Notes
2025/10/31
After spending 24 weeks at the Recurse Center (most of them in person at the Brooklyn hub), my time in batch (well, two full 12 week batches) has ended and I have recently “never graduated”.
When my first batch ended, I wrote a tail call statement about my first 12 weeks and talked about RC “in numbers”. This time around, I want to focus on the aspects of RC that are harder to quantify.
People join RC for a bunch of different reasons: Some are hacking on side projects while they are between jobs, others choose to spend time at RC because they want to rekindle their love for computing, a few join right after they graduate from high school, college, or as they are about to leave the tech industry.
RC is incredibly self-directed, which means that your experience there can be vastly different from someone else's time in batch, depending on how you choose to spend your time. At the hub, some people work mostly on their own projects on the quiet 5th floor, some spend all their time on the more social 4th floor and jump from pairing session to pairing session.
What made RC unique for me is the atmosphere at the Brooklyn hub, which is unlike any other tech space that I've been in (or any other non-tech space, for that matter). Without exception, everyone I've met at RC has been deeply passionate about their projects, incredibly curious about what others were working on, as well as kind and generous when it came to sharing their perspective and experience.
Being at the hub can often feel so effortlessly creative that it is easy to take the atmosphere for granted. But as with most things that appear effortless, there is a lot of work happening behind the scenes. The RC faculty members are doing an amazing job providing just the right support and structure to ensure that RC remains the inclusive space that it is, where everyone can focus on what interests them the most.
I also deeply appreciated that RC feels different from typical tech spaces, which care much more about the practical and commercial side of tech, to the detriment of exploring topics that might just be beautifully useless and fun. RC is a great place to become a better programmer, but I was surprised it is so much more. I had some of the best conversations in years about art, philosophy and culture while I was at RC.
This was largely thanks to RC being less of a mono culture than most other tech spaces. Yes, there are a ton of extremely talented programmers and tech people at RC, but it is also a great place if you don't want to hear about the latest startup hype and are more interested in tech than the tech industry.
I would urge you to apply especially if you have a non-tech background and are wondering whether RC is right for you.
During the first 12 weeks, I mostly worked on my programming language, Kombucha, gave several (technical and non-technical) talks, hosted RC movie nights, paired a lot, and watched a ton of Buffy.
During week 13 to 24, I mostly worked on a calculus for paradoxical values, continued working on Buffy Bot and slayerfest.org with Victoria, gave even more (technical and non-technical) talks, attended a lot of movie nights as well as my favorite book club (where we read The Annotated Turing), paired a lot, and watched a ton of Buffy.
RC is a highly collaborative experience, so much so that I won't even try to mention everyone who influenced me while I was there. You all know who you are! I couldn't have asked for better batch mates!
Did I mention that RC is not only free, but that they even help you find a job after your batch ends? This recruiting business is how they keep the lights on and I'm extremely happy that I found a job through them that is exactly what I was looking for. Now that my batch is over, I'm joining Arcol to build Figma for architects.
One of the best things about RC is that the hub (and all events) are open to alums, so I'll be at the hub quite a bit even if my batch is over. To all the Recursers, either in batch or alums: See you at movie night!