[Launch School] Community Update - March 10th, 2023

Hi everyone, it's Clare again with an update full of free stuff! (Don't miss out on our gift for all Launch School subscribers from Gergely, see below.) I'm currently in the middle of moving house and have been gifted various items from lovely neighbors to help with the enormous task of packing everything up and moving it three doors down the road! To reward all these wonderful people, my daughter and I will be baking some of these to share around: [cream tea] Scones are easier to make than accidentally creating a global variable in JavaScript, so check out this [recipe]( and see for yourself. Apparently, they can be frozen, but I don't understand why you wouldn't just eat them all, frankly. These are a great British tradition, but there is a lot of controversy, so beware: - Firstly, they are scones, which rhymes with "stones" (this is a hill I am willing to die on) - Secondly, cream then jam (you wouldn't put jam on toast then butter, the cream is the fat, so it goes on first. If you're from Devon, you will agree with me; if you're from Cornwall, you're wrong) - Thirdly, this must be served as "afternoon tea" with tea (not coffee) (and the milk goes in after the tea bag is removed, not before, but using a teapot is the bee's knees) (I am a lot of fun at parties 🥴) Wish me luck, since we need to vacate our house by next week. Onto Launch School news... --------------------------------------------------------------- Important Updates Gift from Gergely Chris usually organizes a holiday gift for everyone with an active Launch School subscription. This year it was delayed while Chris was looking for the perfect present, and he found it when he connected with Gergely Orosz. For more details on how to claim your free gift, please see this [reddit post](. You need to hurry because the deadline is March 14th! [tech resume book cover] Copy and Paste on assignments This is not anything new. We have always had a policy prohibiting copy-and-paste answers from our material into assessments. However, we are updating this policy to be a little more strict. From now on, if copy-and-paste responses are detected on an assessment, you will receive an immediate Not Yet. Be careful to ensure your answers are in your own words. For more information, check out this [post](. Daylight savings It's that time of year when we lose an hour. At 2am, March 12th, Launch School will switch from US Eastern Standard Time to US Eastern Daylight time. See this [post]( for more details. [daylight savings] (If you are in a different part of the world like me, you may need to be extra vigilant about time zones for the next couple of weeks - in the UK (and Europe), daylight savings doesn't come around for another two weeks, just to add to the confusion!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Routine Updates Meetups Weirdly, I don't have a photo from a recent New York meetup. I do have one from Portland, Oregon, though, where not one but two of our very own TAs attended. I am curious as to what is in Alex's takeout box. Was it a freebie?! [portland meetup] Coming up: - If anyone out there is in [#oklahoma](, there is a meetup planned in Tulsa at 9:30am on Saturday, March 11th at [Kilkenny's Irish Pub]( - [#new-york]( have a meetup scheduled on Saturday, March 11th, 1.30pm, at [Jaxc&Co](, Long Island City, Queens - #chicago is meeting on Saturday, March 25th, at 12pm, at Sbarro Pizza (100 W. Randolph Street, Chicago). Join the [#Chicago]( slack channel to keep up with the details - Finally, [#new-england]( are planning a meetup for April 8th, details TBD Don't forget to put these gatherings in our [events calendar]( to advertise them to a broader audience. Also, remember to look through the Slack channels to find out if there is a region near you, and feel free to create a new group if there isn't one already 🙂. Women's Group We have our regular Launch School Women's Group coming up on Sunday, March 19th, at 12pm EST (link [here](). This will be a popular topic: "Mental Health and Handling Stress During Launch School." We often share tips to keep healthy during our meetups, so it will be great to have a session dedicated to this topic. Student articles The last update was a bumper one with student articles, so, unsurprisingly, this time is a bit leaner. Still, Weston has a great [article]( about his reflections on his experiences at Launch School over the last three years. Additionally, [Faaz]( shared a [ted talk]( he had come across about a free solo climber achieving mastery while climbing El Capitan, which is an interesting and exciting watch. Finally, [Eamon]( shared a couple of articles he found on gender in programming. These are well worth checking out if this is an issue of interest to you. There is a lot of information in these articles, including the importance of being deliberate about the kind of community you are trying to build if you want to improve the gender balance in your organization. [articles photo medley] Prep workshops We are in the fourth cycle of running these free workshops and are beginning to hand the baton over to the next generation of the TA team. Last week, JD covered "A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your Development Environment." This week: - Wendy will review "Functions & Variable Scope in JS." - Brandi will cover "Methods & Variable Scope in Ruby." - Trevor will be back running his ever-popular session on "Tips & Tricks for Maximizing Your Learning Potential." You may have noticed that the titles of some of the workshops have changed. The contents are still the same - we were in a marketing mood, and once the creative juices started flowing, there was just no holding us back! (I say "us" since Srdjan was leading the charge. Chris now worries we will lose him to some hotshot advertising agency...) On a more serious note, the new titles more accurately reflect the contents of the workshops as they have evolved from their initial incarnations. All the feedback we've gained from students attending these sessions has been gratefully received and really helped us to improve them, so thank you 🙏. For more information on these free webinars, please check out our dedicated page for [Programming Essentials Workshops](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Fun stuff! Wise words from Pete Pete is highly active in our slack forums and always on hand to offer practical help and sage words. This week he provided this nugget of wisdom: [Programming is like using a soldering iron. If you're not careful, you're gonna get burned.]( And finally I mentioned moving at the beginning of this update, so I'm sure you're all wondering whether my animals have been able to stay with me. Fortunately, the landlord of our new property said the only animal we couldn't take with us would be a dog, which happens to be the only animal we don't have! Between you and me, though, my youngest and I are pining after a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel; there is one down the road from us who has melted our hearts! Meet Monty: [monty dog] Keep working hard, and don't forget to take advantage of all the free stuff! --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](