My cohort mates and I graduated from Flatiron in April. Such good eggs, they are.

A handful of those good eggs were as active as I was in our Slack channels, but not being tied to the curriculum any longer, communication was petering out (sad face).

Nelson, a cohort mate, suggested a study group to continue sharing resources, and I jumped at the chance.

Ultimately, my cohort mates and I wanted to code in front of each other because that is the most intimidating part about technical interviews (cue the cold sweats).

So each week, we choose a LeetCode problem, pair off into groups of 2 or 3, and we work through a problem together.

It's been a few months of our study group's Friday afternoon Zoom calls, and I have to say, this has been THE most impactful part of my week. Not to mention the best motivation to stay the course and keep practicing for those technical interviews.

Here's why.

Accountability

• It can be so easy to make excuses for not coding.
• It's much harder to make excuses when your gang's waiting for you.

Support

• You're surrounded by like-minded individuals.
• There's an abundance of positivity.
• It's very hard to feel discouraged together.

Education

• You get to watch other people code.
• You get to compare notes and learn from each other.

Fun

• Job hunting is stressful! THIS is not!
• We laugh! We are friendly! We have fun!

Celebrations

• We've, so far, seen 2 of our good eggs get hired! DID YOU HEAR THAT?!
• This is a place to welcome good news, unconditionally.

One Last Thing

Having just finished The Splendid and the Vile (Erik Larson's book on Churchill), something Churchill said struck me:

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

These good eggs who gather on Fridays, we are indeed a group who give. The sharing of time, resources, and kindness has not gone unnoticed, and our group continues to grow because of it.

(Well, except for the folks who leave to work their new, real jobs, but we forgive them.)

Are you looking to practice for interviews? We welcome you! Respond to this post, and I'll share the details for how you can join us.

Thanks for reading!