Becoming a better Programmer: From Nairobi to NYC | Hacker News Reader

Becoming a better Programmer: From Nairobi to NYC

indiegogo.com

150 pointsfrancesca37 comments

It's a cool campaign!

What's funny though, is that I want to contribute, but I'd rather contribute in a more tangible way: i.e. buying her the laptop or plane ticket rather than just putting money in the communal pot. For some reason, it'd make my contribution feel more meaningful, more tangible. Like if she ends up building a kickass startup 10 years from now, I'd get to say "Oh yeah, I gave her her first laptop!" rather than "Oh yeah, I gave her 50$ via indiegogo".

Maybe there's room for such a model: a kickstarter style website where individuals who need specific hardware/goods can get them purchased by third parties.

Just musing around here.

I think the model you are talking about, or at least a similar one, is used by Donors Choose for teachers who need supplies for their students.

There's a starup based out of Atlanta that allows you to to exactly that http://www.gift-give.com/

i donated $10 on indiegogo and left a comment with my donation telling her to reach out if she wanted me to introduce her to my corner of the nyc tech scene. she responded pretty quickly. her github account[1] has her contact information listed, i'd imagine if you reached out to her she would be receptive to more tangible contributions

[1]: https://github.com/NjeriChelimo

Hey GuiA! I like you're thoughts! Especially on the laptop! The Acer Aspire One netbook I bout with my savings when I started learning is making me go bananas ;). I'd totally appreciate that contribution! Feel free to contact me -> @NjeriChelimo on twitter. :)

About that kickass startup, it coming in much less than 10 years! #WatchThisGeekSpace ;)

Thanks for your support!

I hope she can get her tourist visa. It's by no means guaranteed, coming from Kenya. I also hope there are mechanisms in place to return the funds to the donors if she can't make it due to rejected visa.

I really don't think I would want my money back. Good luck to her.

A crowd-sourced scholarship fund would be a great addition to programs like Hacker School. If Hacker School themselves handle giving out funds to participants who have a financial need, a lot more people would benefit, even those who don't have a social media presence or can't get to the HN front page.

I feel so genuinely happy for her seeing that the community is helping her out. I also wanted to apply for Hacker School but it was way expensive so I dropped the idea altogether. But now I think I am going to put in effort into saving/earning the money to get there and apply for the next batch.

Interesting, I didn't know that Hacker School was completly free, but given that it has small room for new students... it can be complicated to get into.

Anyways I live 8600km away from New York, would be difficult :P

Difficult, maybe, but seeing as you're commenting on an article about someone who lives almost 12000 km away and is going, it's clearly not impossible :)

Unless you already live in NYC, your current location shouldn't be very relevant.

Sounds like an exciting an opportunity. I'd love the chance to work with someone like this some day, so chipping in is a no brainer. It also emphasizes the most positive approach to engineer education.

Good luck!

After all there is justice in this world, i'am really happy about Martha. Everyone should have a chance to learn, if they really want to do that.

How exciting...Venturing not just into the hacker field, but to New York City (I'm assuming for the first time). I wonder what it'd be like to try to learn programming while traveling...my first thought was, this city is way too damn distracting and tempting to be studious...on the other hand, the ease of transportation and the diversity of activity has its upside for foreign students

I spent a lot of time learning programming while traveling (though not under the same circumstances as this girl)--I did contract programming work while traveling indefinitely, often learning as I go. You manage to find ways to balance, especially since (in my case) if I didn't work, I wouldn't have any money to eat or sleep.

The nice thing about it is that if you end up somewhere boring for a time, it's almost a blessing, since you can focus more on programming and save the exploration time for a better location.

When I started working in the IT department of a famous American investment bank, my along with fellow graduates were sent to New-York for a very intensive 6 weeks training programme. Despite the workload and pressure (we had to succeed score high marks in all our tests to stay on), I managed to find some time to visit this great city. I am sure Martha will be able to focus on her learning, while also finding the opportunity to discover a bit more about New-York and the US. By the way I just saw that she has reached her fundraising goal. Congrats again to her!

I am sorry, I HAVE to ask out of personal curiosity and to play devil's advocate...

What tells me "Martha" even exists and that she was admitted to hackerschool and will actually go to NYC with the money she just begged for? Even the twitter and github accounts could be part of an elaborate scam. Plus she asked for around $4000, by now has raised quite a bit more. Will that surplus be donated to further her "cause" (if there even is one) and support other girls to join her? Or is that just going to be nice pocket change?

To further satisfy my own curiosity, why is donating to her more "ok" and others asking for money are just "beggars"? Or would you donate to some random e.g. white guy who would ask for a couple of thousands for a nice trip like that? Would you consider donating to a person who is in a stable living condition but simply could not afford a trip to NYC or Berkeley? Or do you have to be third world and implied broke to apply for that? Which I don't think she is, by the way.

