[Launch School] Community Update - April 1st, 2020

Community Update: April 1, 2020 I hope this Community Update finds everybody healthy and coping well with the Coronavirus pandemic and its various effects. Things may be difficult for some time, but Launch School will remain online and available even with the uncertainty and challenges we're all going to face in the coming months. We also have a Covid-19 hardship scholarship for our current students (more on that below). Since Launch School is entirely online, our operations will change little. Students may continue to study at their own pace, and staff will be here to provide help and guidance for your pursuit of a new career. Launch School News My webinar on "How to Navigate a Recession for Software Engineers" was very popular. Unfortunately, the demand was so overwhelming that we couldn't accommodate everybody who wanted to attend. I've posted a [recording of the webinar]( so you can still listen in. We're also offering $25,000 in initiatives that cover 3 areas: - hardship scholarships, - tuition-reimbursement work opportunities, and - no-interest loans. These initiatives are aimed at people experiencing hardships resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Please only apply for these if you really need the assistance. For more information, please see my post on the [Covid-19 situation](. Applications will be considered until end of this week. Podcast: Importance of studying together and community I asked Gabe, Ben, and Arthur to come on the podcast the other day to share their story about how they, as a group, are supporting and helping each other through the Core curriculum and talk about the importance of community. In this episode, we’ll shed some light in how you can get the best of both worlds. How you can have a community and have a group-based support structure while also reaping the benefits of mastery-based learning. You can listen from your favorite podcast app by searching for "Launch School" or listen from the browser [on our podcast website](. Study Groups and Other Events The 'cloud' can sound like an abstract, scary place to new developers. What does it mean to actually spin up a server 'in the cloud' or host a website out there? In [this recently recorded Tech Talk](, Ido Moskovich makes 'the cloud' a little more concrete by walking through the process of hosting a simple web server on Digital Ocean, a cloud provider. Of course, our online study groups can continue to meet regularly. These groups are a great way to prepare for assessments, so be sure to check them out! They're also a great way to meet other students and form support groups as you make your way through the rest of the curriculum. The next few scheduled sessions are as follows: - [RB129 (Apr 1st)]( - [RB109 (Apr 5th)]( - [RB109 (Apr 6th)]( - [JS109 (Apr 6th)]( We're also starting some new beginner study groups for students working their way through JS100/JS101 and RB100/RB101, but not yet preparing for the assessments: - [RB100/RB101 (Apr 3rd)]( - [JS100/JS101 (Apr 3rd)]( The Launch School Women's Group will continue meeting as well. Their next gathering is set for [Apr 25th](. 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! However, for the time being, we don't recommend face-to-face groups. As a result, the Toronto meeting that was scheduled for last week was postponed until the situation improves. Student Articles Our Medium publication also continues apace. Recent articles include the following: - Daniel Lew offers up a short article that talks about reaching the [Halfway Point of Launch School]( - On the more technical side, Kyle Ledoux presents [Kyle's (Somewhat Poignant) Guide to Subjectively Thinking Objectively](, a fun and whimsical look at using object-oriented programming. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](