School 42 as the main answer to IT life, the programming universe and all that

In October 2019, I had 42 programming school in Fremont, California. Upon returning from her, I stubbornly refused to answer various questions about my studies and avoided sharing my impressions. It took time to recover. More than six months later, I am ready to tell my story about perhaps the most unusual experience in my life.

Since the school itself is already quite audible and has been repeatedly covered in various articles both on Habré (I especially like this , this and this ), and other resources, my introduction will be as short as possible, and the whole focus of the narration will focus exclusively on mine, personal, and very subjective experience.



I had the honor of being part of the October pool, the last in 2019. I note right away that I consider the school system not only rational, but also very philosophical. As you study, you will have to answer difficult questions for yourself, learn to set priorities and make difficult decisions, on which your success will depend (whatever it may be expressed). It is very difficult to describe school 42 “in all its glory” within the framework of one article, so if this material resonates with the hearts of readers, I will continue the story and prepare an additional part.
I want to devote this chapter to the internal organization of the learning process and social features worthy of individual anthropological and philosophical studies.

Time distribution dilemma

Officially, the school day (this is a special unit of measurement of school time that differs from 24 hours) starts at 8:42 in the morning and ends at 23:42 of the next astronomical day. For a day, a topic is issued according to the training plan. At your service are several instructional videos uploaded directly to the system, and a list of tasks that must be completed before the end of the school day. Technically, you have a full day and a half to complete all the tasks, but practically, when the clock shows 8:42, you get a new set of tasks and a new school day opens - the program is lapped. The number of tasks in the topic is also not fixed - from 4 to 15 (and on a single day to 23).



Here the first “question of conscience” arose: try to complete the whole day before proceeding to the next, or do as much as possible and go to rest? Completed the whole day is advantageously reflected in the learning process, because, having solved all the tasks, the student practiced more and consolidated what was learned. On the other hand, the solution was not always “clicked”, and, having spent several nights in a row searching for solutions to complicated tasks, the student risked to burn out very quickly. Each participant in the pool had to develop an optimal course strategy for himself, as his mental and physical health depended primarily on this. Going through the pool is the first step towards enrolling in the school itself, and if a student is exhausted and unstable upon graduation, further training is hardly successful.

Relationship dilemma

In my pool, several times a day, the cadets who supervised us announced Push-ups Time: a physical education session is the moment when all students get together on a small platform in the center of the hall and hold the bar (or push up). The initiative, so remote from the programming process itself, helped to distract from hours of sitting at computers in a shrimp pose and relieve the brain. Plus there was the opportunity to assess who is easy to climb, and who is all lazy and uninteresting. Such insignificant activity at first glance made it possible to learn more about our colleagues in the pool than a long discussion of the code from the assignment.

The old-timers of the school, who went through the pool for the first time, said that earlier there was a table near the cadets with the inscription "Got a question? Google it! "And a vase of chocolates to soothe a wounded soul. The table was removed in my pool, but the essence remained the same. Before asking a question, try to “google” it. It was a little easier for foreigners, as the search range was not limited to English: on some topics I watched video lectures in Russian. If the worldwide network did not help, consult with colleagues in the pool: perhaps they understood the topic better or were able to find the necessary explanation and can share the find. Use any source of information except the knowledge of the cadets - the latter are forbidden to answer any questions regarding the curriculum. In school pool system 42, peer-to-peer education has its own subordination.



The features of the “cadet-student of the pool” relationship became more complex as the pool course moved. The ban on discussing pool affairs was understandable and assimilated, but what about friendly communication? One of the popular questions that torments all students of the pool is visa. School 42 does not support students to legalize their presence in the United States, so the cadets who are already enrolled in the school quite logically aroused interest. The desire to learn more about the life of the Cadets firsthand entered into confrontation with fear for reputation. After all, the cadets have their own curators, and it was easier to limit communication with students in general than with complicated explanations and proofs that you were not telling anything about the pool. As a result of this, sometimes “class” separation was clearly felt, restricting communication only within the pool students.Of course, there were crazy reunions of students and cadets, but, in my pool, such party-goers risked losing their pass to school.

Minimum Threshold Dilemma

As I mentioned above, each school day has a new topic that contains a different number of tasks. Their implementation has its own peculiarity. To consider the material of the school day successfully studied, it is necessary to correctly complete 25% of the tasks. Simple mathematics suggests that if, for example, there are 12 tasks in the topic, you must correctly complete the first 3. Why do I focus on the word "first"? Sorted in increasing difficulty, tasks must be completed sequentially. If you made a mistake in exercise No. 2, all subsequent ones, even if they were performed correctly, will not be taken into account in the overall classification. Just as if you did the most difficult exercise No. 12, but missed No. 3, only points No. 1 and No. 2 will be counted (and they will not be enough to close the day).



In this regard, many students have a question: why try to solve all the tasks if only 25% is needed for the test? It reminds me of the student body when it was enough to get 4 to pass the exam and move on (in Belarus, on a 10-point scale). Everyone in the pool has to decide for themselves which is more important: to make an absolutely absolute minimum to close the day and proceed to the next (or go about their business), or spend time to solve all the exercises and gain more knowledge? One day, the “minimum program” played against me: a function that I missed in the school day, then surfaced in my exam. It was awkward.

Further more. Some tasks in the later days become 42 Classics: their correct execution is as it were, of course, and they do not give points for the current day. But for the same reason, “classical” exercises must be performed correctly so that subsequent tasks that bring points are allowed to be tested. Fill the task from 42 Classics - all subsequent ones will be canceled. Those. the approach to the “cost” of exercises changes as the course moves, and it is important for students to develop a unified strategy for completing tasks in the first week to complete the entire course with maximum exhaust. At the forefront is the quality of the tasks performed, against a constantly changing quantity.



In these three dilemmas, I will interrupt my story. I hope for your feedback - is it worth continuing the narrative about the features of the pool of the "workshop of programmers" of school 42? I will also be glad to answer your questions in the comments!