at the Recurse Center are trying to become great, too. We don't think we're there yet. > Reflect on your progress. We're all getting better at programming, but we should also be getting better at learning. Reflecting looks different for different people, but we recommend two primary things. First, write a blog! Even if no one else reads it, writing prose is a great way to crystallize concepts in your mind and deepen your understanding. Second, get code review! It's so much easier to get better when you're getting feedback and advice. Ie. "I want to get better" is a core value of the Recurse Center. [0]: https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-principles https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-principles

pnathan 10y ago

I've always thought this sounds nifty. Unfortunately, I don't have 3 months and 10K to drop on it - I also am married and the sole earner, so my actual spend would probably look closer to 20K in order to attend (not to mention flight & being away from family). Anyway. Best of luck in the future!

pyb 10y ago
You can now choose to attend for a half-batch (6 weeks).
xiaoma 10y ago
As long as you're not a straight, white or Asian male they have grants.
- wrsh07 10y ago
  Try not to be too bitter about this. It feels sucky, but imagine being born to a family (more likely single parent) where you didn't have the opportunity to learn how to program because you had to work and take care of your siblings and dropped out of high school as soon as you could so you could earn more to help feed your newest youngest sibling And even if you had managed to learn how to program, you didn't know anybody else who coded or could give you interview advice. So you took a bad coding job that provided no personal fulfillment and didn't help you learn how to code properly so you left to find a better career....
  - hueving 10y ago
    I don't understand why it would be possible for a white or Asian male to have helped raise family members. Why not make the grant explicit about the upbringing hardships it's targeting instead of being racist?
    - wrsh07 10y ago
      They're playing probabilities. I know they're are plenty of whites below the poverty line, but I think required reading in this case is this: http://thefeministbreeder.com/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person/ http://thefeministbreeder.com/explaining-white-privilege-bro... The linked essay unpacking the invisible knapsack is also really good. These are to help you understand why it's okay to specifically try to help black people (or other minorities). But I think they also help start a conversation. (Both are great links suggested here: http://theteej.tumblr.com/post/122334039549/hi-white-friends-things-have-been-tense-lately http://theteej.tumblr.com/post/122334039549/hi-white-friends...)

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

dynamicdispatch 10y ago

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I find something very cliquish about the Recurse Center and the many high profile alums. At the end of the day, they seem like a fancy placement agency who happened to get some good developers attend their program. I've also heard from certain of their _non_ high profile alums and they've spoken about feeling left out (because most of the others were hacking away in Python whereas she was a Ruby developer and felt isolated). Since then I take everything said and written about the Recurse Center with a grain of salt.

vfaronov 10y ago
Somehow it's strange that a language difference as modest as between Python and Ruby should isolate people to the point where they can't fit in even on a 12-week retreat. I mean, that would probably happen to me if I went to a Ruby gathering, but it seems kinda wrong, a waste of talent that could be pooled and applied to more advanced projects instead. On the other hand, maybe it's precisely because the two languages are similar?
pgbovine 10y ago
(I've visited and been a resident ... I guess I'm one of the non-high-profile ones). From my N=1 anecdotes during several visits, the vast majority of attendees were not "high profile" (whatever that definition is) ... and most people spent most time heads-down doing work or pairing/in-meetings talking about work. from what i observed, there was very little showboating. it's not like a 3-month TED conference or something :)
- beagle3 10y ago
  pgbovine's profile is not as high as it deserves to be See http://pythontutor.com/ http://pythontutor.com/ and http://www.pgbovine.net/cde.html http://www.pgbovine.net/cde.html - but really, all of https://github.com/pgbovine?tab=repositories https://github.com/pgbovine?tab=repositories is worth looking at.
thebenedict 10y ago
I applied twice and was rejected. I didn't get the impression it was cliquish, but they're in a difficult situation. They write thoughtful blog posts on self-reflection, building an inclusive community and working hard to improve. These are values I identify with so it's disappointing not to be given an opportunity to participate, and no feedback after putting effort into the application. On the other hand they have a popular program and have to reject a lot of people.

throwawayIndian 10y ago

> a fancy placement agency This, a hundred thousand times!

dang 10y ago
We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118547 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118547 and marked it off-topic.

throwawayIndian 10y ago

> That probably isn't why. How do you know? Which companies exactly? Advantage in that case will be ofcourse that of future sponsors. Lame. The number of instant downvotes from those "invested" in this fraud is an ample proof of the problem. I'm outta here.

dang 10y ago
Your comments are getting downvoted properly because they're unsubstantive, insinuating, and prosecuting a grudge. Those are bad qualities for HN comments to have. And when you go as far as to call them a "fraud" and "fake" (which is demonstrably absurd), you're breaking the site guidelines outright, and that's not ok. Side accounts created to break the HN guidelines with are not allowed here, so please don't do any more of that. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118610 and marked it off-topic.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

throwawayIndian 10y ago

To become a "good developer" isn't vague at all. > RC applications are about culture fit ... No they're not. That's a standard canned response. The total amount of time their assessor spent on the demo app I sent along with my application <= 3 seconds. That's roughly the time it takes for an above-the-average webpage to load first time on the browser. I'm pretty clear about the recurse center program. It's fake. And nothing more than a sales pitch of "big names" from the developer community to lure people who can fall prey for it. Downvoters: keep 'em coming! :-)

dang 10y ago
We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118683 and marked it off-topic.
- throwawayIndian 10y ago
  Okay. I'm glad that the feedback was read at least once. And that they want it to be only a convenient truth from here after. Enjoy :-)

ethagnawl 10y ago

Congrats, Recurse folks! You've come a long way and done outstanding work for both your students and the community - social rules, spirit of inclusivity and the endless list of blog posts, talks, etc. which have come about as a result of your program. Now, if only you'd start the Brain Dump meetup back up! :P (I'm being facetious, but those 2-3? events were transformative for me. I can only imagine what attending the program will do for one's personal/professional development.)

chris_7 10y ago

I've worked in offices with dogs and it's incredibly distracting (the barking!). Is that really a good idea for a learning environment? Oh, and I'm also allergic to them, though I'd never dare mention it.

ramblenode 10y ago
This is a small, hypoallergenic dog that I've never once heard bark. She's also very cute. ;)
- sbahra 10y ago
  Can confirm.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

spydertennis 10y ago

ITT: People who want to talk about their own issues and not Recurse Center.

richardburton 10y ago

I am so glad I was accepted to RC. It had a huge impact on my life. Although I was one of the least experienced programmers in my batch, the staff and fellow students made me feel very welcome. My goal was to learn how to make iPhone apps. Here are some highlights: - A faculty member taught himself Objective-C to help me along. - Several other students were extremely kind with their time. - I learnt that even experienced programmers struggle through the debugging process, it’s just that they would find the cause of the problem in a minute and I would take an hour. That was reassuring. - I paired for the first time. - I made a bunch of new friends who are now scattered all over the world doing lots of interesting things. - We played lots of poker and got to see each other in a different environment (for science!). - RC gave me the confidence to keep plugging away at programming. It showed me that everyone has to keep learning. It taught me a frame of mind which I now apply to all programming problems. I am forever grateful to the founders and faculty for creating the Recurse Center.