Two-Week Assessment of Hackbrighting

Someone posted on a page for Women Who Code, asking about different 9-12 week programs for learning to code. Here is the reply I posted:

I'm currently at Hackbright, which is 10 weeks plus whatever help you need to finish your app project. Christian is a really great teacher (and very funny and witty), and David does a great job at doing the networking each of us needs. The program is tough, but the pair programming really motivates and the small class size makes us feel like family. I've talked to the previous students, and though ten weeks of learning seems unlikely to get anyone anywhere, their lives have totally changed for the better. Most are now working at successful companies as developers and product managers. Christian makes sure to tell us about coding interviews and attitudes and which companies and job might be best according to each of our preferences. Yesterday, we looked at another language (we've been working intensely with Python), and I was surprised to find that I understood it easily because of my new understanding of Python, HTML, and Rails--it's all coming together because of what we've learned in only two weeks. There is so much more to learn, but I feel encouraged because I've seen that it's possible. I can't speak for the other programs, but Hackbright is awesome and successful in moving me in a new direction.

Just yesterday, I was thinking how lucky I am to have gotten into the program, and then to have them allow me to defer since my feet were broken. I respect the other women so much and have been impressed with every one I have worked with so far (only six more to go). It is great to make jokes or just talk about things that I never was really able to connect with a lot of people about before. (Does that sentence make any sense?) We are stressed. I'm out of energy every day around between 2 and 3 PM. But somehow we're all surviving and we're all learning--and that's exactly what we want and need, so it's great.