8 ms·

Apply to seventh batch of Hacker School

64 points by andrelaszlo 14y ago

saiko-chriskun 14y ago
how many applicants does hacker school actually get?
- nicholasjbs 14y ago
  (Hacker School founder here) It's varied a good amount by batch, but for our past couple batches, we've gotten a few hundred. That said, I don't think looking at raw numbers is particularly useful, because many (most?) of the people we say no to fall into one of these categories: * the applicant says he/she wants something very different from what Hacker School is (e.g., a highly structured curriculum, some sort of "startup school", etc) * the applicant has never programmed before (we don't require much programming experience, but you need to have coded enough to know if you actually enjoy it. See: https://www.hackerschool.com/faq#faq-how-much-experience https://www.hackerschool.com/faq#faq-how-much-experience) * the applicant doesn't appear to actually like programming * the applicant didn't take the application seriously, or provided little to no information in the application If you have a clear idea of what Hacker School is and you're a smart and friendly person who enjoys programming (whether you've been programming for two months or ten years) and want to get dramatically better, your odds of getting in are pretty high. I hope this helps! Edited to fix formatting
  - saiko-chriskun 14y ago
    awesome thanks :). I really want to apply one of these days, just need the money and time to get out to new york for three months hehe.
jerrya 14y ago
I am flagging this. I am flagging this precisely because I believe the Hacker School experience is valuable and yet you offer a sexist and discriminatory grant to women. Hacker School is valuable due to the experiences, the education, and the networking opportunities. Do you offer scholarships for living expenses? We offer a limited number of $5,000 need-based grants for women to do Hacker School. You can apply for a grant simply by checking the box that you need financial assistance on our application form. It is within your rights to offer this grant. But I see no reason why your sexist bullshit should be advertised without complaint at Hacker News. Would you feel comfortable offering such a sexist grant to men only? Do you feel comfortable about traditional "old boys networks", the existence of such were one valid reason that women's groups protested men's only clubs, men's only dining rooms, etc.? They why do you perpetuate sexism within the industry? Either your students need financial aid or they don't. I have a similar aged nephew and a niece that would benefit from Hacker School, but you will only enable one of these people to attend. That's sexism, and that's not the fault of patriarchy, nor the fault of male engineers, that's Hacker School bullshit. So I flagged this.
- DigitalTurk 14y ago
  > It is within your rights to offer this grant. But I see no reason why your sexist bullshit should be advertised without complaint at Hacker News. Apparently you think this is (i) sexist but (ii) within their right to do. That's unusual… even if you believe this, why would you bring it up? > Do you feel comfortable about traditional "old boys networks", the existence of such were one valid reason that women's groups protested men's only clubs, men's only dining rooms, etc.? This is so over the top—I don't know what to say. My understanding is it's still mostly men who attend Hacker School. It's like a group of men saying 'fuck, we turned into an old boys network. let's give out grants to gifted women so they can join us'. And here you—a man—are protesting outside. > They why do you perpetuate sexism within the industry? Is sexism against guys a problem in the industry now? Or do you think this will increase sexism against women too? If so, you should have argued why that's the case (or at least mentioned that that's what you mean). > I have a similar aged nephew and a niece that would benefit from Hacker School, but you will only enable one of these people to attend. I'd love to attend but I find it too expensive. I'm not complaining about this grant though. I think it's great! I absolutely hate that there are few women in the IT industry in the Western world. --- addendum > Either your students need financial aid or they don't. I think this misses a point. Hacker School is throwing opportunities at people. That's awesome because people need opportunities to succeed in life. However, Hacker School does not have an obligation to give opportunities to everyone—that's just not possible. What they are doing with these grants, however, is identifying a group that has trouble succeeding in the IT industry in the Western world (most female programmers I know are Chinese) and throwing extra opportunities at this group. That's awesome because if this group is underperforming then the most obvious way to fix that is to throw extra opportunities at them! In fact, there's an argument that the very reason they're underperforming as a group in the first place is because they have trouble identifying opportunities in the first place. E.g. because they're told girls don't have the right kind of brain for IT, because they feel intimidated by the men IT, etcetera. All the more it makes sense to give extra grants for women!
  - jerrya 14y ago
