[Launch School] Community Update - February 17th, 2020

Hello, everybody! It's time, once again, for a Community Update! Here's some of what is happening in the Launch School community. Launch School News We've launched a new initiative for students just completing RB109 or JS109: share your Launch School experience or thoughts on social media (Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) and receive a $20 credit. If you've recently completed RB109, read about the initiative [here](; if you've recently completed JS109, read about [here](. This is completely optional and we're trying to spread the word in a tasteful way without overhyping or overpromising what we do. If you've enjoyed your time here at Launch School so far, we encourage you to help us spread the word and get $20 credit for it. Podcast -- Season 2, Episode 2 with Julius Zerwick I recently chatted with Capstone graduate and frequent Launch School Tech Talk speaker, Julius Zerwick, about his Software Engineer job at DigitalOcean, software salaries in NYC, the importance of soft skills, pros/cons of coding bootcamp vs Launch School, and his upcoming book, Make Sense of Distributed Systems from Manning. [Check it out!](. Got a job after the Core Curriculum (without Capstone)? If you got a job during or after completing the Core Curriculum without participating in Capstone, please [share your experiences](. We have a lot of folks who can't participate or aren't interested in Capstone, but they want to know that their efforts in Core aren't wasted. Core without Capstone can also lead to good results. In fact, I'd say Core results are on par with most other coding bootcamps at a fraction of the cost. Tell us your story! Tech Talks - Tomorrow (Feb 18th) What happens when a team faces an extended, complex incident that forces them to reevaluate their distributed system's performance and reliability? In [Case Study: Improving a Distributed System Post-Incident on Feb 18](, Julius will take us on a deep dive into such an incident faced by the software-defined networking team at DigitalOcean. This incident lead them to reevaluate their system's architecture and overhaul key areas in their codebase to improve monitoring, testing, database interactions, reliability, and system performance. Register and attend for free! In the same talk, Julius also explores how DigitalOcean's practices & processes cultivate a blameless culture which enables teams to rally together during high-pressure incidents. [Join us on Feb 18]( as we explore this case study in how a team of engineers can improve a distributed system post-incident (free for all)! - Are you curious about what Launch School students can do just halfway through the Core Curriculum? Holden talked about just that in his talk, My Adventures Building Maze Craze – Dissecting Problems One Step at a Time. Get ready to be inspired as he demonstrates what's possible after completing LS170 in the Core Curriculum. Check out [the recording]( if you missed the talk! Study Groups and Other Events Our study groups continue to meet on a regular basis, with groups meeting several times a week. These groups are a great way to prepare for the assessments for our earliest courses; if you're preparing for an assessment, be sure to check them out! The next few sessions planned are as followed: - [JS109 (Feb 24)]( - [RB129 (Feb 19)]( - [RB109 (TBA)]( We also have occasional informal groups, such as the Launch School Women's Group, which has its next meeting scheduled for [Feb 29](. All events are free, though most have limited seating availability. Monitor the [Community Forum]( for news of future events. If you would like to host an informal group, please let me know -- together, we can make it happen! If you live in or near New York City, there's a meetup scheduled for February 23rd at Beer Authority! Come meet your fellow Launch School students and alumni. Check out the [#new-york channel on Slack]( for more details! --------------------------------------------------------------- Archives are in the [Resources tab](. See you next time! Do you enjoy reading student contributions? Consider writing something yourself! We give Launch School cash credit for articles accepted in our [Medium publication](. We also offer a $200 credit for [Tech Talk]( presentations. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](