Unexpectedly lovely things about Recurse Center
I first got admitted to Recurse Center back in 2013 when it was still called “Hacker School”, but had to cancel for logistical reasons and did not overcome the logistical barriers to spend the requisite amount of time in NYC until they started piloting 1-week mini-batches recently. (I am now hooked and ready to commit to kicking down those logistical barriers so I can go back for more.)
This is a quick recap of nontechnical reasons I really enjoyed my week at RC.
What is Recurse Center?
The official description can be found here. I’ll attempt to paraphrase it below.
Think of Recurse Center (RC) as a writer’s retreat for coders. It’s not a bootcamp: you need to have some base level of programming ability in order to figure out how you want to direct yourself, but not a “h4rdc0r3” level. Just as good writers have many different styles and levels of experience levels, Recurse admits a wide variety of backgrounds and experience levels. It’s not a school; study groups and most events are entirely self-organized by attendees. It’s more like a do-ocracy. Things will happen if someone makes them happen. Tools are built to enable more people to make things happen.
Unlike many bootcamps and schools, it’s free to attend. You take care of your own lodging, food, and transportation, but underrepresented minorities can apply for need-based grants if that’s not financially feasible.
Why is this appealing?
There is a lot of joy, agency, and growth to be found in the act of learning, these characteristics are frequently at odds with corporate metrics. While software is a tool which can be wielded in many different ways, I’ve felt increasingly alienated by cultural aspects of the gentrifying modern “tech industry” which feel apathetic toward disadvantaged demographics within the systems the industry affects.
Recurse sounded like a technical environment I’ve been seeking to recapture since MIT: a bubble of energy, mixed interests and backgrounds, and no obligation to make things to impress VCs, only to learn and build things that are important to you.
There’s something else that happens at RC that bootcamps can’t provide: you get an opportunity to develop your “volitional muscles.” In other words, to learn how to direct yourself. Many people flounder while at RC. This can mean not being productive, not feeling good about your work, not knowing what to work on, or knowing what you need to do but not being able to do it. Floundering is the process of figuring out how to set your own direction. At the beginning, it will be hard, and every decision you make will test your abilities, but with work and time, you’ll become stronger and you’ll be able to make larger and larger decisions more easily. This is only possible because RC’s unique structure allows you to make your own decisions about your education.
While acknowledging that the freedom of having time to make things not for money is a financial privilege, it is an incredibly fulfilling opportunity, enhanced by the synchronicity that other Recursers have rearranged their lives so that you can all embark into this environment together.
It felt actively welcoming
Although I am usually pretty comfortable in online spaces with no faces or names, this is a rare phenomenon for physical spaces in my experience as a person belonging to a few visible demographics which are frequently marginalized based on appearance in the U.S.
Diversity
It’s easier to feel comfortable existing in a marginalized identity when you are around other people with marginalized identities. RC was significantly more visibly diverse than any technically-focused space I’ve been in since college, and it felt really nice.
At a lot of companies, “diversity” often just means hiring more white and East Asian cis-women from top colleges and upper-middle-class backgrounds. Disclaimer: as an East Asian MIT graduate, I cannot claim to draw conclusions about how RC felt to people outside that spectrum. However, it genuinely felt like RC repped an unusually wide range of ethnic minorities and international folks, offered lots of tangible support resources for gender minorities, and strove to support socioeconomic diversity in the form of need-based grants and a wiki guide to getting by inexpensively in NYC.
Value: Discourage assumptions
There were a bunch of skits on the first day to demonstrate RC’s social expectations designed to make the space feel more welcoming.
- Identify -isms and other subtle microaggressions that may make people feel like they don’t belong.
- Gracefully accept feedback about assumptive language when offered.
- Remember that technical background cannot be inferred from physical appearance. Everyone present here was admitted on purpose.
Value: Encourage learning
- Don’t put down people for not knowing things; instead, encourage questions.
- Don’t try to jump in and backseat drive other people’s conversations without context; instead, ask if you can join and participate.
- Don’t correct people about minutiae that aren’t necessary to the conversation.
People were super friendly
Lots of people were there with the shared goal of meeting other people, so it was easy to strike up conversations or reach out and talk. There were separate areas designated for interaction and for heads-down work, which made it easier to signal whether you were interested in pairing/talking or doing your own thing.
I really liked the study groups! I dropped into a Haskell study group, a theorem prover study group, and a linguistics puzzle club without knowing anything about the topics beforehand, and people were extremely encouraging and willing to explain things!
If RC has felt like a good fit to you but you’re on the fence about applying, all I can say is that it was an invaluable experience and I wish I did it much earlier in life.