5 ms·

Help me surprise Catherine

112 points by codysan 12y ago

sarreph 12y ago
Have you exhausted all possible scholarship options? Try a curveball approach at The Flaitron (I'm sure you may have already, though) and anywhere else where educational funding may be available. I didn't think I'd be able to make it to a WWDC scholarship from the UK until I went past the usual funding bureaucracy at my university and went directly to the head of dpt who was kind enough to authorise a bursary for me. I don't think money should ever hold people back people skilled and intelligent enough from the educational resources and creative outlets they can use to the full to prosper. It's one of the tragedies of our time. I wish you all the best!
- codysan 12y ago
  She has been emailing Adam, the president of The Flatiron School about it. There is a $750 discount off the tuition, which she would qualify for, as well as a payment plan where 50% of the tuition is due up front, with the remaining 50% due over 6 months after graduating. I'm not sure if she is 100% eligible for that, but that would certainly make things much easier. I agree that it is sad that money is what holds people back. It's a cruel system that I can't wait to see ripped to shreds by new & easier access to education. I appreciate the kind words! :)
  - msellout 12y ago
    You could also try something like pave.com or upstart.com
  - notajuggalo 12y ago
    Easier access to education? $12k for 3 months is not easier access to education. That's just silly. Start with Paul Hegarty's iOS class on iTunes U, it's free and it's terrific. Do all the assignments (if you get stuck you can find other people who have done them and see what they did but I really recommend doing it yourself.) Sign up for NSScreencast.com and watch 1 or 2 a day, taking notes. Go read as much Ray Wenderlich stuff as you can that's not dated (some of the stuff on his site's kinda old, but no matter.) Then build an app and put it in the app store, it can be lame but you have built so many practice ones it's good to actually get something in the App Store. Go read some stuff at objc.io, some stack overflow, whatever. You are now an entry-level iOS developer. I just saved you $12,000 and you don't have to beg strangers on the internet for donations. Seriously, $12,000? I guess it's true: the best way to get rich in a gold rush/bubble is selling pickaxes. There are enough great resources out there that you are silly if you do this.
    - codysan 12y ago
      I was saying how $12k for the education is NOT easy. Thank you for the tips. I will certainly pass them on (as well as read up myself!). I mentioned this in a reply to you a little lower, but I'm not trying to beg here; I am offering design services, and she is selling hand-sewn stuff on Etsy.
      - smallfluffycat 12y ago
        come on, you and I know you want people to click on donation button
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  > I don't think money should ever hold people back people skilled and intelligent enough from the educational resources and creative outlets they can use to the full to prosper. They don't. Skilled and intelligent people with an internet connection have all the educational resources they need at their fingertips. For free.
  - rtpg 12y ago
    You really shouldn't underestimate the value of having a skilled person in front of you to have a conversation with (that is why people pay consultants to tell them things they could find online).
    - larrys 12y ago
      Agree. Not to mention the connections that you make by being in close proximity to other like minded individuals. With respect to consultants the other dimension is the consultant presumably has judgement which they can apply from all the information that they have accumulated over the years. Things that you read online don't have judgement. Although I guess if you want to spend an inordinate amount of time reading absolutely everything you may come somewhat close to being able to triangulate a close approximation. (Actually, no I don't think that is the case with many things..)
Rakathos 12y ago
Just bought a makeup bag from her Etsy shop that my girlfriend is sure to love. Good luck!
- codysan 12y ago
  You are the best! Funny story: she set up that Etsy a couple days before visiting her family in Florida, and actually lugged her sewing machine on the plane just so she was able to take any orders while away. Just to give a glimpse of how great she is, hah.
muyuu 12y ago
Woha $12000 for a semester? things are getting out of hand...
piratebroadcast 12y ago
I used Upstart.com to fund thoughtbots Rails program. I highly suggest looking in to that. Also, youre an awesome boyfriend. Good luck, dude. Wife that girl up.
- codysan 12y ago
  Woah, looking into that now. Thanks! And I'm just playing catch-up for all the things she's done with me. (and I'm working on that wifing thing)
  - smoyer 12y ago
    I'm a big fan of wifing the right person when you find them but ... your implication is that you live your lives in ways designed to make each other fulfilled and happy. Never stop doing that. It's that important. Good luck from a happily married man (almost 27 years). Now I need to deliver tea in bed.
notajuggalo 12y ago