    "Apparently you think this is (i) sexist but (ii) within their right to do. That's unusual… even if you believe this, why would you bring it up?" Basically, I think "we" have a right to freedom of association. And so many distasteful behaviors, like sexism, are legal, but should not be tolerated nor encouraged. Hacker School may be within their legal rights to offer discriminatory grants. The Boy Scouts are apparently allowed to discriminate against gays. I dislike these policies of both organizations and will protest both even as I generally wish the organizations themselves well and acknowledge the good they try to do. Is sexism against guys a problem in the industry now? Sexism is sexism. Don't rationalize it. Don't tolerate it. Don't encourage it. I'd love to attend but I find it too expensive. I'm not complaining about this grant though. I think it's great! I absolutely hate that there are few women in the IT industry in the Western world. Kenehora. You are zazen. Everyone should be you. You sound like a true bootstrapper, a self-made man that needs no help from others. Corollary, not everyone is you, wants to be you, or thinks you're all that. But thank you anyway.
jrajav 14y ago
I would probably like participating in something like this, but it's not really an option being on-site. Seems like it's geared towards students on summer leave, and not those who may already have a job or other obligations.
- nicholasjbs 14y ago
  The majority of our students are in their 20s and 30s (with a few more in their late teens or 40s or 50s), and aren't current undergrads (e.g., less than 10% of our summer 2012 batch were current undergrads). Most people who do Hacker School take a sabbatical or quit their jobs to do it.
- lfranchi 14y ago
  I quit my software engineer job to attend Hacker School (Fall 2012). Undoubtedly the best decision I have made in the last 3 + years. I am now once again working as a software engineer, and would not trade those 3 months at HS for anything.
  - jrajav 14y ago
    Thanks for the anecdote! I may actually consider it.
    - lfranchi 14y ago
      Awesome! I'm happy to go on at (much) further length about why it's so awesome and why you and any hacker absolutely should consider it. Feel free to shoot me an email @gmail.com if you have any questions!
      - jrajav 14y ago
        Sent it off! Hopefully I guessed right.
- dschobel 14y ago
  +1. Another ex-professional dev (for +6 years) who left to do Hacker School here. A lot of the students seem to have at least a few years of experience under their belt but it totally runs the gamut; you'll meet everything from people a few months into the hacking pursuit to people with decades of experience. And yes, it's a staggeringly amazing program. :)
zozu 14y ago
I laughed at the I'm a women checkbox.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mel9 14y ago
hey this hackerschool looks pretty cool. I see that their is a checkbox for "I am a woman" though. I am a high school-er that goes to vocational school for software engineering. I also happen to be a girl. I'm not so sure about putting a checkbox of "I'm a woman". It might turn that group away and I don't even like the idea of it too much. I'd rather have people see me more than just a gender.
- jacalata 14y ago
  Would it make you more comfortable to have it just be a radio button for M|F?* Did you read through the FAQ or play with the checkbox enough to realise that they ask this because they have scholarships that are only available to women? Or are you uncomfortable with the concept of affirmative action in general? (Possible fix: have a checkbox 'I am eligible for a scholarship and would like to apply for one'. Automatically reject from the school anyone who turns out to have checked this without being eligible.) *ignoring any possible issues with presenting gender as binary there
- graue 14y ago
  Pretty sure that's only asked because they offer need-based scholarships to women. If you don't need the scholarship, you could probably leave that unchecked if it makes you feel more comfortable. The blog post announcing the scholarships states explicitly that there's no other special treatment: "We're not going to lower the bar for female applicants. ... Women will be judged on the exact same scale as men. We think to do otherwise would be insulting and counterproductive. We care a lot about getting more women into Hacker School, but we won't do it at the expense of the quality of the batch." - from https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications-open https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications... I'm in the current Hacker School batch (which is awesome), and can vouch that the above seems 100% true. On the whole, as a group, the women are every bit as smart, as experienced, and doing as cool things as the guys are. As a result, no one has to think much about gender - we just hack. I hope your concerns don't hold you back from applying.
orangethirty 14y ago
Those who want something like hacker school but can't attend it should shoot me an email. I know of a program that is online only and is very similar.
- cglee 14y ago
  Like this? http://www.gotealeaf.com http://www.gotealeaf.com (disclaimer, I'm an instructor)
  - orangethirty 14y ago
    I can't comment on that particular option. But it does resemble the format. Dunno in terms of cost because the link you provide does not mention it. If you could share that information then it would allow others to compare.
    - cglee 14y ago
      It's in the FAQ section.
  - duaneb 14y ago
    That's only for ruby webapps, so not exactly a replacement for Hacker School.
    - orangethirty 14y ago
      In contrast the one I mention uses different languages. But if you are looking to be a rails dev that one is not a bad choice. And it's we priced.
tempestn 14y ago
I've been reading too much HN. For a good 4 second my brain interpreted Apply as made up app-maker startup domain name type thing. App.ly!

