[Launch School] Community Update - March 13th, 2024

Howdy, everyone! Whoo-eee it's been awhile since you've heard from me! You probably wondered, where's Brandi? I miss her wit...her cat photos...her misadventures. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but it makes me smile, so we'll go with it. Well, I'll tell ya what I've been up to. Making about 200 Python videos! If you're new around here, and on the Python track, that's my voice that's been walking you through those oodles of exercises. Right, but what about the rest of us? We aren't on the Python track, why do we care? Well, I have news. I've studied, I've crunched numbers, I've done research(no I haven't). Turns out, after approximately 10 hours of listening to your own voice, it's no longer cringy. Impossible, right? No really. I'm proof. I used to hear my voice and cringe. Get the ick. Wish it would stop. Like a child thrown into the deep end of a pool, I've learned to swim through my recorded voice, and I'm doin' the backstroke. No more cringe. In fact, I think I have a pretty normal voice. My point is, when you're preparing for your technical interviews and people tell you to record yourself and you say "HA! Okay, sure..." and then move on with your life, you should, instead, actually record yourself. Or maybe we should all just feel a bit less self-conscious. Alright, though I may pretend this is my personal blog that intrigues thousands, let's move on to why you're all really here...Launch School news! --------------------------------------------------------------- Important Updates Chinese New Year Merch 🐉 It's the year of the dragon! 🐉 A year of opportunities, growth, and most importantly, new merch! Check out the [Launch School Shop]( for our newest dragon-themed swag. [Merchandise] Daylight Savings Times have changed. Literally, for many of you. Your clocks have moved forward and it's time to be extra suspicious of your understanding of when an event is scheduled for. Two things to note. First, if you're in the US but not in Arizona or Hawaii, you are now on daylight time. Time to pack away your EST/MST/CST and dust off the good ole EDT/MDT/CDT. Second! Launch School's official time is US Eastern. This means Launch School is now on Eastern Daylight Time. Don't believe me? [Hear it from Pete himself](. Python Study Groups We've been over a month into our three-track era, and we have some up-and-rising Pythonistas (that's a real term) on our hands. We now have both PY100/101 Fundamentals study groups and PY109 Assessment study groups. If you're late into PY101 or preparing for the assessment, the latter is your scene. Earlier on than that, the fundamentals group is for you. Look for the little aqua circles on [the events page](. [Schedule] AMA and Capstone Data With Chris Next week, Chris will be answering your questions with a focus on the state of the market. We know everyone has questions, especially being surrounded by conflicting opinions and uncertainty. Curate your questions and join us. He'll also be sharing the most recent job placement data from the 2023 Capstone cohorts. - Happening on Tuesday, March 19th at 6pm US Eastern - [Register Here]( New Podcast Episode We have another Student Spotlight episode out! In this one, I interview Katelyn, a JavaScript track student. She shares all the deets, from receiving a 'Not Yet' early on in the curriculum, to her approach to using blogging as a tool. - 👀 [Watch Here]( - 🎧 [Listen Here]( - Or find us on your favorite podcast app --------------------------------------------------------------- Routine News Women's Group The Launch School women's group will be meeting for a Q&A With LS Staff member Karis Tobias. Don't miss out! If you're new here, check out the [#ls-womens-group]( for a supportive space for women and enbies. - Happening on Thursday, March 14th at 8pm US Eastern - More Details [here]( Meetups Our cluster of meetups last month made for a quiet one this month! There's at least one in the works in the [#dallasfortworth]( channel for the end of March. Why not lead the charge? Schedule a meetup for your area! Student Articles - Derek shared yet another article, this time on Polymorphism! Ruby is the language, but the concept can apply to many OO languages. [Read Here](derek.novak1/polymorphism-and-its-many-forms-87bd8fd3d0ae) and make sure to leave a clap! - Jack put together [a lovely article](jacksebben.unicyclist/mutating-vs-non-mutating-methods-in-ruby-the-confusing-parts-2c83b7f3b2a8), helpful diagrams and all, covering what it means to mutate objects, reassign them, and what the heck we mean by 'reference'. Thanks, Jack! The Down-Low Garbage is okay! Mai had me worried. I'm a huge fan of Garbage, and he wasn't feeling well. I just wanted to make sure that anyone who didn't see [the follow up video]( knows that he's okay, and back to his regularly scheduled mischief. Oops, I did it again. How many times have you sent a Slack message instead of making a new line? Tons, right? You shouldn't feel shame by the (edited) flag -- wear it as a badge of honor. You don't have to settle for this overly-eager behavior, though. You can change your settings! [Here's the deets](, go ahead and add your favorite time savers and oops-avoiders! AI Video, Blissful or Abysmal? We have AI chatbots, photo generators, and now video generators. Does it excite you? Scare you? Disgust you? I find the extreme polarity of reactions to be intriguing, check out the article and discussion that happens [here in #random-banter](. --------------------------------------------------------------- That's all I've got for ya this time. It occurred to me that it's been many moons since I've shared the cats in my life. Every day I live with the sadness that I don't have a cat (or three) of my own, so I fill that void by petting every cat I come across in my day-to-day, and feeding all the hungry ones. You'll never catch me on the street without a bag of cat food...that's for sure. [Collage] You might've noticed that one of them isn't a cat. That's right, it's a rat. No, I don't make a habit of petting giant rats, but this one is a special mine-sniffing rat that helps clear war debris left over from decades past in rural communities. Imagine, rats helping to protect children at play and farmers at work. How's that for a tearjerker!? Keep up the hard work, everyone! See ya 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](