Recurse Center Application

Hello Recurse Center! I would like to apply to come spend some time with you learning and collaborating.

Basic Info

Questions

Links

In addition to right here you can also find me around the web at:

Code CracklePop

I know what you're asking for and so here is a tiny CracklePop:

console.log(
  [...Array(100).keys()].map((value) => {
    const num = value + 1;
    if (num % 3 == 0 && num % 5 == 0) return "CracklePop";
    else if (num % 3 == 0) return "Crackle";
    else if (num % 5 == 0) return "Pop";
    return num.toString();
  }).join(", "),
);

But, the thing is, we can do so much better. What if CracklePop was playful and we pretended that there was a reason we needed to generate these strings? I think you'll like CracklePop! a lot more.

Please link to a program you've written from scratch

I wrote explain and cracklepop as part of this application process:

Right now I'm getting better at go so I've been writing a lot of code in Go. Here are some recent things worth looking at.

I also write a lot of Javascript (or typescript). I have less samples that are standalone because it's usually part of a bigger project.

What is the most fascinating thing you've learned in the past month?

I'm really into mail right now. I write to people all over the world through postcrossing and have friends and loved- ones all over the US. A couple of weeks ago I got interested in the last line of every address- the ZIP code.

I love little codes that are part of everyday life and I was delighted to learn that a zip code is, kind of, just an identifier for a sorting facility that's nearby to the address where a piece of mail is delivered (and that makes sense why zip codes and counties aren't necessarily aligned). A standard zip code is made up of 5 numbers:

The neat thing is that often the first 3 digits are an identifier for a sorting facility (941 in California is the San Francisco Processing & Distribution Center, although that facility also handles a couple of adjacent areas as well.)

Also also, there's an extended form of the standard zip code, Zip+4 that identifies as specifically as a single mailbox within the system (but sometimes it's a group of mailboxes, an apartment, or just a big building). I want to try sending a letter to just Name, zip+4, and see if it gets to its destination. I think it should- the postal service has enough information.

Finally, the USPS has a delivery point identifier that, along with the zip+4 gives a unique identifier to every delivery point within the system.

I think all of this is so cool not just for being a mostly-invisible everyday code but because it's a system that's working really well at massive scale. The postal service has no problem accepting a sloppily hand-written address and deliver it to someone on the other side of the country in just a couple of days for $0.68 (or $0.73 in July).

What do you want to be doing in two years?

I'm at a crossroads in my career. I've spent the last eight years of my career putting a dent in the universe at Khan Academy where we're working to bring a world-class education to everyone, everywhere. For the past year, I've served as both a senior member of the programming staff and as a technical project manager. It's time for me to decide what's next and which path I'm on.

In two years I might be at Khan Academy making our practice experience more playful, joyful, and intuitive; I might be guiding projects; I might be working in another industry making a dent in the universe- civics, healthcare, or food and nutrition; I might be working on technically hard problems; I might have started a studio for technical work and have clients.

I hope that taking a break and spending some time at the Recurse Center will by clarifying and I will have a sense of where I want to go next and how I can be useful in the world.

Why do you want to attend RC? How would attending RC be different than working on your own?

I hope that the experience exposes me to problems I wouldn't otherwise think about with people that are creative and kind and that I can play in that space and welcome them into the things I am thinking about.

Let me tell you about a team I worked on recently at Khan Academy. When I was brought into the project calling it a project was generous. It was three people working on different things, by themselves and feeling lonely and sometimes frustrated. We played with a lot of ideas but one thing that worked really well was having "office hours". Three times a week there was a 90-minute optional block on all of our calendars to work together. During that time we would joke around, share code that we were working on, talk about problems, and connect as people and as workers. That team ended up being bonded, connected, and very effective. (Another win was pausing three work streams and focusing on fewer things but doing it together.)

All of this is to say, that learning is a social activity and we learn more than just the subject at hand when we work together and collaboratively. I like people, I like being other people who are learning, and I like pairing problems and getting to exist in a problem space with others.

What would you like to work on at RC?

Background

Describe your programming background in a few sentences.

Programming has always been magic. I started programming when I was around 10, copying BASIC code out of books and making little games for graphing calculators. In my teens, I discovered people would pay me to write them programs and I worked for my parent's business writing code. I majored in CS in college (my favorite course was compilers) and then right out of school got a job working for a fashion company first building a Pinterest-like app for outfit-of-the-day then an iOS app for browsing. I led a team building one of the first iOS apps in Swift at another fashion company then moved over to work for a non-profit where I've been for 8 years. During the last 8 years, I've worked on the tools learners use to practice their skills. I've worked on the mobile app first in Swift, then in React Native, on the backend first in Python then in Go, and on the frontend first in JS, then JS+Flow, and now in JS+Typescript.

Have you worked professionally as a programmer?

Yes! My first paying job was writing ASP.net for a company that serviced small airplanes. Since then I've worked for two non-profits and two fashion companies. I like to think that the arc of my career is bent towards "doing good" in the world. In a time when technology is increasingly (and deservedly) under suspicion, I think that we can use computers for joyful, thoughtful interactions (I love technology that makes me feel expressive like Procreate on the iPad, clear in my thought like nvim, connected like Postcrossing and curious like Khan Academy). I believe computers can be a bicycle for the mind.

I'm fortunate that for all of my life, I've made my living creating things that people use.

Do you have a Computer Science degree or are you seeking one?

Yes! I have a computer science degree from the State University of NY at Geneseo. During my time in college, I also worked in the distributed computing center where I managed a cluster of machines doing distributed physics simulations. I think that lab was far more impactful than the classroom education- I spent time with deeply curious people and exploring their passions. In that lab, I worked on a person detection system using Microsoft Kinect, wrote an iPhone app called Zen Checkers (to explore peer-to-peer networking with Bonjour) and spent SO many hours trying to figure out how to get many X window servers to behave as if they were one (I never got it). It was the kind of place where people would write a problem out on the whiteboard and everyone would write their answers below it and critique each other's solutions. It's also important to me that I went to a liberal arts school. My education exposed me to the humanities, electronics, gardening, maths, astronomy, foreign language, writing, and although I can't always recall specifics I know that these have informed how I think about being a person in the world.

What other commitments (work, life, family) would you have during your batch?

During my batch I can devote most of my focus to thinking, learning, and growing.

I have a nesting partner whom I live with and family I check in with every day but no one needs me to be in a specific place at a specific time. As long as I can text with them and call then I'm good.

With my work, I am currently on sabbatical and I am considering if it is right for me to return to that job or if it's time to find something new.

My biggest concern about spending time at the Recurse Center is the financial cost of being present in NYC for 6-12 weeks.

How did you first hear about RC?

I think I heard about it through Hackernews but it might have been through Julia Evans.

How long ago did you first hear about RC?

3+ years ago, I think.

What convinced you to apply today?

Demographic info

I identify as…

Oh, hi ❤

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