If it's a good investment in her career she should just go get a loan. Alternatively, if she has a passion for programming and the skills you say she does she can take 12 weeks of her own time and learn to be an entry-level iOS developer for a lot less than $12k. Begging is unseemly, and the whole "you can be a programmer in 3 months just give me $12k" thing is also kind of uncool.
- karmajunkie 12y ago
  I don't think you read the page clearly. She's already a programmer; she's trying to accelerate her learning process. Which frankly is worth the $12k, but getting an uncollateralized loan for that kind of thing can be difficult.
  - piratebroadcast 12y ago
    Fuck the haters. Keep it up! You should use twitter to reach out to writers at Mashable, Fast Company, etc and tell them this story. This story has feel-good written all over it.
    - codysan 12y ago
      Thank you! I'm gonna try and reach out to some tech bloggers and see what happens. Official accounts of Mashable, Fast Company, etc seem to just tweet their articles, with no @replies ever.
    - smallfluffycat 12y ago
      don't feed the begger
  - notajuggalo 12y ago
    If you're a programmer and you have 3 months of time to work at this full-time you can accelerate your learning process without paying $12k. I laid out a free plan in a post above. I know it works because that's what I did.
romanovcode 12y ago
If I give her money will she give me returns as profit with 20%+ of my sum after she graduates and starts making 100k?
- LogicX 12y ago
  You just described https://www.upstart.com/ https://www.upstart.com/ which is something she could consider.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
Splendor 12y ago
> There’s four ways to help Should be "There are four ways to help".
- codysan 12y ago
  Oops, fixed! Thank you!
rurabe 12y ago
She's very lucky to have you. Have you heard of Hacker School in NY? Not only is it free, I think they offer $5k grants for female programmers who need living expenses. Generally the candidates for Hacker School and DBC/Flatiron don't overlap much, but if she's a programmer who's just moving to a new language, it might be worth looking in to.
- rurabe 12y ago
  Link would probably help https://www.hackerschool.com/ https://www.hackerschool.com/
- codysan 12y ago
  She applied to Hacker School back in December, but unfortunately she was not accepted. I didn't know about that $5k grant though, that is pretty amazing!
  - eshyong 12y ago
    Did she try reapplying? They're accepting Summer applicants right now.
- microjesus 12y ago
  It would be interesting to see the outrage if a school offered a "male only" scholarship.
  - microjesus 12y ago
    Downvoted? From a woman. Point Made.
    - wglb 12y ago
      Don't complain about being downvoted. It is in the guidelines.
wayanon 12y ago
Hi Cody - good luck with the fundraising. Wouldn't it be ironic if you and Catherine ended up developing a site/app to help thousands of others worldwide to fund their college courses? Kickstarter for education - perhaps it exists already?....
- morgante 12y ago
  upstart.com and pave.com are similar in concept to that.
andymoe 12y ago
Wow. Best of luck to both of your but I have to say a dev boot camp for iOS is the last thing I would ever consider spending 12k on even when I was just learning Objective-C. Now blowing 12k on a trip overseas together after a 2 year long distance relationship... that's something that I could get behind. That said, please please make sure the class sizes are very small and the instructor ratio is like 1:5 max. You will be paying a premium and if they put you in with 30 other people or even 15 (60k/month for them btw) you are just getting ripped off. For 12k you could hire an experienced iOS dev to teach you this stuff in a couple hours a week. Even if Catherine paid 125/hr (and I bet someone would do it for less for the hell of it) that's still almost 100 hours of 1:1 time. Just food for thought. I'll donate anyway in hopes you take a nice vacation :) PS. My friends website of as many tech schools as he could find says the rails program @ Flatiron has 32 people to a course - http://schools.techendo.co http://schools.techendo.co
- dpweb 12y ago
  32 x $12k. 4 months. Medicine? No, iOS programming. Note to self: Start Tech school.
chasing 12y ago
If the community puts up $12k for Catherine to attend this program (which, to echo other sentiments, seems really expensive for a three month iOS intensive given what's available out there for free, both content and community)... If that happens, Catherine should -- after she's graduated and is making a nice income (which she will be, as an iOS developer) -- pass it along and give $12k back to help the community somehow. Give it to a program in NYC that's helping give underprivileged kids access to technology, for example. That would seem fair to me. It does seem a little weird to beg for donations so someone who already seems pretty smart and well-connected can further their career a bit (in an expensive way -- see above) when there are so many ways $12k can be used to really change someone's life. Or many people's lives.
- balls187 12y ago
  This is love. Not begging. Catherine isn't asking. Her boyfriend is, and he's doing it without her knowledge (presumably). He wants to support his girlfriend and her passion for iOS development, and he's asking for help from people who might feel some empathy. I received some scholarships & grants to go to college, I suppose that means I'm obligated to create my own scholarship fund?
  - 001sky 12y ago