64 points by andrelaszlo 14y ago

saiko-chriskun 14y ago

how many applicants does hacker school actually get?

nicholasjbs 14y ago
(Hacker School founder here) It's varied a good amount by batch, but for our past couple batches, we've gotten a few hundred. That said, I don't think looking at raw numbers is particularly useful, because many (most?) of the people we say no to fall into one of these categories: * the applicant says he/she wants something very different from what Hacker School is (e.g., a highly structured curriculum, some sort of "startup school", etc) * the applicant has never programmed before (we don't require much programming experience, but you need to have coded enough to know if you actually enjoy it. See: https://www.hackerschool.com/faq#faq-how-much-experience https://www.hackerschool.com/faq#faq-how-much-experience) * the applicant doesn't appear to actually like programming * the applicant didn't take the application seriously, or provided little to no information in the application If you have a clear idea of what Hacker School is and you're a smart and friendly person who enjoys programming (whether you've been programming for two months or ten years) and want to get dramatically better, your odds of getting in are pretty high. I hope this helps! Edited to fix formatting
- saiko-chriskun 14y ago
  awesome thanks :). I really want to apply one of these days, just need the money and time to get out to new york for three months hehe.

jerrya 14y ago

I am flagging this. I am flagging this precisely because I believe the Hacker School experience is valuable and yet you offer a sexist and discriminatory grant to women. Hacker School is valuable due to the experiences, the education, and the networking opportunities. Do you offer scholarships for living expenses? We offer a limited number of $5,000 need-based grants for women to do Hacker School. You can apply for a grant simply by checking the box that you need financial assistance on our application form. It is within your rights to offer this grant. But I see no reason why your sexist bullshit should be advertised without complaint at Hacker News. Would you feel comfortable offering such a sexist grant to men only? Do you feel comfortable about traditional "old boys networks", the existence of such were one valid reason that women's groups protested men's only clubs, men's only dining rooms, etc.? They why do you perpetuate sexism within the industry? Either your students need financial aid or they don't. I have a similar aged nephew and a niece that would benefit from Hacker School, but you will only enable one of these people to attend. That's sexism, and that's not the fault of patriarchy, nor the fault of male engineers, that's Hacker School bullshit. So I flagged this.

DigitalTurk 14y ago
> It is within your rights to offer this grant. But I see no reason why your sexist bullshit should be advertised without complaint at Hacker News. Apparently you think this is (i) sexist but (ii) within their right to do. That's unusual… even if you believe this, why would you bring it up? > Do you feel comfortable about traditional "old boys networks", the existence of such were one valid reason that women's groups protested men's only clubs, men's only dining rooms, etc.? This is so over the top—I don't know what to say. My understanding is it's still mostly men who attend Hacker School. It's like a group of men saying 'fuck, we turned into an old boys network. let's give out grants to gifted women so they can join us'. And here you—a man—are protesting outside. > They why do you perpetuate sexism within the industry? Is sexism against guys a problem in the industry now? Or do you think this will increase sexism against women too? If so, you should have argued why that's the case (or at least mentioned that that's what you mean). > I have a similar aged nephew and a niece that would benefit from Hacker School, but you will only enable one of these people to attend. I'd love to attend but I find it too expensive. I'm not complaining about this grant though. I think it's great! I absolutely hate that there are few women in the IT industry in the Western world. --- addendum > Either your students need financial aid or they don't. I think this misses a point. Hacker School is throwing opportunities at people. That's awesome because people need opportunities to succeed in life. However, Hacker School does not have an obligation to give opportunities to everyone—that's just not possible. What they are doing with these grants, however, is identifying a group that has trouble succeeding in the IT industry in the Western world (most female programmers I know are Chinese) and throwing extra opportunities at this group. That's awesome because if this group is underperforming then the most obvious way to fix that is to throw extra opportunities at them! In fact, there's an argument that the very reason they're underperforming as a group in the first place is because they have trouble identifying opportunities in the first place. E.g. because they're told girls don't have the right kind of brain for IT, because they feel intimidated by the men IT, etcetera. All the more it makes sense to give extra grants for women!
- jerrya 14y ago
  "Apparently you think this is (i) sexist but (ii) within their right to do. That's unusual… even if you believe this, why would you bring it up?" Basically, I think "we" have a right to freedom of association. And so many distasteful behaviors, like sexism, are legal, but should not be tolerated nor encouraged. Hacker School may be within their legal rights to offer discriminatory grants. The Boy Scouts are apparently allowed to discriminate against gays. I dislike these policies of both organizations and will protest both even as I generally wish the organizations themselves well and acknowledge the good they try to do. Is sexism against guys a problem in the industry now? Sexism is sexism. Don't rationalize it. Don't tolerate it. Don't encourage it. I'd love to attend but I find it too expensive. I'm not complaining about this grant though. I think it's great! I absolutely hate that there are few women in the IT industry in the Western world. Kenehora. You are zazen. Everyone should be you. You sound like a true bootstrapper, a self-made man that needs no help from others. Corollary, not everyone is you, wants to be you, or thinks you're all that. But thank you anyway.

