Tech Bootcamps in Palestine

I went to Gaza in the summer of 2016 and did a mini-AMA here on HN [0]. In short, it was a tremendously rewarding experience and I&#x27;d highly recommend it. The Gazans I met were driven, friendly, and very curious about what life in the states was like.<p>Happy to answer any questions not addressed on the site.<p>[0] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11858963" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11858963</a>

Visited Palestine in 2016 - such humble people and sad to see how they are treated. This is an awesome initiative and would be awesome to help out with.

I visited Palestine last year and met a few university students. They were so hungry to learn but lacked the resources. Great initiative.

As someone who lives in the region I am delighted to see initiatives like this. I wish in the future companies and personals will create bonds across the harsh borders.

Honest question : there are a few engineers in SV that are jews. Are they allowed to come in ? (and is it safe for them to do so ?)

I applied. Who knows, maybe my job will let me take a month off :)

If I apply, do I need go through israeli cutoms&#x2F;police&#x2F;checkpoints?<p>I might have problems or be expelled

This is a cool initiative.<p>I&#x27;ve always been a bit bummed that as software engineers, there tend to be less overseas volunteering opportunities than other forms of engineering.<p>I&#x27;ll be honest and admit that I just want to go to cool places and do work there. There&#x27;s always lots of roles for civil and mechanical engineers, as well as doctors, but there&#x27;s never much need for software engineers in the jungles of Cambodia or the beaches of the Solomon Islands.

Unfortunately the only reasons these &quot;bootcamps&quot; exist is to creater cheaper workforce for tech companies. They don&#x27;t provide good education, just specialization in the areas that the tech companies decided they want.

I traveled to Gaza to mentor with Gaza Sky Geeks in December. While I was there Trump decided to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the leader of Hamas decided to respond by declaring a &#x27;Day of Rage&#x27;. My writeup of that experience here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@gillianim&#x2F;what-its-like-in-gaza-on-a-day-of-rage-8940ce42871" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@gillianim&#x2F;what-its-like-in-gaza-on-a-day...</a> The TL;DR is that the majority of Palestinians are trying to live normal lives and don&#x27;t care much about international political chess. As a foreigner I felt completely safe. Many Jewish people have mentored at Gaza Sky Geeks and had no issue. I traveled through the Erez checkpoint and didn&#x27;t have my passport stamped, though I&#x27;m pretty sure some malware got installed on my computer when they took it away for &#x27;screening&#x27;. Logistically, I had to apply for permits about two months in advance, and you never know whether you&#x27;ll get in or not; but all in all my experience at all checkpoints and entrance&#x2F;exit to Israel was straightforward. It was an incredible experience all around and I was so impressed with the Palestinian people in Gaza that I met. Happy to answer any questions for people thinking of going!

Is Gaza still controlled by Hamas?

i haven&#x27;t been to palestine (yet) but one of my closest friends is palestinian from west bank (and i&#x27;ve been following the occupation closely since i met him 10 years ago). it is astonishing to me that they&#x27;re running this in gaza as well as west bank. i wish them well and wish i could support the effort somehow.

gotta be careful, might get bombed by the israeli&#x27;s

You don&#x27;t need an expensive coding bootcamp. I honestly think you&#x27;ll get more value from something like <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edabit.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edabit.com</a> or http&#x2F;&#x2F;codewars.com