23 Hacker Schoolers and Residents on their experiences at Hacker School

One of the best ways to get a sense of what Hacker School is actually like is to read first-hand accounts of people who have done it. Fortunately, many alumni and residents have blogged about their experiences at Hacker School. Unfortunately, these posts are scattered across the web and can be hard to find. We’ve collected many of these blog posts here.

Posts by Hacker Schoolers

The posts below were written by current Hacker Schoolers or alumni, either during or after their batches. This is just a sampling of the posts folks have written about their experiences at Hacker School, and is presented in no particular order and in no way intended to be comprehensive.

• Marcus wrote about quitting his job and moving from Sweden in, New York and Hacker School
• Alum Julia Evans has written a whopping 59(!) posts about her Hacker School experience, including “How was Hacker School?”, Hacker School’s Secret Strategy for Being Super Productive (or: Help.), and How I did Hacker School: ignoring things I understand and doing the impossible
• Steph wrote a letter to her past self about her three months at Hacker School
• Greg has been blogging regularly throughout his batch
• Sasha has written How to Get the Most Out of Hacker School and how The Best Lesson From Hacker School Is Hiding in Plain Sight
• Daniel wrote Cool Stuff I Learned Doing Code Review
• Alyssa wrote What I gained from Hacker School
• Stephanie wrote up a Hacker School Gratitude Journal
• Ray wrote his own Hacker School Epilogue
• Stan has been blogging regularly while in Hacker School and has already written more than 25 posts about his experience
• Julia wrote about Hacker School day 1: Project ideas and getting started
• Robert kept a Hacker School Log throughout his batch
• Sumana has written dozens of posts about her time at Hacker School
• David shared his Hacker School story
• Daphne wrote On Becoming a Confident Hacker
• Max reflected on his first three weeks at Hacker School
• Geoff wrote a recap of his first week, Hacker School: Week 1 Review
• Sarah wrote Hacker School: Week One Wrap-up and Hacker School: Week Two Wrap-up
• Laura reflected and considered the question, Would I do Hacker School Again?

Posts by residents

The posts below were written by residents, who visit Hacker School in one- or two-week stints.

• Philip Guo wrote up an extensive overview and analysis of his residency
• Mel Chua has written a number of blog posts about Hacker School, including Test Driven Learning: setting learning goals for yourself, Software Engineering edition
• Lindsey Kuper shared thoughts about misconceptions people have about Hacker School
• Crista Lopes wrote up her impressions of Hacker School, and compared it to the more traditional academic environments she’s been part of.