2017-03-09
I'm three weeks into my batch at the Recurse Center, and time already feels like it's speeding up.
The first week or so was a bit overwhelming - with so many cool people to meet (I still didn't get to know everyone, and I'm still trying), and a new environment that's a bit different to other places I've been before. The second week I felt liked I'd settled in more. I juggled trying to make the most of all the opportunities, and also feel like I was making progress on my projects. In the last couple of days I decided to choose one thing as a main priority each day, and to say no to some of the workshops I'm interested in. One of the best things so far has been programming with other people. I'm still working out how to do that more.
Now that I've had chance to make sense of the experience of being new at RC, I want to write down some of my impressions.
I think the most striking thing about the environment at RC is how positive it is. In a way it is playful, and it's very humanizing. I think this kind of environment is maintained because RC admits people who are friendly and helpful and respectful and curious, has rolling batches, and social rules. But I also think it's being in an environment where that's the norm. One of the things that I've been thinking about since I got here is that people are the result of their surroundings.
When I worked in education I experimented to make classes more cooperative and non coercive. Different things had different degrees of success, but it was limited since I couldn't do much about the teacher/student roles, the attendance requirement, and the wider school/ language center environment. RC doesn't have any of those, and it also feels very immersive.
Before I came to RC I participated in LAB12, where people who are learning programming independently form groups and work on a project together. It is similar to RC in terms of philosophy and it's inclusive, everyone is friendly and helpful and encouraging, there is more focus on process than result. Working with others allowed me to learn new things, and step out of my comfort zone in a way I hadn't been able to while learning by myself. This is how I feel at RC, but in a encompassing way - there is always someone who can help you, or work with you, or discuss a project, or encourage you to take on something difficult. And you are surrounded by others who are working on projects they are curious about, and trying different ways to work together.
The other thing that I have been thinking about, is how knowledge giver/ receiver hierarchies can be challenged. Most people here have a lot more programming experience and knowledge than I do, but everyone knows different things. There usually isn't an assumption that you already know something, and many people are working on something that they don't know much about. I haven't felt self conscious about my limited experience before, but the first couple of times someone asked me if I knew something, or I asked what something was, I felt a little intimidated. But then I noticed that everyone asks questions all the time. Once or twice someone who was working on something I never even knew existed would ask me about something I was doing, and I realized that I had assumed it was simple because I knew about it. How different is that than someone with loads of experience doing the same? Which made me think about how many assumptions and hierarchies there are in interactions. While RC is not separate from the world and the dynamics in it, it feels like there is space here to try to interact with each other in gentler ways.