[Launch School] Community Update - November 8th, 2023

Hello, everyone! It's me, Brandi, here to catch you up on all things Launch School. But first, indulge me as I talk about myself 💁🏼‍♀️. I've left Wyoming behind, just in time to avoid snow boots and puffies. In fact, our plane took off from Montana as a blizzard, responsible for a 12 hour storm warning threatening 10 inches of snowfall rolled in. If you dread the season and have to do the penguin shuffle to avoid falling on ice, sorry! If you're pulling out the ski boots or cozy winter novels, congrats! Anywho, I've relocated to Asia. I'm writing this from a bullet train, destined for somewhere between Tokyo and Kyoto. Exactly where, I'm not sure, as the details are part of a top-secret-need-to-know-birthday-surprise-weekend. That's right, I'm celebrating my solar return. A week in Tokyo has me feeling 22, though I'll not be disclosing my true rotation count. 👀 Here's a collage sampling some of the incredible Japanese food we've had so far: [Tokyo Collage] Enough of that, we've had a busy few weeks at Launch School...here's the latest: 🎙️ Launch School Podcast: Season 5 I'm absolutely tickled to be announcing that Season 5 of the Launch School podcast is just around the corner! Monday, November 13th we'll be releasing the first episode of the season, followed by new episodes every other week. I'll share a few teasers from the season, but no spoilers! - Hear Capstone graduates share their experiences both day to day on the job as well as reflections from their Capstone experience. - You'll hear from Chris himself on how Launch School came to be, the iterations it's been through, and why it's landed on what we all know now. - Gain insight from current Launch School students who share their wins and struggles, including open talk of receiving and overcoming a 'Not Yet'. That sounds absolutely excellent, Brandi. How can I listen? Thanks for asking! You can search "Launch School" on any of the podcast apps you currently use, or listen from your browser [here](. Now's a great chance to catch up on previous seasons while we await Monday. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🤝 Smooth Start Success If you're new to Launch School, Smooth Start probably feels like it's always been around. Another checkbox to mark as a new student gaining your footing here. It hasn't always been that way! Smooth Start is a fairly new concept with only a couple of cohorts under its belt. It's clear that it's been a smashing success, with a ton of participation and super generous volunteers. All of us here at Launch School are so grateful to both the smooth start leads for volunteering their time, as well as the participants for showing up with open minds and enthusiasm every week. Karis [wrote a lovely article]( reflecting on the success of Smooth Start and this epic community we're all a part of. 🥹 --------------------------------------------------------------- 💬 Student Articles - Being a student at Launch School takes time and energy. All of us are making sacrifices to partake in our journeys here. Katelyn has written (yet another) insightful article, [On My Path to Mastery](, about what mastery means to her and how her life has changed since starting Launch School. - Another student, Ewa, has written an excellent read, [A short article about refactoring (in Ruby)](eva.barczykowska/a-short-article-about-refactoring-in-ruby-a66fd33149a5). She covers what it means to refactor, and a lovely walkthrough problem showcasing her strategies. - Irina has shared a rather vulnerable story of her 6 month journey to pass the JS129 Object Oriented Programming assessment. [Can’t study? Teach.]( is a great read if you're concerned about your pace through the curriculum or interested in tips on knowing when you're ready to take an assessment. Thanks, Irina! - Nathan has written a very [informative article]( introducing us to Talon Voice. No idea what that is? Read on. To summarize, Nathan has chronic RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury), which limits his ability to use a mouse and keyboard. Talon Voice is super powerful diction software! I get the feeling that all of us chronic-computerists could benefit from being comfortable with this sort of technology. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🍕 Meet Ups [#chicago]( got together last week to bond over mastery based learning and pizza: [Chicago Meetup] Coming up next week, [#miami-ft-lauderdale]( is having a meet up. If you're a Floridian LSer, now's your chance! They'll be meeting at The Alchemist Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale on November 18th at 11:30am local time. Make sure to join a channel near you to stay in the loop. --------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Events As a quick reminder, Launch School is now back to ⏰ Eastern Standard Time ⏰. If you have a habit of manually translating times, make sure you don't fall into an off-by-one error these coming weeks! 