    Comparing a (presumably) merit scholarship with a 'cute' boy/girl favour seems misleading here. IMHO better 'gift' from the community might be an interest free loan. That is worth some $$ (600-1200/yr) and solves a real need. Paying it forward is still optional.
    - balls187 12y ago
      I was merely pointing out that it's absurb to think that donations should only be given in a Quid Pro Quo fashion. > Comparing a (presumably) merit[1] scholarship Is skin color a merit? I'm sure that's how I got my scholarships. Are being born with rich white* parents a merit? * Neither rich, nor white.
  - larrys 12y ago
caycep 12y ago
A couple of thoughts: 1) What is the educational value of a course at Flatiron School - is there any accreditation? 2) What are the other options: graduate program at good program (Stanford, UW Seattle, Berkeley, or if NYC, why not check out the NYU digital arts program or the new Cornell initiative that Bloomberg has been touting)? Internship or entry level job into Google or another organization that has good mentorship? Granted, these may be even harder to get into, since competition is w/ CS majors from stanford/mit... Just my thoughts musing out loud, not actually in the CS field, but it's interesting to ask - what's a good steppingstone for a young person just out of college into a CS-related job?
smallfluffycat 12y ago
crappy e-begging
tomc1985 12y ago
I'd be nauseated if I found my picture plastered all over one of those flavor-of-the-month scrolly sites...
warmwaffles 12y ago
Mind sharing some of her works? I'd like to see what she's done before considering donating.
dpweb 12y ago
$12k, 4 months! Wow. Sucks to be in college nowadays. This guy (along with being boyfriend-of-the-year apparently) has the right idea. Ignore these people. Debt === slavery! You are doing the right thing. (Only #3 of his approach is begging. #1 & #2 are advertising) People get really angered at begging lately it seems.. p.s.. I'd say to give back to the "community", just make an app like watsi or something, and not spend your life's work finding more efficient ways to find people to f--k within a 10 mile radius..
- f0nd004u 12y ago
  It's not college. It's "hacker school". Lots of these out there advertising that they'll take you from zero skill to web/mobile developer in 3-4 months.
pkfields 12y ago
I think as a boyfriend that is really sweet. Forget what she should or shouldn't be studying or where, you are being incredibly supportive.
noonespecial 12y ago
I really hate when people ask for help or advice achieving a certain goal and what they get in response is a bunch of yap about how they shouldn't want to do that in the first place. But I dislike stuff like "The Flatiron School" even more so. I want to help you and Catherine. I remember too well driving junk-yard cars for days straight only to spend a few hours with my long-distance[1] because plane tickets were impossibly out of reach. The others are right though: I'd sooner donate to send you guys on a cruise than essentially give money to the "Flatiron" folks. I know that seems entirely unhelpful. Sorry. [1] I did marry her in the end and that sweet suffering has become part of our collective mythology, now imparted to our own wide-eyed children. Succeed or fail, you're doing the awesome part right now.
unicornporn 12y ago
I don't think putting up a .com and making it to the front page of Hacker News will make this much of a surprise. Open source projects need money (hello OpenSSL) and children are dying. Paying for someone's Objective-C/Xcode tuition isn't my number-one priority at this time. Perhaps someone else will swallow the bait.
- balls187 12y ago
  And just how much have you donated to Save the Children & open source?
  - tdsamardzhiev 12y ago
    5-numbers. And yes, this e-beg cr*p shouldn't be on HN.
steele 12y ago
If you like it, promote it; if you don't, just flag it. (I flagged it because this isn't content or discussion)
microjesus 12y ago
This culture of begging is really starting to get to me. I'm all for helping non-profits, and those that cannot help themselves. Student loans if it's that important, guy.
jonathanjaeger 12y ago
How is this begging? You don't have to donate, you can hire him as a designer. And he's offering a discount. If you A) need a designer B) want to help him and his girlfriend out, that's an added bonus. People "donate" on Kickstarter when they pledge money to a project without pledging enough for a full reward, but we don't consider that begging. It's patronage. Not everything has to be black and white where if you give $5 here that means you're a bad person because there's someone less fortunate out there who could have used the money. If you think it's not worth it, then donate elsewhere.
CesareBorgia 12y ago
Disclaimer: I help run App Academy You may want to look into our program (http://appacademy.io http://appacademy.io). Students only pay us if they find jobs as developers after the program. In that case, the fee is 18% of your first year salary, payable over the first 6 months after you start working. It's web focused, not iOS focused, but we do have a strong emphasis on fundamentals, and grads have often picked up iOS on the job within a few months.
christiangenco 12y ago
Unless I've missed a major price crash, Will's 1 BTC donation[1] is worth substantially more than $43. 1. http://imgur.com/zAqhqTk http://imgur.com/zAqhqTk

