What level of programming knowledge do you prefer incoming students to have? I see a couple testimonials that mention people new to programming, but your code requests and FAQ lead me to believe that's a rare exception nowadays...
Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
11–20 of 41 posts
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#12I like this idea so much. Any plans to scale up the Hacker School? In particular, it would be awesome if there was more Hacker Schools in different locations.
Thanks!
We might expand someday, but we're still far from perfect with only one location, and we want to stay focused on making Hacker School in New York the best it can be before expanding to more locations.
In the meantime, we've had good success with people moving to New York for Hacker School. About 20% of our past two batches have come from outside the US, and the majority of our last couple batches moved to New York for the batch.
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#13What level of programming knowledge do you prefer incoming students to have? I see a couple testimonials that mention people new to programming, but your code requests and FAQ lead me to believe that's a rare exception nowadays...
Hey there, I did Hacker School this past summer. I was one of the most beginner-level programmers in the beginning. I never opened my terminal, never heard of functional programming, and didn't even know how html and css worked. I was a noob. The only things I could do were solve project euler math problems, which was enough to know I loved programming and wanted to commit to improving. Despite my initial skill level, I found a full-time job shortly afterward as a developer.
TLDR: if you can code fizzbuzz and know you love programming, you're good enough to apply. :)
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#14What level of programming knowledge do you prefer incoming students to have? I see a couple testimonials that mention people new to programming, but your code requests and FAQ lead me to believe that's a rare exception nowadays...
[student from current batch here]
While I can't speak for the facilitators, I can tell you that the range of knowledge is varied; from people who dabble a few languages, to those who have mastered several, to those who are just starting to dip their toes. If you're genuinely interested in programming, go ahead and apply. I can say I'm certainly glad I did!
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#15What's the average age?
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#16I know who would be perfect for this, except she is still in college so she would need to drop a semester to do this instead.
Do you have any pitch concerning this?
I assume the summer one doesn't conflict with college, but at those times people usually go for internships.
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#17What's the average age?
We don't collect this data, but I think our range has been late-teens to late 40s, with most students in their 20s or 30s.
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#18I was in Hacker School's first batch, batch[0]. It was awesome. I was brought into the idea when my friend Dave Albert reached out to me. I met Dave through the hacker culture in NYC.
There was 6 of us in a small room, all working on things and talking about what inspired us. I had some things I was working on at home and loved the idea of working on them with a bunch of other hackers around. I don't personally like coworking spaces, but I thought the term "school" would mean something quite different, something more compatible with my goal of writing a bunch of open source.
Everyone could use their time however they wanted. The basic premise was to see what happens when you put a bunch of people, who love programming, in a room together. Do they sit there? Do they pull out SICP and get to work? What happens?
I used my time there to work on building Brubeck and I also built the demo projects most people use to learn Brubeck. I learned a ton just discussing the system with the other people there, but I learned the most when I would just listen to what other folks were thinking about. Everyone ended up building a huge amount of stuff and we improved each other's work by sharing it, picking it apart, etc.
We come to HN for a particular reason. We're looking for like-minded folks. The word "Hacker" is significant. It is a beacon for us. Hacker School knows this and takes on the challenge of being another beacon, and they do it well.
I have been a reader of PG's essays for 9 or so years and found the culture of Hacker School to reflect the same ideas. They understand the value of doing things simply because it would be neat. They know what it's like to be let down by a typical education experience. Hacker School is what they're doing about it.
I wholeheartedly recommend anyone with a passion for learning and technology to consider applying. What you learn is up to you and your passions, but Hacker School is the environment you've been looking to lose yourself in. That's why it exists!
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#19I love Hacker School. It significantly changed the trajectory of my life. I barely didn't go, but in the end I did and as a result met some of the smartest people that were incredibly passionate about technology. Try and apply - they're incredibly warm, open people and a pleasure to talk to in any case.
Re: Hacker School Winter 2013 Applications are Open
#20I'm currently a CS student and kind of like the idea of doing Hacker School for Summer 2013 or 2014, but could never afford the living expenses. Why do you only do scholarships for Women?