Sharing Nicely

One of the many cool things about being a Shuttleworth Foundation fellow is that I get to give away a “Flash” grant each year to people who are doing cool stuff. It’s a no strings (almost) attached 5000 USD and could be a first step towards a full fellowship application.

I decided to give my Flash grant to David Albert who started something called Hackerschool in New York City. I liked that Hackerschool shares a lot of similar spirit with P2PU and yet it is completely different at the same time.

Read the FAQ for all the details, but in a nutshell – David (and his collaborators) run an intensive face-to-face immersion course for web developers, he compares it to a writers workshop, with an interesting sustainability model. The school itself is free for participants, but companies desperate to hire developer talent pay Hackerschool for recommendations and referrals. Brilliant idea and since they are about to launch round 3 it seems to be working.

Speaking of round 3, applications are open! (And if you have a space in Manhattan or Brooklyn that they could use, send them an email! They were at NYU and Spotify in the past. You’ll be in good company.)

Congratulations to David for his success, and a shout out for the Shuttleworth Fellowship. The Flash grants are a nice addition to an already terrific model.