Ask HN: Places Like the Recurse Center?
I love what the Recurse Center stands for, and I'm wondering if anyone else has found similar communities / places with similar values? Online or in-person.
Ran something Recurse-y back in the day (recesslabs.com), but put it in the freezer after a few cohorts.
There was a german version for awhile (Hackership), but they shut down too.
RC is very cool, but to my knowledge there are not a ton of current variants!
Thinking of a new project, Zach? :P
Alum of the first batch here. It's not for devs exclusively, though.
Seems like a really interesting community. I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'd also be curious to hear about peoples experiences with the Recurse Center itself, if anyone has any.
What were the benefits you experienced, what did it do well, what could be improved, etc.
I'll stay this, too: Recurse is very communicative and transparent about what you get out of the experience. So, the website [1] is a good and honest resource to learn about them. As they promise, I grew a lot as a developer, met some fantastic and brilliant people, and now have a super valuable network to help me find jobs.
The thing that's hard to put into words is the personal growth you get out of self-directed learning. RC supports you through this, but deciding what you want to work on and finding your own path forward is a hard transition for many people (I hear you get a similar experience doing a PhD, not that you can compare a 3-month retreat to a 4-6 year program, of course). Some of my favorite moments at RC were hanging out late in the evening, talking philosophy, code, music, projects, research, life goals, you name it. It felt like the best parts of college condensed into a 3-month retreat.
Another thing to know is that RC is a YC startup, and (this is absolutely my opinion!) I think PG wanted RC to be for devs what YC is for makers. You're in a space of diverse, smart, passionate developers working "at the edge of their abilities". That's super motivating, in the same way that I imagine working on a startup in a YC batch is super motivating.
I don't mean to sound like I have rose-tinted glasses on. Parts of RC were hard, and finding 6-12 weeks to take off to attend can be difficult (though RC provides grants for underrepresented folks). I'm sure some people would have a better experience in more structured programs.
But yea, I had a great time. I learned Rust, bettered my React, prepped for interviews, and worked on a bucket-list project mapping songs in 3D space with three.js. And I made friends I see weekly to this day.
What does that mean exactly?
If you attend RC and want a new job afterwards (either right away or years later), we have a team to help you. We can suggest specific openings (after discussing and hearing your preferences), review your resume, set up mock interviews, and provide whatever support you’d like throughout your search.
All of this is optional — there’s no requirement you get a new job after attending RC, and there’s no requirement you work with us exclusively or at all if you do look for a job.
This all works (and we can keep our retreats free for all participants) because we have contingency recruiting agreements with a number of tech companies, and those companies pay us a fee whenever they hire someone we refer to them.
I hope that helps!