Silicon Valley swimming at 42 Piscine
I found out about Xavier Niel and the 42 programming school not so long ago. When I saw “free tuition” and “silicon valley” in the same sentence I was pretty convinced that something was wrong (and… I was wrong). How can a top-notch school in the middle of Silicon Valley (or Paris) be 100% free? So, I decided to look deeper into it and not so long thereafter I was entirely convinced I needed to try it.
A simple peer–to-peer learning environment that isn’t actually that simple, but very effective when it comes to progressing together. It is all about people, collaboration, [teamwork] and progress! Sometimes long hours were stronger than body stamina and yet we remained strong as a real team.
I have never learned that much before in my life and, for those asking about my background and why I decided to code, take a look at my other article “From Economist to real Coder with Le Wagon”. First day at Piscine! Everyone was very energetic and wanted to give their best! People from all over the world with a very wide range of backgrounds but with one thing in common: everyone one was really smart! Let’s work!
We started learning bash commands and how to use the terminal, git etc. There were no classes and no teachers, just you, Google and your peers! Amazing how I felt in the very beginning. I knew nothing, literally nothing! So what do you do? you google it, then you google it again, then you ask your friend on the right, ask your friend on the left, sometimes you go around the lab and ask different people, sometimes you google it again.
After a couple of days, we started learning c. Yes, c! And again I found myself in a miserable position of knowing nothing! If you wanna know how I solved this time, loop over the previous paragraph. Loop again. We manage to repeat that 25 days in a row, averaging 13 hours/day at the lab! Was that mandatory? No, but was a lot of fun!
My biggest lesson at 42: “We only need the best!” bul$&!#
How many times have you heard a school or company claiming that they only want the best? The tops! Crème de la crème. Most of them need to say that to actually promote their name. There just aren’t “the best”!
42 is not looking for “the best”. 42 seeks those who can be part of something bigger! Those who were born to code, actually love coding, enjoy coding, relish learning how to code and — last but not least — enjoy teaching others how to code! (I just want to advertise this is my personal opinion and has nothing related to the actual selection process of 42, it just my feeling.)
I took part in some people’s daily coding work. My goal was to make as much progress as possible and also make my peers’ tasks easier. Do you think you may try the 42 Piscine? If you have only 1 small reason to go, just go for it. It is almost impossible to accurately describe a feeling, you have to live it.
I’m sure there is room for everyone, managing your time is crucial. Work hard, eat, rest and enjoy every minute. Good luck!
