A Day at da Lab
9–10am — Students arrive depending on their keenness. commute timing and if their is an activity before the lesson.. On tuesdays and thursdays there’s something called coffee and code wherein you do quick ruby exercises with an instructor. I have yet to come, although I should, but my morning routine is INVOLVED.
Oh, and on monday there’s waffles!
10pm -12pm Daily lesson starts.
When I first heard the lesson was only 2 hours I was perturbed. This shit ain’t cheap and two hours did not sound immersive enough for my tastes. HOWEVA — in actuality 2 hours is a shit ton of material and by the end your brain feels like Daffy Duck on cocaine
Generally the lesson starts with an overview of what’s to go down, then some theory that provides both context within what you’ve learned and introduces what you are learning in a macro way. I’m a fan of theory, as most of my engagements with knowledge are broad, as my main education goals are all dinner party conversation orientated.
Then shit get specific. The instructor begins to live code while commentating and taking questions. It’s a good practice to follow along, but it’s difficult to type and give your full attention, particularly when you misspell* something and try to troubleshoot while still attempting to retain knowledge. A good strategy when this happens is to back off from the computer and just listen. If you can’t keep your fingers idle you can always play drum rhythms on your thighs. Nobody ever minds that ever.
Around 11 there is a 5 minute break, which is a time I like to call “Eric’s Double Shot Americano and Gabbing Around the Coffee Machine Time” or EDSAGACMT.
Around 11:30 the instructor informs you that most of the code you’ve struggled to understand is actually redundant because the whole process has been automated into a method long ago.
It’s important to mention at this point that programmers are super lazy. It’s terrific. One of the main tenants of programmer is DRY. This stands for Don’t Repeat Yourself. What this means is that if you write the same line of code twice, you are being an asshole. Almost all computer programming is using code other people have written and manipulating it to do your specific task. It’s a HUGE SCAM! $$$ ;) $$$
Anywho, the instructor then erases a bunch of line of code and replaces it with one line that does the exact same thing and everyone groans.
The first few times this happened it seemed very cruel. But you come to realize that it’s important to understand what some of these processes do. Maturity.
After that it’s a guessing game of retention. I’m usually lost by about the 11:40 mark. The lesson ends around noon and when the lights come on it’s like all the students collectively woke up from a dream that was like the matrix but everyone uses their powers to check out books from the library in bullet time.
Then it’s lunch! “Lunch” runs from 12:00–2:00 but 2–3 times a week there is something going on around 1, be it yoga, guest speakers or site visits. I take my lunch in a liquid vitamin slurry so by 12:05 I’m slurping and working on the assignment. Most students prefer solid actual food.
At 2 the other instructors arrive and the rest of the day is dedicated to working the on the assignment. The assignment is the practical execution of whatever we learned that morning, usually building upon the same program we begun on a previous assignment. If you have problems or need a concept explained further you enter your name and the problem into a service called “QUE” on the bitmaker webapp. The next available instructor then finds whoever is next on the que and helps and assists them. It works the same way as taking a number at a bakery or deli. Except Bitmaker doesn’t smell like delicious meats or breads, but it don’t smell like farts either. Which is something.
These instructors are probably the most valuable service at Bitmaker as they are all very kind, know what they are talking about and are able to translate it into baby language. They are also excellent people to shoot the shit with.
On top of this, there are also shorter lessons called breakouts, wherein an instructor goes over a topic of intrest to a smaller group. These topics are submitted via the breakout section of the Bitmaker web app and people vote on what interests them.
Things wrap up around 6 and if there’s no social or talk that night, people generally go home. On fridays there is a show and tell around 4:30 and you get beer.
OH, and you can play ping pong whenever you wish.
