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Hack Reactor Applicant Questions: Program, Projects and Experience

Shawn Drost

After our October 26 Google Hangout (there will be more!) one applicant on their 2nd round of Hack Reactor interviews sent in some questions for our graduates. We connected this applicant with a Hacker in Resident. Below are the Q&A's.

1) What was your favorite project at Hack Reactor?

2) Briefly describe the culture at Hack Reactor?

3) How many hours a day do you put in? ( I know it's 11 hours but I'm sure most of them put far more)

4) How did you pay for Hack Reactor?

5) What was the most challenging part of Hack Reactor for you?

6) What is your background, and what made you decide Hack Reactor was right for you?

 

 

Fav Project: 

From the core curriculum, I probably liked n-queens the most. It was a real mental work-out and definitely made strengthened how I think about code. (Note: a previous group of Hack Reactor alums achieved coverage in

Wired Magazine for their experiment with n-queens to create a super-computer.)

-Culture: I think it's a really positive, hard working culture. Everyone is always there for each other, and you push each other, but there's enough relaxing and camaraderie to make it workable for 12 weeks straight.

- Hours: I generally worked 14 hrs/day from M-Fri. Probably 10-11 on Sat (so I could go hang with friends from roughly 8-midnight), and from about 6-11pm on Sundays.

-Tuition: Loans from parents and friends. (A couple students have also used UpStart.Com, which was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal)

-Challenging: Hack Reactor's entire program is challenging. But in the best way possible.

-Background/Decision: My background was as a musician. Though I'd been working with developers to try and build websites for business ideas several years. I also started a profitable music lessons company in Austin, TX. I taught myself programming through online resources for a year and change. That was all on the side. Then I had to get rid of the developer I had for an iPad app I was working on, and I decided that instead of looking for a new developer, I really wanted to learn how to code myself. So I applied to HR. It was a no-brainer for me. They seemed to fit my style and goals better than anyone else.

For more questions about Hack Reactor's JavaScript focused programming school, feel free to email contact@hackreactor.com.