Are there pricing options for developers that aren't in this position? The platform looks great, but $80/month on a personal subscription feels really steep.
Great thing is that I built it for myself as a way of sharing my data science portfolio (https://nbs.isaacaderogba.com/spacy-entities-model)! I decided to make it a general tool in case others wanted to use (and pay) for it. There's comfort in knowing that there'll always be at least one user.
I attended Lambda School from April-November 2019. I was in the Web Dev unit for 4 months and a Team Lead for the remainder. I got a job early so didn't get to do Labs or Computer Science, though I've heard they weren't great experiences. I'm not 100% looped in what's happening with Lambda anymore (they removed the Alumni from the student Slack channels), but I hope they're able to turn things around.
For what it's worth, I did enjoy my time there. It helped me get over anxiety around tackling projects, and it gave me a taste of what fast-paced learning looks like. Was also able to use what I learned for Pioneer and YC. That said, it does feel weird to be on the hook for €27,500 - for what was effectively 4 months of instruction in my case.
As an alternative to getting a textbook, I would strongly recommend Krista King's maths courses. They're available through Udemy or her personal website [1][2].
Each section has a 1) written explanation, 2) video explanation with an exercise walkthrough and a 3) set of exercises. Each exercise also has a well-written walkthrough in case you can't solve them.
I've been working through them part-time for 4 months now, and it's honestly the first time that maths has clicked for me (I've found that most books tend to skip concepts which leave me lost).
I'm not sure the perks are what encouraged me to apply in the first place. They always sort of felt like a nice add-on. Rather, it was for validation that what I was building seemed valuable. Perhaps this ties in to your status signalling point.
Also, it was refreshing to be able to compete on weekly progress as opposed to writing some lengthy business application.
Pioneer and Entrepreneur First are probably the most compelling attempts of rethinking the accelerator.
Haven't contributed to the Pioneer community too much (also backed), but it's clear that things are picking up internally with frequent talks, office hours and "remote dinners" - the first of which is tomorrow.
Really excited to see what other companies spin out of Pioneer
This seems to align with my experience, particularly your first point.
For context, I’m working as an Associate Product Manager (so not quite a Product Engineer) but I had applied for a job at a Start-up company that I found extremely interesting. Had an initial interview but didn’t hear back from the company for about a month. I had also sent follow up e-mails about this.
When I eventually did hear back from them, they apologised for their delay but then spun me with a homework assignment that would have taken at least 2 days. Safe to say, I kindly declined.
So yeah, really focus on how you’re recruiting for talent.
May not be exactly what you're looking for, but I find being exposed to abstract ideas quite helpful. An easy way to bring this sort of novelty into your life could be to watch a ~10 minute Ted Talk daily.
Ideally, you would then become more responsive to problems and have a wider solution set that perhaps doesn't just involve software.