This is cool, but to be a little OT: every time I see "Hacker School" I get a little more confused.
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:
> 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.
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.
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.
I think a better analogy would be "art school", you essentially go there to learn techniques and explore your interests and capabilities, but you should already be a sensible and perceptive person to benefit from it.
Art and what we refer to as "hacking" are analogous in several dimensions in my opinion, and I believe that is because they are expressions of raw passion and resourcefulness.
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:
> 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.
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.
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.