My time at the Recurse Center

The Recurse Center describes itself as “a self-directed, community-driven educational retreat for programmers in New York City”. In Spring 2019, I spent three months there, and loved it! At MRMCD 2019, I gave a (German) talk to share my experiences!

You can open the slides here, and here’s a recording:

Alternatively, you can find a recording on YouTube.

Content of the talk

The Recurse Center is a continuous experiment on how to build and maintain a healthy, diverse, and inclusive Community. Over many years, it established some structures and traditions which I really liked, like the weekly feelings check-in, or the coffee chat bot, which supports people getting know each other quickly in a group. I think many of these ideas can be transfered to other communities.

There are four simple social rules, which promote mindful and kind behaviour, and lead to an environment where people can focus on learning from each other. What happens at RC is almost completely shaped by the participants - they are trusted to know best how to structure their time, in the tradition of the Unschooling movement.

This is a quite personal talk where I tell the story of how I got into the Recurse Center, what I did and learned there.

Comments?

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