Also, why is "women in IT" a cause that even needs supporting? How would the world be better off with more women in IT - when actually nothing is really keeping most girls from getting into IT, unless there are local equal-rights shortcomings to keep girls out of ALL education; in my own experience, for whatever reason, most of the women I have met do not want to and actually say they hate all that technical stuff. The ones that did want to start programming, they worked hard at it and picked the right university; unfortunately many of those who did simply failed the programming exams or other technical courses. The remaining rest who wanted to be in IT and made the cut, they are doing just fine... it's just a small percentage and I do not think this is the case because anyone is actively keeping girls "out" - and I doubt things are going to somehow be "better" if only there were more girls in IT.

And aren't there local institutions to help people like her to further her education? I am quite sure there have got to be, even in Africa. Even for nice trips like that.

So, at the end of the day all I see so far is, you are supporting a romantic story and at first glance, that is tugging too many heart strings so it naturally sets off my "scam" alert. Please do prove me wrong! I am honestly curious.

Finally, most importantly, even if all she said is true: There are people simply dying not too far away, I think 5000 or the surplus 1000 could buy a good amount of actually very cheap but vital medicine to keep locals from dying under horrible conditions, to give them back their eye sight and keep their babies from starving.

So all the doubts aside, let's cut to the chase: WHY should I or anyone finance a nice NYC trip for Martha while that is going on and she can very well pick up ALL the necessary skills right where she is, over the internet, for free? Just like pretty much all "hackers" did.

Why does she ask for money instead of asking the community to support her with knowledge and skills?

Hacker School employee here. I can confirm that she's been admitted.

I can name quite a few low score threads in the "New" section that are more interesting and relevant to the hackers amongst us than this. IMHO there is something rotten about the outcomes of the HN frontpage promotion mechanism nowadays.

There's something inspiring about seeing someone hustle to create an opportunity to improve themselves, and about how the internet is empowering individuals to do that on a global scale.

Are you kidding me? This is what being a hacker is all about... Getting access to a computer for the first time, immediately trying to figure everything out. Add on the fact that she's in a country that strongly encourages going into other fields and the fact that there probably isn't much support to go into this field and you've got a very inspiring story.

Then getting the "obsession" to figure everything out, trying out linux (or other open source OS's), and going from there to become proficient with programming.

I think this is very relevant to me as well as other hackers.

The last sentence hints at some kind of conspiracy or upvoting-ring, but of all stories this one seems least likely to be due to something like that. It may just be the case that your interests and what you find relevant are not actually generalizable to the HN community at large.

I actually like stories like this. Stories of people being driven to better themselves and their lives and using the internet to open doors that never would have been possible even 10 years ago. If HN just became story after story like this then, yes, it would be tiresome, but I don't think we are in any near-term danger of that happening.

Having a broad range of stories, even some that are not strictly about tech in some way that would personally benefit you, is good for a community, unless we want to develop some sort of echo-chamber where all we ever read/think/talk about is <insert pet technology topic here>. I have met people who are like that, I choose not to associate with them for a reason.

or perhaps the silent majority of the "HN community at large" mostly agrees with me, but a small, entrenched, vocal minority successfully bullies its way to impose its own view of what is and is not "inspiring" on everybody else. "Gimme money" Nigerian letters are not inspiring, not even when done by a Kenyan who allegedly knows (or wants to learn?) how to program.

michaell2, I respect your opinion, but to remove the doubts from your mind, I will give you a few links to show you a bit of what I have done. You can Google "Martha Chumo", or "Njeri Chelimo" (This is the name I use for github, twitter, etc) and check out the results. I have been featured on various sites cause of my learning. Checkout http://www.codecademy.com/stories/code-from-kenya . You can contact codecademy, and will tell you I'm a moderator there and I helped out creating the Ruby lessons. You can also contact teamtreeshouse.com, and ask about their student @NjeriChelimo. I have been very active in the community, and I am soon to be featured in the Treehouse Dean's list. Here's the link to my profile there -> http://teamtreehouse.com/njerichelimo. I have been contributing to the Apache deltacloud project -> http://deltacloud.apache.org/. You can contact the deltacloud devs and confirm that I exist, and that I can actually program. I was accepted as a speaker at DevCon Tel Aviv -> http://devcon-june2013.events.co.il/people/847-martha-chumo . You can contact the conf organizer and confirm this. I am the Nairobi MongoDB user group organizer. This you can confirm from the 10gen community manager. I try to blog - http://nchelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njeri-chelimo.blogspot.com/ , http://njerichelimo.blogspot.com/. You can also checkout my github account -> https://github.com/NjeriChelimo

I know there are a lot of cons out there, but I am definitely not one of them. I hope this clears your mind a little.

