The Recurse Center: Rediscover the Joy of Programming in Brooklyn
Thanks HN for 15 years of support and helping me find my life's work
I invite you to join The Recurse Center, a unique programming retreat in Brooklyn where curious developers spend weeks coding together. Here, you set your own goals, build side projects, and find community without any tuition fees. Our model is supported by an integrated recruiting agency, allowing us to offer a free, rigorous environment for you to grow as a programmer and potentially find your next career opportunity.
One of my favorite feelings is being in a room with other people working hard. RC gives you that — but the things you're working on are exactly what you want to be doing, instead of what somebody else wants you to be doing.
- ThePhysicist
Congrats Sonali, Nick, Dave & everyone else! I had an incredible time with you all in NY more than 10 years ago, it was so cool, and I'm still thinking of it very fondly. Spent my days hacking away in the space near Canal Street and the nights and weekends exploring NYC with other Recursers, visiting museums, parks and venturing out to buy cheap dumplings by the dozen. I was quite poor back then but I enjoyed my life so much, had a tiny room at the Kolping house on the Upper East Side which was very run down and tiny but also very cheap, basically just went there for sleeping and spent every other minute in the space and outside. No distractions, no possessions beyond my laptop, no responsibilities, simple but happy times. And then in 2021 I found my dream job at DuckDuckGo through RC, been working there for almost five years now! Thanks for everything and great to see it's still going strong!
- andrew_eu
I like the definition of social rules [0]. I also wonder whether the roof rule was written preemptively or retrospectively -- I hope the former.
I have my own thanks to give to HN. It's connected me to interesting people, online and IRL. It's led to some very strong friendships. It's led me to multiple job opportunities, and usually the better ones. It's changing of course, but I've had a great time in this community so far, and that deserves thanks.
- flockonus
At first i found odd that pricing is nowhere in the website, but then i found it burried under FAQ (free!) - is it to weed out people who are focusing on free rather than going deeper into the experience?
> How much does attending the Recurse Center cost?
> RC is free for everyone. You will never receive a bill from RC.
> How can you afford to make RC free?
> RC has a built in recruiting agency. Companies pay to hire RC alumni. This payment never comes out of your salary.
- mnky9800n
I loved my time at RC. It changed me a lot. I wrote several blog posts about different projects and my time during my batch. I would strongly suggest applying if you like computers and want to talk about them constantly while building cool stuff.
https://www.lowimpactfruit.com/p/rainy-citycom-a-side-projec...
https://www.lowimpactfruit.com/p/zork-bench-an-llm-reasoning...
- fcjr
My time at RC has genuinely changed my life. I joined my first batch expecting to dust some rust off after being in management at my last gig, and found a community I will cherish for the rest of my life!
If you looking for community in tech I can't think of a better place.
To 15 more!
- hack1312
I really like this idea, but I’m not clear how the logistics work out. It’s “free” but 1.5 - 3 months in NYC is not cheap and would mean carrying double rent for that period of time on top of living expenses. Is there financial assistance or are participants expected to cover all of their own costs? If so doesn’t that make this only accessible to those quite well off already? That is, those who can afford to take off 1.5-3 months while covering the cost of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I see there’s a remote option but the in-person aspect of this really feels key to the experience.
Really not trying to be a spoil sport because the idea is incredible and worthwhile but I couldn’t find the answers looking at your website.
- tracerbulletx
Hadn't heard of this before but its a cool idea. I often take my own little "programming retreats" and go to another city for a week and work out of a nice coworking space for a sense of focus and engagement with my work.
- dgellow
I had the chance to work with a bunch of Recurse alumni over the past 4 years, they have all been amazing, brilliant engineers and overall great people :)