Recurse Center

In January, I took a step toward reinvigorating my journey as a developer by joining The Recurse Center.

WHAT IS THE RECURSE CENTER?

  • It is NOT a school
  • It is NOT a bootcamp
  • It is NOT an internship or apprenticeship
  • There are no teachers, classes, tests, midterms, assignments, or deadlines [1]
  • There are no bosses, supervisors, managers, evaluations, or performance reviews

"The Recurse Center is a self-directed, community-driven educational retreat for programmers in New York City." The Recurse Center


Let's break that definition down a bit

self-directed

At the Recurse Center, people decide for themselves how they want to spend their time. Attendees (called Recursers) choose what to work on, when to work, and for how long. Recursers decide for themselves when a project has reached completion. Recrusers decide when their personal objectives have been met.

community-driven

All of the activites that occur at the Recurse Center (RC) are initiated, coordinated, and facilitated by attendees of the retreat. Any recurser is welcome to create a new event for the community.

educational-retreat

Everyone at Recurse is there because they want to learn. Recursers set their own syllabus and milestones. They can choose to work with others or to work independently.


WHY ATTEND THE RECURSE CENTER?

Recursers attend for various reasons.

  • Unlike a bootcamp, school, internship, or other structured program, Recurse gives attendess to freedom to pursue their own interests
  • Some Recursers attend to work on a specific project
  • Some Recursers attend to get inspired for an idea for their next project
  • Many recursers look forward to finding other developers excited about technology [x]

I attended the Recurse Center because I wanted to be around other people excited about technology, I wanted to learn more about web development and data analystics using python, and I wanted to get back into the habit of coding daily.

[1]In actuality, everyone at Recurse is both a teacher and a student. We are all experts at something and beginners at something else.