112 points by codysan 12y ago

Have you exhausted all possible scholarship options? Try a curveball approach at The Flaitron (I'm sure you may have already, though) and anywhere else where educational funding may be available. I didn't think I'd be able to make it to a WWDC scholarship from the UK until I went past the usual funding bureaucracy at my university and went directly to the head of dpt who was kind enough to authorise a bursary for me. I don't think money should ever hold people back people skilled and intelligent enough from the educational resources and creative outlets they can use to the full to prosper. It's one of the tragedies of our time. I wish you all the best!

codysan 12y ago
She has been emailing Adam, the president of The Flatiron School about it. There is a $750 discount off the tuition, which she would qualify for, as well as a payment plan where 50% of the tuition is due up front, with the remaining 50% due over 6 months after graduating. I'm not sure if she is 100% eligible for that, but that would certainly make things much easier. I agree that it is sad that money is what holds people back. It's a cruel system that I can't wait to see ripped to shreds by new & easier access to education. I appreciate the kind words! :)
- msellout 12y ago
  You could also try something like pave.com or upstart.com
- notajuggalo 12y ago
  Easier access to education? $12k for 3 months is not easier access to education. That's just silly. Start with Paul Hegarty's iOS class on iTunes U, it's free and it's terrific. Do all the assignments (if you get stuck you can find other people who have done them and see what they did but I really recommend doing it yourself.) Sign up for NSScreencast.com and watch 1 or 2 a day, taking notes. Go read as much Ray Wenderlich stuff as you can that's not dated (some of the stuff on his site's kinda old, but no matter.) Then build an app and put it in the app store, it can be lame but you have built so many practice ones it's good to actually get something in the App Store. Go read some stuff at objc.io, some stack overflow, whatever. You are now an entry-level iOS developer. I just saved you $12,000 and you don't have to beg strangers on the internet for donations. Seriously, $12,000? I guess it's true: the best way to get rich in a gold rush/bubble is selling pickaxes. There are enough great resources out there that you are silly if you do this.
  - codysan 12y ago
    I was saying how $12k for the education is NOT easy. Thank you for the tips. I will certainly pass them on (as well as read up myself!). I mentioned this in a reply to you a little lower, but I'm not trying to beg here; I am offering design services, and she is selling hand-sewn stuff on Etsy.
    - smallfluffycat 12y ago
      come on, you and I know you want people to click on donation button
stefantalpalaru 12y ago
> I don't think money should ever hold people back people skilled and intelligent enough from the educational resources and creative outlets they can use to the full to prosper. They don't. Skilled and intelligent people with an internet connection have all the educational resources they need at their fingertips. For free.
- rtpg 12y ago
  You really shouldn't underestimate the value of having a skilled person in front of you to have a conversation with (that is why people pay consultants to tell them things they could find online).
  - larrys 12y ago
    Agree. Not to mention the connections that you make by being in close proximity to other like minded individuals. With respect to consultants the other dimension is the consultant presumably has judgement which they can apply from all the information that they have accumulated over the years. Things that you read online don't have judgement. Although I guess if you want to spend an inordinate amount of time reading absolutely everything you may come somewhat close to being able to triangulate a close approximation. (Actually, no I don't think that is the case with many things..)