🎓 Capstone Info Session - Misconceptions - What: Capstone staff Max and Nick will be answering FAQs, debunking Capstone myths, and taking questions from attendees. This is an excellent opportunity to either get a feel for what Capstone is as a current or prospective student or prepare for your Capstone journey if your cohort is coming up. - When: November 16th, 4pm US Eastern - [More Info]( and [Registration]( 👋 LS Women's Group: Q&A - What: The regularly scheduled Women's Group will be meeting later this month for a chat and games. This is a lovely community, so join them! - When: Sunday, November 26th, 12pm US Eastern - Registration: Make sure you've joined the [#ls-womens-group]( Slack channel to receive a zoom link on the day of. The women's group is open to all women and enby students. ✏️ Upcoming Workshops - How to Style Your Webpages: CSS Basics for Beginners will be presented on Thursday, November 9th at 6pm US Eastern. Let Trevor's know-how cascade onto you. [Register here]( - Collaboration in the Metaverse at Launch School is a new workshop, hosted by JD as an introduction and tutorial of Gather Town, the virtual meeting space for student collaboration. Happening on Tuesday, November 14th at 6pm US Eastern, come get inspired to go meet your next study buddy! [Register here](. - On Thursday, November 16th, 6pm US Eastern, you can once again join JD for his workshop, Effective Note-Taking Strategies for Aspiring Coders. Get organized and introduced to the right tools for the journey to mastery. [Register here](. - From Student to Alum: Carolina Answers Your Launch School Questions is happening Tuesday, November 28th at 6pm US Eastern. Join me for a chat with Carolina, a Capstone grad now working as a software engineer at Liberty Mutual. Bring your questions! [Register here]( I've highlighted the next 4 workshops, but there are more in the pipeline! If you're new around here, workshops are free and open to everyone. You don't even have to be a subscribed Launch School student. You can find all upcoming workshops [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Down Low As always, the LS community is ripe with fun facts, opinions, and ideas. Here's a few chats that happened these last few weeks: - Sore fingers? Not anymore. [This thread]( has a ton of useful suggestions, whether you're looking for an excuse to buy some new tech, or just needing a bit of motivation to do some finger stretches. Personally, shredding a tech deck daily keeps my hands nimble and pain-free. (Just kidding, my nephew informed me what a tech deck is just last week, but have you seen what some people can do with those things? Talk about finger sports) By the way, remember the student article I mentioned up there 👆? This is the thread that inspired it! - A capstone grad shared a super cool site that tours the history and artifacts of the internet. Clare, this one has Monty Python references, don't miss out! Find [the thread here](, along with the accompanying banter. - After a great conversation with fellow student, Benjamin, a new slack channel was born for the neurodivergent students of Launch School! If you thought you were alone, boy were you wrong. There's some seriously considerate and thoughtful conversation happening at [#ls-neurodivergent-group](, but there's also hilarious memes. --------------------------------------------------------------- 😿 A Sad Goodbye Every once in awhile we must say goodbye. The time has come that we lose another TA to Capstone. Rachele, you've been an incredibly kind, calm, and insightful resource for so many students, myself included. Whatever Capstone team you join, and company thereafter, they're lucky to have you. We're all eager to see where you go! 🚀 --------------------------------------------------------------- Whew, That was a long one! Since I can't seem to make it through a community update without supplying a cute animal pic, I'll leave you all with this parliament of owls from an owl cafe we went to. I know, I know, why would I choose an owl cafe over a cat cafe? Well, the cats are just humaned out and have no interest in the visitors. I get it. The owls, however, get limited visitors and are very into human scratches. I even got groomed by one. 🥹 10/10 recommend. [Owls] Yes, that owl is holding a toy cow. What a world. Happy Studying, everyone! See you next time. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](