[Launch School] Community Update - April 24, 2024

Happy Spring, everyone! Brandi here — I've been thinking about our little community here and how we all end up feeling like a bit of a unit. It's not easy, though! It takes effort to feel connected in an online space. What makes you feel more connected than knowing the names and shenanigans of your comrades' furry friends? (Maybe multi-hour study sessions on GatherTown? or bonding over the learning curve of OO JS? Sure, but we can't do any of that in a community update.) Nothing! So, I wanted to check in with some of our regulars and see how they're doing. [Pet Collage] Tormund is suspicious of the new cat (spoiler: it's a balloon). Garbage is eating human food...c'mon Mai, give the poor guy some butter and jam! Tiny is scaling neighbor's houses. Not surprised. Claire is warming up to fellow pooches (stuffies count). Tommy is enjoying spring afternoon outings. Chima and Daisy are enjoying boxes. And, of course, Cheddar is licking Pete's computer (of course, right? 👀). We don't have a picture of Cheddar in the act, but it's too hilarious to not talk about. Whatever you care to bond over, I recommend participating in the LS community. Both in study and leisure. If you aren't as obsessed with pets as I am, besides [#gratuitous_pet_photos](, there are oodles of other casual channels! [#music](, [#chess](, [#launch_school_memes](, [#sports-talk](, and [#random-banter](, to name a few. Join us! --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚀 Onto Launch School news! 🚀 Smooth Start 5 Coming Soon Smooth start is coming back! Keep an eye out for email with instructions on how and when to sign up for our next cohorts. You can read more about what Smooth Start is [here](. New Podcast Episode Last week, we released episode 12, an interview with Software Engineer and Capstone grad, Missy Lovegren. Missy has an exciting story, from working in fine arts to being a TA at Launch School to her career now at New Relic. Please have a listen, and leave us a comment to share your thoughts! 👀 [Watch on YouTube]( 🎧 [Listen in your browser]( 🔍 ...or search for 'Launch School Podcast' on your favorite app Meetups Wow! Remember our last Community Update, in which Philip presented a rather extensive list of upcoming meetups? Well, he wasn't lying! There's been a bunch! [Austin Meetup] The [#austin]( group apparently met to discuss JD running for President. I'm not sure what that's about, but it's expected with JD in attendance—what a goon. [Southern California Meetup] [#california-south]( had a great turnout! There must be a lot of you down there since you packed the place, even with a few cancellations! Nice. 😎 [Vancouver Meetup] [#Vancouver]( has some seriously delicious brunch. Nothing like breaking pancakes together to bond. [Belgrade Meetup 1] [Belgrade Meetup 2] Are you seeing double? Does Srjdan have a secret good twin? No, there were really two meetups in Belgrade since the last community update. I'm not sure if these are meetups or just Srdjan and Joey hanging out. 🧐 There's no Belgrade Slack channel, and I'm not sure there are enough students to warrant it, but if you're in the area, reach out! [Chicago Meetup] Finally, we have sunny [#chicago](. Looks like Spring has sprung all around. Students are thawing enough to flock to the streets! Whew, that was a lot of meetups. Keep 'em coming! Upcoming Meetups #minnesota is meeting on April 27th at 11:30am. Join [the Slack channel]( for the deets! --------------------------------------------------------------- Women's Group The next #ls-womens-group meetup is on Saturday, May 11th, at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern. [Join the Slack channel]( to stay in the loop! --------------------------------------------------------------- Student Articles We must thank Isela this CU, since she's carrying the weight for us with two articles deconstructing powerful Ruby helper methods. This is a great way to practice for a live coding challenge. Always have 3 ways to do the same thing! Read two new articles from her "De-construction Time Again" series, [the first on Enumerable#tally](rosaiselasoriamonzon/through-101-109-ive-come-across-many-of-ruby-s-power-methods-methods-that-do-the-heavy-9a049e660b4f) and [the second on Enumerable#sort_by](rosaiselasoriamonzon/deconstruction-time-again-enumerable-sort-by-fe9d4aeeb65f). Thanks, Isela! --------------------------------------------------------------- The Down Low Time for the segment of the Community Update where I share the most interesting conversations on Slack! Do we need a #swifties channel? [Justin Asked](, and I, for one, would happily lurk. I'm almost afraid to call myself a Swifty; it feels like a title of honor. Have I earned it? Maybe there needs to be more for a #swifties channel, but we can certainly take over a corner of the #music channel. Chris' Pre-Launch School Era I know it's hard to imagine that Chris has ever done anything besides Launch School. [Check out this screenshot of his startup from over a decade ago!]( Mostly, though, go harass Chris about his terrible idea of bringing back gradient buttons. 🤢 I see you, 10-fire emojis, and I don't find it funny. He can't tell that you're joking! What's your worst "This can't be happening during an assessment" story? [Sara's is pretty extreme](. This may be worth a new thread where we share the absurd things we do to prepare for assessments and the awful, Murphy's Law-worthy events in the middle. I used to keep a snack with me...just in case. As if the adrenaline of a 3-hour written assessment will let me casually eat a banana real quick. 😅 --------------------------------------------------------------- [Sun Bear] Well, that's all for now. Keep up the hard work so you can someday relax as hard as this rescued Sun Bear I met last week. Someone's gotta hold the hammock down, am I right? Sabaidee! --------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to stop receiving emails from us, you can use the one-click link below to unsubscribe. [Unsubscribe From All Email]( [Unsubscribe From Weekly Summaries](