Graduation.
So one of the most popular questions from interviewers at Demo Day was, "What's next?" That one was especially easy to answer; the next step, of course, is to make sure we keep learning. An important step in that process is making sure that we get jobs where we continue to be challenged to take on brand new problems every day, and in order to land that kind of job we're going to need to not just brush up but polish, varnish and shine our problem-solving skills.
It has been an incredible ride at App Academy. I can't believe it, but the nine weeks of heads-down, full time coding under Ned's mentorship have finally come to a close. You can see what I ended up having to show for it here! I was going to say that I am going to really miss coming in and working with this bunch of people, but I don't exactly have to do that yet. As all of us know that finding the right job is going to be a difficult, demanding task, we're all inclined to take it on together and help each other out in preparing for this daunting endeavor. Yesterday, our first Saturday after the Big Day on Friday, we already met up at one student's house to talk about data structures and to practice whiteboarding problems in front of one another.
There's no stopping us, really. The class may be officially over but the momentum is so intoxicatingly high that through sheer inertia I'm not at all compelled to let up the pace. But in terms of closure I can say that during these nine weeks of non-stop long days in San Francisco programming with some of the brightest people I've ever worked with, I've learned so much more than I could have imagined, not only from the jam packed curriculum and the awesome leadership, but also from the wonderful variety of perspectives imparted by the students with their eclectic range of experience and backgrounds. I am going to miss coming in to 'the Office,' but I think it's best to focus not on what we're losing, but on what we can take with us.
Also, I'd like to really thank our instructors and TAs, Ned, Kush and Jonathan for their amazing patience and uncanny ability to explain things to us and answer our unending questions about programming over the past nine weeks. I'm grateful to all the smart and fun people I worked with; you can check them out here or here for some background. And all the cool companies who took the time to come in and talk to us, either throughout the course or at Interview Day. I had an amazing time meeting and discussing different real-world challenges and opportunities. Anyone with any ideas on how I'm going to keep on my toes, get in touch!








