4 ms·

Hacker School founder here. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about Hacker School or applying.

doctorpangloss 14y ago
What is the next step? How do you translate what Hacker School does into something State University can do? Some State Universities can explicitly accept and reject candidates on the basis of gender. Some State Universities can let students pick their own projects and grade on effort. But others have admissions criteria determined by law, and others must have final exams that are the same for each student. In other words, how can Hacker School adapt higher-ed pedagogy to better accomodate women engineers?
- nicholasjbs 14y ago
  Sorry, I don't think I understand your question. Could you please rephrase it?
charlieflowers 14y ago
Nicholas, What do you think a family of 3 would need to pay for rent during Hacker School? (Assume the goal is to live as cheaply as possible, but to be in a safe area).
- nicholasjbs 14y ago
  It depends on what your family of three would need (i.e., if you're a couple with a young baby, one room would probably suffice; if you're a parent with two teenagers, you might need two or three bedrooms). When I last polled our students, they were spending $800-1,200/month individually. Some people have been able to go below that ($600 is the cheapest I've heard) and some have opted to spend more. Assuming you need a two bedroom place, my guess is you could get a reasonable one that's transit accessible and in safe part of Brooklyn or Queens for 1.5-2x the above. For example, here's a Craigslist post for a 2-bedroom apartment for $1200 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html) and another for $1600 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html) I hope this helps!
- alecco 14y ago
  Please reconsider. These people are not elite hackers like they pretend to be. It's more about self-promotion than anything else. I bet a job with skilled people as mentors will suit you a lot better than this random risky gamble.
jerrya 14y ago
Can you talk about the age range of the students of your Hacker School and your understanding of the age range of the students at other Hacker Schools? The pictures all show a bunch of well, young and attractive people. Regardless, coming out of the downturn, there are many experienced engineers struggling to shift from a diminishing part of the industry into web development. Do you support such training/retraining and what would be the best thing such a candidate could do to get in?
- SethMurphy 14y ago
  While I entered Hacker School as a professional web developer, I did do it as a part of my "retraining". I wrote a blog post about it here: http://sethmurphy.com/my_programming_reboot http://sethmurphy.com/my_programming_reboot I already had over 10 years work experience. Of course my HS experience was as unique as anyone else's. It is what you make of it, nothing more, nothing less.
- jamii 14y ago
  My impression was that the average age was mid-20s but there were definitely older people in those photos and at least one or two people with families of their own. It must be the revitalizing effect of hacker school that makes everyone look so young :D I suspect the bias is not in the application process but in the applicant pool. It's far easier for young people with no ties to pick up and spend three months in NY without income.

What is the next step? How do you translate what Hacker School does into something State University can do? Some State Universities can explicitly accept and reject candidates on the basis of gender. Some State Universities can let students pick their own projects and grade on effort. But others have admissions criteria determined by law, and others must have final exams that are the same for each student. In other words, how can Hacker School adapt higher-ed pedagogy to better accomodate women engineers?

nicholasjbs 14y ago
Sorry, I don't think I understand your question. Could you please rephrase it?

charlieflowers 14y ago

Nicholas, What do you think a family of 3 would need to pay for rent during Hacker School? (Assume the goal is to live as cheaply as possible, but to be in a safe area).

nicholasjbs 14y ago
It depends on what your family of three would need (i.e., if you're a couple with a young baby, one room would probably suffice; if you're a parent with two teenagers, you might need two or three bedrooms). When I last polled our students, they were spending $800-1,200/month individually. Some people have been able to go below that ($600 is the cheapest I've heard) and some have opted to spend more. Assuming you need a two bedroom place, my guess is you could get a reasonable one that's transit accessible and in safe part of Brooklyn or Queens for 1.5-2x the above. For example, here's a Craigslist post for a 2-bedroom apartment for $1200 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html) and another for $1600 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html) I hope this helps!
alecco 14y ago
Please reconsider. These people are not elite hackers like they pretend to be. It's more about self-promotion than anything else. I bet a job with skilled people as mentors will suit you a lot better than this random risky gamble.

jerrya 14y ago

Can you talk about the age range of the students of your Hacker School and your understanding of the age range of the students at other Hacker Schools? The pictures all show a bunch of well, young and attractive people. Regardless, coming out of the downturn, there are many experienced engineers struggling to shift from a diminishing part of the industry into web development. Do you support such training/retraining and what would be the best thing such a candidate could do to get in?

SethMurphy 14y ago
While I entered Hacker School as a professional web developer, I did do it as a part of my "retraining". I wrote a blog post about it here: http://sethmurphy.com/my_programming_reboot http://sethmurphy.com/my_programming_reboot I already had over 10 years work experience. Of course my HS experience was as unique as anyone else's. It is what you make of it, nothing more, nothing less.
jamii 14y ago
My impression was that the average age was mid-20s but there were definitely older people in those photos and at least one or two people with families of their own. It must be the revitalizing effect of hacker school that makes everyone look so young :D I suspect the bias is not in the application process but in the applicant pool. It's far easier for young people with no ties to pick up and spend three months in NY without income.