Becoming a better Programmer: From Nairobi to NYC

It's a cool campaign!<p>What's funny though, is that I want to contribute, but I'd rather contribute in a more tangible way: i.e. buying her the laptop or plane ticket rather than just putting money in the communal pot. For some reason, it'd make my contribution feel more meaningful, more tangible. Like if she ends up building a kickass startup 10 years from now, I'd get to say "Oh yeah, I gave her her first laptop!" rather than "Oh yeah, I gave her 50$ via indiegogo".<p>Maybe there's room for such a model: a kickstarter style website where individuals who need specific hardware/goods can get them purchased by third parties.<p>Just musing around here.

I hope she can get her tourist visa. It's by no means guaranteed, coming from Kenya. I also hope there are mechanisms in place to return the funds to the donors if she can't make it due to rejected visa.

A crowd-sourced scholarship fund would be a great addition to programs like Hacker School. If Hacker School themselves handle giving out funds to participants who have a financial need, a lot more people would benefit, even those who don't have a social media presence or can't get to the HN front page.

I feel so genuinely happy for her seeing that the community is helping her out. I also wanted to apply for Hacker School but it was way expensive so I dropped the idea altogether. But now I think I am going to put in effort into saving/earning the money to get there and apply for the next batch.

Interesting, I didn't know that Hacker School was completly free, but given that it has small room for new students... it can be complicated to get into.<p>Anyways I live 8600km away from New York, would be difficult :P

Sounds like an exciting an opportunity. I'd love the chance to work with someone like this some day, so chipping in is a no brainer. It also emphasizes the most positive approach to engineer education.<p>Good luck!

After all there is justice in this world, i'am really happy about Martha. Everyone should have a chance to learn, if they really want to do that.

How exciting...Venturing not just into the hacker field, but to New York City (I'm assuming for the first time). I wonder what it'd be like to try to learn programming while traveling...my first thought was, this city is way too damn distracting and tempting to be studious...on the other hand, the ease of transportation and the diversity of activity has its upside for foreign students

I am sorry, I HAVE to ask out of personal curiosity and to play devil's advocate...<p>What tells me "Martha" even exists and that she was admitted to hackerschool and will actually go to NYC with the money she just begged for? Even the twitter and github accounts could be part of an elaborate scam. Plus she asked for around $4000, by now has raised quite a bit more. Will that surplus be donated to further her "cause" (if there even is one) and support other girls to join her? Or is that just going to be nice pocket change?<p>To further satisfy my own curiosity, why is donating to her more "ok" and others asking for money are just "beggars"? Or would you donate to some random e.g. white guy who would ask for a couple of thousands for a nice trip like that? Would you consider donating to a person who is in a stable living condition but simply could not afford a trip to NYC or Berkeley? Or do you have to be third world and implied broke to apply for that? Which I don't think she is, by the way.<p>Also, why is "women in IT" a cause that even needs supporting? How would the world be better off with more women in IT - when actually nothing is really keeping most girls from getting into IT, unless there are local equal-rights shortcomings to keep girls out of ALL education; in my own experience, for whatever reason, most of the women I have met do not want to and actually say they hate all that technical stuff. The ones that did want to start programming, they worked hard at it and picked the right university; unfortunately many of those who did simply failed the programming exams or other technical courses. The remaining rest who wanted to be in IT and made the cut, they are doing just fine... it's just a small percentage and I do not think this is the case because anyone is actively keeping girls "out" - and I doubt things are going to somehow be "better" if only there were more girls in IT.<p>And aren't there local institutions to help people like her to further her education? I am quite sure there have got to be, even in Africa. Even for nice trips like that.<p>So, at the end of the day all I see so far is, you are supporting a romantic story and at first glance, that is tugging too many heart strings so it naturally sets off my "scam" alert. Please do prove me wrong! I am honestly curious.<p>Finally, most importantly, even if all she said is true: There are people simply dying not too far away, I think 5000 or the surplus 1000 could buy a good amount of actually very cheap but vital medicine to keep locals from dying under horrible conditions, to give them back their eye sight and keep their babies from starving.<p>So all the doubts aside, let's cut to the chase: WHY should I or anyone finance a nice NYC trip for Martha while that is going on and she can very well pick up ALL the necessary skills right where she is, over the internet, for free? Just like pretty much all "hackers" did.<p>Why does she ask for money instead of asking the community to support her with knowledge and skills?

I can name quite a few low score threads in the "New" section that are more interesting and relevant to the hackers amongst us than this. IMHO there is something rotten about the outcomes of the HN frontpage promotion mechanism nowadays.

This is cool, but to be a little OT: every time I see "Hacker School" I get a little more confused.<p>Being a hacker isn't something you can teach someone. It's a mindset. You either have it or you don't. I think most people can understand this, so then "Hacker School" would imply that it's a school for hackers. This is somewhat confirmed by their about page:<p>&#62; You should genuinely enjoy programming. That's most important. We spend our time talking about technical problems and writing code, not working on startups and products. If you care more about startups than coding, you won't enjoy Hacker School. We look for curiosity, passion, raw intelligence and a desire to build things. The best way to show us this is to have a track record of writing code and learning new things. If you're a smart, curious person who loves coding, it will come out naturally. Don't try to trick us. It probably won't work and it won't get you what you want anyway.<p>Sounds like a description of a hacker to me. But then I get confused about why "Hacker School" was chosen. You go to "Law School" to learn about law, to become a lawyer, not because you already are one and just want to improve. You go to (a good) "Game School" to learn to build video games, not because you already build video games.<p>So I guess in summary: "Hacker School" seems inappropriately named. Perhaps "Hacker Bootcamp" would be more fitting, given the goals of the school, or even "School for Hackers"? I guess both sound less likely to drum up sensationalist media headlines, though.