jrajav 14y ago

I would probably like participating in something like this, but it's not really an option being on-site. Seems like it's geared towards students on summer leave, and not those who may already have a job or other obligations.

nicholasjbs 14y ago
The majority of our students are in their 20s and 30s (with a few more in their late teens or 40s or 50s), and aren't current undergrads (e.g., less than 10% of our summer 2012 batch were current undergrads). Most people who do Hacker School take a sabbatical or quit their jobs to do it.
lfranchi 14y ago
I quit my software engineer job to attend Hacker School (Fall 2012). Undoubtedly the best decision I have made in the last 3 + years. I am now once again working as a software engineer, and would not trade those 3 months at HS for anything.
- jrajav 14y ago
  Thanks for the anecdote! I may actually consider it.
  - lfranchi 14y ago
    Awesome! I'm happy to go on at (much) further length about why it's so awesome and why you and any hacker absolutely should consider it. Feel free to shoot me an email @gmail.com if you have any questions!
    - jrajav 14y ago
      Sent it off! Hopefully I guessed right.
dschobel 14y ago
+1. Another ex-professional dev (for +6 years) who left to do Hacker School here. A lot of the students seem to have at least a few years of experience under their belt but it totally runs the gamut; you'll meet everything from people a few months into the hacking pursuit to people with decades of experience. And yes, it's a staggeringly amazing program. :)

zozu 14y ago

I laughed at the I'm a women checkbox.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

mel9 14y ago

hey this hackerschool looks pretty cool. I see that their is a checkbox for "I am a woman" though. I am a high school-er that goes to vocational school for software engineering. I also happen to be a girl. I'm not so sure about putting a checkbox of "I'm a woman". It might turn that group away and I don't even like the idea of it too much. I'd rather have people see me more than just a gender.

jacalata 14y ago
Would it make you more comfortable to have it just be a radio button for M|F?* Did you read through the FAQ or play with the checkbox enough to realise that they ask this because they have scholarships that are only available to women? Or are you uncomfortable with the concept of affirmative action in general? (Possible fix: have a checkbox 'I am eligible for a scholarship and would like to apply for one'. Automatically reject from the school anyone who turns out to have checked this without being eligible.) *ignoring any possible issues with presenting gender as binary there
graue 14y ago
Pretty sure that's only asked because they offer need-based scholarships to women. If you don't need the scholarship, you could probably leave that unchecked if it makes you feel more comfortable. The blog post announcing the scholarships states explicitly that there's no other special treatment: "We're not going to lower the bar for female applicants. ... Women will be judged on the exact same scale as men. We think to do otherwise would be insulting and counterproductive. We care a lot about getting more women into Hacker School, but we won't do it at the expense of the quality of the batch." - from https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications-open https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/1-summer-2012-applications... I'm in the current Hacker School batch (which is awesome), and can vouch that the above seems 100% true. On the whole, as a group, the women are every bit as smart, as experienced, and doing as cool things as the guys are. As a result, no one has to think much about gender - we just hack. I hope your concerns don't hold you back from applying.

orangethirty 14y ago

Those who want something like hacker school but can't attend it should shoot me an email. I know of a program that is online only and is very similar.

cglee 14y ago
Like this? http://www.gotealeaf.com http://www.gotealeaf.com (disclaimer, I'm an instructor)
- orangethirty 14y ago
  I can't comment on that particular option. But it does resemble the format. Dunno in terms of cost because the link you provide does not mention it. If you could share that information then it would allow others to compare.
  - cglee 14y ago
    It's in the FAQ section.
- duaneb 14y ago
  That's only for ruby webapps, so not exactly a replacement for Hacker School.
  - orangethirty 14y ago
    In contrast the one I mention uses different languages. But if you are looking to be a rails dev that one is not a bad choice. And it's we priced.

tempestn 14y ago

I've been reading too much HN. For a good 4 second my brain interpreted Apply as made up app-maker startup domain name type thing. App.ly!