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The Hacker School Experience

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Re: The Hacker School Experience

#11
I wonder what the value is of having it in NYC (or SFBA) vs. somewhere else, ideally cheap and with minimal distractions, like a university campus over the summer.

Also wonder if there's a good argument for doing a non-US hacker school to solve visa issues -- is there anything going on like this in China now? India?

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#12
post #11

I wonder what the value is of having it in NYC (or SFBA) vs. somewhere else, ideally cheap and with minimal distractions, like a university campus over the summer. Also wonder if there's a good argument for doing a non-US hacker school to solve visa issues -- is there anything going on like this in China now? India?

There are a ton of interesting tech things going on in NYC. General Assembly runs events and classes, AlleyNYC similar, WeWork Labs has cheap office space for startups, New Work Labs has a free night, NY Gaming Meetup, multiple competing Java Meetups with technical presentations; group coding; networking, NY Tech meetup, User Experience Meetup, iPhone meetup with tons of people advertising gigs and looking, ad startups offering above even NYC rates to get people into a distasteful subject - and those are just the things I've encountered personally.

Honestly, if someone going to school meets a more established opportunity to work at a real startup or with a real company with a production product, then I think that's a good distraction anyway, since they'll move on to the real deal, instead of just working on educational open source projects, and really start their career.

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#13
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't say ridiculously sexist and superficial crap and put an emoticon next to it like that makes it ok. It's not ok.

Don't attach the sexist label to things so easily. That devalues it in the mind of people that care not mindlessly.

These women just spent 3 months of technical training, and the comment started by remarking on their attractiveness and goes on to call them girls.

Not sure if they attached it 'easily', but that comment was squarely sexist in my book. Even if it was well intentioned.

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#14
post #2

Where you place the most attractive people in the front row for each photo. ;) But, in all seriousness, I think it is a fantastic idea to make women feel more welcome in that field, as too many girls I know who are IST majors, or something similar, frequently talk about how they really feel that it's more of a "guys" area.

Where we place the shortest people in the front row for each photo. You know, like every other group photo ever...

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#15
post #2

Where you place the most attractive people in the front row for each photo. ;) But, in all seriousness, I think it is a fantastic idea to make women feel more welcome in that field, as too many girls I know who are IST majors, or something similar, frequently talk about how they really feel that it's more of a "guys" area.

You might not realize it, but your first sentence is an example of what makes "too many girls ... feel that it [the technology field] is more of a 'guys' area."

When people say "sexism," that's a big part of what they mean. It's not necessarily treating women as if they're inferior to men, but rather creating an environment -- sometimes knowingly, usually not -- where women don't feel comfortable or welcome because they are women.

Pinching butts, whistling, making sexual advances, hiring unqualified men over qualified women, etc. are all ham-handed ways of creating that environment.

But sexism is also embedded in things like our instinct to comment first on a woman's appearance, call them "girls" instead of "women," and constantly sexualize them in small and seemingly insignificant ways.

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#16

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

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?

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#17

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

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).

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't attach the sexist label to things so easily. That devalues it in the mind of people that care not mindlessly.

These women just spent 3 months of technical training, and the comment started by remarking on their attractiveness and goes on to call them girls. Not sure if they attached it 'easily', but that comment was squarely sexist in my book. Even if it was well intentioned.

I agree did you see the sewing needle in the log FFS along with craft word in the seal on the wall.

"don't worry ladies its just craft like sewing a quilt"

they will be going on about how they have some "negro boys" in the next group.

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#19

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

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).

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) and another for $1600 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html)

I hope this helps!

Re: The Hacker School Experience

#20

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

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 w…

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