Rakathos 12y ago

Just bought a makeup bag from her Etsy shop that my girlfriend is sure to love. Good luck!

codysan 12y ago
You are the best! Funny story: she set up that Etsy a couple days before visiting her family in Florida, and actually lugged her sewing machine on the plane just so she was able to take any orders while away. Just to give a glimpse of how great she is, hah.

muyuu 12y ago

Woha $12000 for a semester? things are getting out of hand...

piratebroadcast 12y ago

I used Upstart.com to fund thoughtbots Rails program. I highly suggest looking in to that. Also, youre an awesome boyfriend. Good luck, dude. Wife that girl up.

codysan 12y ago
Woah, looking into that now. Thanks! And I'm just playing catch-up for all the things she's done with me. (and I'm working on that wifing thing)
- smoyer 12y ago
  I'm a big fan of wifing the right person when you find them but ... your implication is that you live your lives in ways designed to make each other fulfilled and happy. Never stop doing that. It's that important. Good luck from a happily married man (almost 27 years). Now I need to deliver tea in bed.

notajuggalo 12y ago

If it's a good investment in her career she should just go get a loan. Alternatively, if she has a passion for programming and the skills you say she does she can take 12 weeks of her own time and learn to be an entry-level iOS developer for a lot less than $12k. Begging is unseemly, and the whole "you can be a programmer in 3 months just give me $12k" thing is also kind of uncool.

karmajunkie 12y ago
I don't think you read the page clearly. She's already a programmer; she's trying to accelerate her learning process. Which frankly is worth the $12k, but getting an uncollateralized loan for that kind of thing can be difficult.
- piratebroadcast 12y ago
  Fuck the haters. Keep it up! You should use twitter to reach out to writers at Mashable, Fast Company, etc and tell them this story. This story has feel-good written all over it.
  - codysan 12y ago
    Thank you! I'm gonna try and reach out to some tech bloggers and see what happens. Official accounts of Mashable, Fast Company, etc seem to just tweet their articles, with no @replies ever.
  - smallfluffycat 12y ago
    don't feed the begger
- notajuggalo 12y ago
  If you're a programmer and you have 3 months of time to work at this full-time you can accelerate your learning process without paying $12k. I laid out a free plan in a post above. I know it works because that's what I did.

romanovcode 12y ago

If I give her money will she give me returns as profit with 20%+ of my sum after she graduates and starts making 100k?

