
Five Years of Recurse Center - peruvian
https://www.recurse.com/five-years
======
adwhit
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
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
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!

------
richardburton
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.

------
dynamicdispatch
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.

~~~
pgbovine
(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
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.

------
pnathan
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!

~~~
nepstein
Just to clarify, there is no direct cost associated with RC. It is free to
attend for all participants. Grants, for those who qualify, are for living
expenses.

That said, 3 months of wages is still a prohibitive cost for many would-be
participants.

~~~
pnathan
> 3 months of wages is still a prohibitive cost for many would-be
> participants.

Or 1.5 months. I simply can't afford to _not work_ and attend a workshop in
the one of the most expensive regions in the United States.

And I'm a typical nerd; I don't qualify for URM grants.

edit: Don't want to be harsh. The Recurse Center is really cool! Just that I,
and many like me, can never ever go. Ah well! Such is life.

~~~
wrsh07
I think there are similarly awesome events / opportunities! You could go to
!!con (pronounced bangbangcon) also in NYC; or attend a hack && tell meet up
in your area (or something similar or start one!?)

It's not for everyone, and that's a shame - I'd love to attend too. While I
could swing it (being in the area, relatively low personal/family costs), I
certainly understand not being able to.

And even still, I find I can get some of the benefit just from interacting
with alums like @b0rk on Twitter

~~~
pnathan
There _are_ other things, yes. My area (Seattle) is more of a "beer && code"
scene; the tendencies for meetups are excessive bro (or marketing), not enough
hacker, IMO. Ce la vie.

Twitter is a hard medium for long-form thought, and, frankly, when I post
thoughts there, they go to /dev/null unless it's a reply to a popular person.
So... meh?

I keep ruminating on the idea of working on a "cyberhackerspace", dedicated to
the sort of thing Recurse Center channels, but 100% online. Dedicated cluster,
domain name, irc channel, forums, etc. But I can't do it alone - I have that
pesky Responsibilities monkey on my back.

Ah well. Back to working on some Java.

~~~
wrsh07
You should check out hifi by apg: [http://us11.campaign-
archive1.com/home/?u=3489d30623dcf96e5a...](http://us11.campaign-
archive1.com/home/?u=3489d30623dcf96e5ac9f4d53&id=e6e34ed684)

I think you might like it, and he has been friendly if you write back. (In my
experience)

~~~
apgwoz
I try to be friendly! If I'm not, it's probably because I'm stuck inside and
it's beautiful outside, so try again another time. :)

Thanks for promoting hifi, and hack && tell for that matter! I'm no longer
involved in hack && tell (I moved away from NYC and don't have the energy to
do it in San Diego). The people now in charge of it are "best in show," and
I'm sure will continue to push hack && tell to be even better than it ever
was.

------
ethagnawl
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.)

------
wrangler
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 :-)

------
chris_7
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
This is a small, hypoallergenic dog that I've _never_ once heard bark. She's
also very cute. ;)

~~~
sbahra
Can confirm.

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

------
nprescott
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
>> _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)

------
AjithAntony
> 0% graduation rate

Any insight on what this is intended to mean?

~~~
peruvian
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.

------
throwawayIndian
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!

~~~
eots
Could you share why you were rejected?

~~~
throwawayIndian
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.

~~~
justtopostthis3
I also applied, and my application also indicated that I wasn't looking for a
job afterwards.

I am a nobody, have never worked at any high profile tech darlings, was not
returning to another job, have no money myself, and contribute nothing to
diversity (white cis male).

I thought I had no chance.

I was accepted and had a great time.

Hope this helps.

~~~
throwawayIndian
Sure this comment helps the cause of recurse center and that you're happily
invested in that cause. Good for you. :-)

Yet, it goes without saying that they're just a fancy recruitment service.
Have a good day!

------
throwawayIndian
> 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
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.

------
throwawayIndian
> a fancy placement agency

This, a hundred thousand times!

~~~
dang
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
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
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
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 :-)