Martha, I think I speak for a lot of us on HN that we weren't concerned this was a con, as evidenced by the fact that you're currently number #4 on the home page.

From one self-taught programmer to another, congratulations on reaching your goal, godspeed to New York, and keep us in the loop on how things play out. We're cheering for you.

I think Michael has some personal problems to work out. I can confidently say that I (and most of the hackers here) don't see what you're doing as "gimme money", or see you as a scam.

I personally think what you have done is great, and can really relate to your experiences so far in tech from my own early experiences.

I wish you much success in the future.

Martha, regardless whether this is or isn't a con, I honestly think the only right thing to do would be to take that money and invest it in a local, honest and well-run charity to help the people starving and going blind and dying because they are lacking even the most basic vital medical care - not far from where you are.

Because I have no idea how you justify asking people for donations for a nice NYC trip when you could actually pick up all the skills for your "cause" right from where you are over the internet and for free - while people are dying right where you live. Do your high-up-the-Maslow-hierarchy needs take precedence over them starving? And if they do, it is yet another small drop in the ocean of tears that unfortunately left big parts of Africa in the desolate state they currently are in.

I know this isn't an easy decision because hey, everybody wants to go to NYC like that, and I am sure you are going to say with all that knowledge you can make Africa a little better then in the future. Well, you can do that now and you can pick up all those skills for free without going anywhere and you could be making Africa a little better right this very moment while learning how to make things even better in the future. Be a hero like that. Or you take your own slightly egoistic dreams over the needs of others and you would just be another proverbial "brick in the wall". Others see you doing that, they are going to ask themselves why they should do anything for others when they can just further their own personal needs under the blanket of "charitable" actions.

If anything, you should never have asked for money but asked the hacker community to help you out with skills and knowledge or e.g. (used) hardware donations. That would have gotten you much more towards your proclaimed "goal" and with more ethical integrity.

kahawe, you seem to have heard a single story about Africa. I was born and have lived in Kenya all my life. I am another story of Africa.

You had one story of Africa, I have given you another. I suggest googling some more. Read my campaign again. You'll realize I'm not telling people to pity me, but see how awesome I am - because I am - and help me get even better!

Here's a nice talk to inform you the danger of a single story -> http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_...

I suggest visiting Kenya. I'll take you around.

By "silent majority" do you mean "inactive and/or passive majority"? Stories don't make it to the front page by comments, AFAIK.

If there's a hidden majority of HN users who would like to see a given story promoted, then they should exercise the up-vote button.

edit : also, frankly, the Nigerian scam reference was not constructive.

The stereotyping is strong in this one.

I'm part of the Ruby community in Nairobi and I can confirm Martha's a very active member and I'm really impressed by what she's achieved so far. I've been in the tech space longer but haven't been as enthusiastic as she is when it comes to open source work.

The older I get, the less I care about technology and hacking as ends to themselves and the more I care about empowering people to create great things. It's so much more rewarding.

Bitter much?

This is cool, but to be a little OT: every time I see "Hacker School" I get a little more confused.

Being a hacker isn't something you can teach someone. It's a mindset. You either have it or you don't. I think most people can understand this, so then "Hacker School" would imply that it's a school for hackers. This is somewhat confirmed by their about page:

> You should genuinely enjoy programming. That's most important. We spend our time talking about technical problems and writing code, not working on startups and products. If you care more about startups than coding, you won't enjoy Hacker School. We look for curiosity, passion, raw intelligence and a desire to build things. The best way to show us this is to have a track record of writing code and learning new things. If you're a smart, curious person who loves coding, it will come out naturally. Don't try to trick us. It probably won't work and it won't get you what you want anyway.

Sounds like a description of a hacker to me. But then I get confused about why "Hacker School" was chosen. You go to "Law School" to learn about law, to become a lawyer, not because you already are one and just want to improve. You go to (a good) "Game School" to learn to build video games, not because you already build video games.

So I guess in summary: "Hacker School" seems inappropriately named. Perhaps "Hacker Bootcamp" would be more fitting, given the goals of the school, or even "School for Hackers"? I guess both sound less likely to drum up sensationalist media headlines, though.

> You go to (a good) "Game School" to learn to build video games, not because you already build video games.

The law school thing may be valid, but I doubt that anyone goes to a "Game School" (whatever that may be) without having written a game before.

Similarly, a lot of people who attend a CS university already know how to program (to a degree anyway).

> "Game School" (whatever that may be)

https://www.digipen.edu/

http://www.fullsail.edu/game-school (right in the URL on this one)

I think a better analogy would be "art school", you essentially go there to learn techniques and explore your interests and capabilities, but you should already be a sensible and perceptive person to benefit from it.

Art and what we refer to as "hacking" are analogous in several dimensions in my opinion, and I believe that is because they are expressions of raw passion and resourcefulness.

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