Recently Nicholas Segura, Founder of LaSTEMA.org interviewed the COO of 42.us.org, a new school in the San Fransisco bay area offering free coding education. Brittney Bir shared many details and answered questions about how the school operates and what individuals who attend can expect to experience.
At a school that has no teachers, no set curriculum and a name that come from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, we wondered how does this work? 42 accepts over 1000 students between 18 to 30 annually and students are in the program for approximately three to five years. Forty percent of the students will be those who are challenged educationally and only 10% may be women but they’re hoping to increase that figure.
The test to apply consist of two puzzles with no directions, they just want you to figure it out. If you can, you may be accepted into the program. If you’re accepted you’ll spend a month in California coding, coding and more coding. After that, final selections are made. Once your accepted, you define your path of education based on software development, gaming, or other coding development language.
Where does this all come from? France. Founder and French billionaire Xavier Neil is the mastermind and funder behind the entire project sinking $100 million of his own money. You can listen to the interview with COO and former student Brittany Bir here.
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