LogicX 12y ago
You just described https://www.upstart.com/ https://www.upstart.com/ which is something she could consider.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

Splendor 12y ago

> There’s four ways to help Should be "There are four ways to help".

codysan 12y ago
Oops, fixed! Thank you!

rurabe 12y ago

She's very lucky to have you. Have you heard of Hacker School in NY? Not only is it free, I think they offer $5k grants for female programmers who need living expenses. Generally the candidates for Hacker School and DBC/Flatiron don't overlap much, but if she's a programmer who's just moving to a new language, it might be worth looking in to.

rurabe 12y ago
Link would probably help https://www.hackerschool.com/ https://www.hackerschool.com/
codysan 12y ago
She applied to Hacker School back in December, but unfortunately she was not accepted. I didn't know about that $5k grant though, that is pretty amazing!
- eshyong 12y ago
  Did she try reapplying? They're accepting Summer applicants right now.
microjesus 12y ago
It would be interesting to see the outrage if a school offered a "male only" scholarship.
- microjesus 12y ago
  Downvoted? From a woman. Point Made.
  - wglb 12y ago
    Don't complain about being downvoted. It is in the guidelines.

wayanon 12y ago

Hi Cody - good luck with the fundraising. Wouldn't it be ironic if you and Catherine ended up developing a site/app to help thousands of others worldwide to fund their college courses? Kickstarter for education - perhaps it exists already?....

morgante 12y ago
upstart.com and pave.com are similar in concept to that.

andymoe 12y ago

Wow. Best of luck to both of your but I have to say a dev boot camp for iOS is the last thing I would ever consider spending 12k on even when I was just learning Objective-C. Now blowing 12k on a trip overseas together after a 2 year long distance relationship... that's something that I could get behind. That said, please please make sure the class sizes are very small and the instructor ratio is like 1:5 max. You will be paying a premium and if they put you in with 30 other people or even 15 (60k/month for them btw) you are just getting ripped off. For 12k you could hire an experienced iOS dev to teach you this stuff in a couple hours a week. Even if Catherine paid 125/hr (and I bet someone would do it for less for the hell of it) that's still almost 100 hours of 1:1 time. Just food for thought. I'll donate anyway in hopes you take a nice vacation :) PS. My friends website of as many tech schools as he could find says the rails program @ Flatiron has 32 people to a course - http://schools.techendo.co http://schools.techendo.co

dpweb 12y ago
32 x $12k. 4 months. Medicine? No, iOS programming. Note to self: Start Tech school.

chasing 12y ago

If the community puts up $12k for Catherine to attend this program (which, to echo other sentiments, seems really expensive for a three month iOS intensive given what's available out there for free, both content and community)... If that happens, Catherine should -- after she's graduated and is making a nice income (which she will be, as an iOS developer) -- pass it along and give $12k back to help the community somehow. Give it to a program in NYC that's helping give underprivileged kids access to technology, for example. That would seem fair to me. It does seem a little weird to beg for donations so someone who already seems pretty smart and well-connected can further their career a bit (in an expensive way -- see above) when there are so many ways $12k can be used to really change someone's life. Or many people's lives.

balls187 12y ago
This is love. Not begging. Catherine isn't asking. Her boyfriend is, and he's doing it without her knowledge (presumably). He wants to support his girlfriend and her passion for iOS development, and he's asking for help from people who might feel some empathy. I received some scholarships & grants to go to college, I suppose that means I'm obligated to create my own scholarship fund?
- 001sky 12y ago
  Comparing a (presumably) merit scholarship with a 'cute' boy/girl favour seems misleading here. IMHO better 'gift' from the community might be an interest free loan. That is worth some $$ (600-1200/yr) and solves a real need. Paying it forward is still optional.
  - balls187 12y ago
    I was merely pointing out that it's absurb to think that donations should only be given in a Quid Pro Quo fashion. > Comparing a (presumably) merit[1] scholarship Is skin color a merit? I'm sure that's how I got my scholarships. Are being born with rich white* parents a merit? * Neither rich, nor white.
- larrys 12y ago

caycep 12y ago

A couple of thoughts: 1) What is the educational value of a course at Flatiron School - is there any accreditation? 2) What are the other options: graduate program at good program (Stanford, UW Seattle, Berkeley, or if NYC, why not check out the NYU digital arts program or the new Cornell initiative that Bloomberg has been touting)? Internship or entry level job into Google or another organization that has good mentorship? Granted, these may be even harder to get into, since competition is w/ CS majors from stanford/mit... Just my thoughts musing out loud, not actually in the CS field, but it's interesting to ask - what's a good steppingstone for a young person just out of college into a CS-related job?

smallfluffycat 12y ago

crappy e-begging

tomc1985 12y ago

I'd be nauseated if I found my picture plastered all over one of those flavor-of-the-month scrolly sites...

warmwaffles 12y ago

Mind sharing some of her works? I'd like to see what she's done before considering donating.

dpweb 12y ago

$12k, 4 months! Wow. Sucks to be in college nowadays. This guy (along with being boyfriend-of-the-year apparently) has the right idea. Ignore these people. Debt === slavery! You are doing the right thing. (Only #3 of his approach is begging. #1 & #2 are advertising) People get really angered at begging lately it seems.. p.s.. I'd say to give back to the "community", just make an app like watsi or something, and not spend your life's work finding more efficient ways to find people to f--k within a 10 mile radius..

f0nd004u 12y ago
It's not college. It's "hacker school". Lots of these out there advertising that they'll take you from zero skill to web/mobile developer in 3-4 months.

pkfields 12y ago

I think as a boyfriend that is really sweet. Forget what she should or shouldn't be studying or where, you are being incredibly supportive.

noonespecial 12y ago

I really hate when people ask for help or advice achieving a certain goal and what they get in response is a bunch of yap about how they shouldn't want to do that in the first place. But I dislike stuff like "The Flatiron School" even more so. I want to help you and Catherine. I remember too well driving junk-yard cars for days straight only to spend a few hours with my long-distance[1] because plane tickets were impossibly out of reach. The others are right though: I'd sooner donate to send you guys on a cruise than essentially give money to the "Flatiron" folks. I know that seems entirely unhelpful. Sorry. [1] I did marry her in the end and that sweet suffering has become part of our collective mythology, now imparted to our own wide-eyed children. Succeed or fail, you're doing the awesome part right now.

unicornporn 12y ago

I don't think putting up a .com and making it to the front page of Hacker News will make this much of a surprise. Open source projects need money (hello OpenSSL) and children are dying. Paying for someone's Objective-C/Xcode tuition isn't my number-one priority at this time. Perhaps someone else will swallow the bait.

balls187 12y ago
And just how much have you donated to Save the Children & open source?
- tdsamardzhiev 12y ago
  5-numbers. And yes, this e-beg cr*p shouldn't be on HN.

steele 12y ago

If you like it, promote it; if you don't, just flag it. (I flagged it because this isn't content or discussion)

microjesus 12y ago

This culture of begging is really starting to get to me. I'm all for helping non-profits, and those that cannot help themselves. Student loans if it's that important, guy.

jonathanjaeger 12y ago

How is this begging? You don't have to donate, you can hire him as a designer. And he's offering a discount. If you A) need a designer B) want to help him and his girlfriend out, that's an added bonus. People "donate" on Kickstarter when they pledge money to a project without pledging enough for a full reward, but we don't consider that begging. It's patronage. Not everything has to be black and white where if you give $5 here that means you're a bad person because there's someone less fortunate out there who could have used the money. If you think it's not worth it, then donate elsewhere.

CesareBorgia 12y ago

Disclaimer: I help run App Academy You may want to look into our program (http://appacademy.io http://appacademy.io). Students only pay us if they find jobs as developers after the program. In that case, the fee is 18% of your first year salary, payable over the first 6 months after you start working. It's web focused, not iOS focused, but we do have a strong emphasis on fundamentals, and grads have often picked up iOS on the job within a few months.

christiangenco 12y ago

Unless I've missed a major price crash, Will's 1 BTC donation[1] is worth substantially more than $43. 1. http://imgur.com/zAqhqTk http://imgur.com/zAqhqTk