Hello
Not long ago, I learned about the amazing school School 21 from an advertisement. My first impression from everything I read was wonderful. No one bothers you; you receive assignments, and you proceed at your own pace. Thereâs teamwork, interesting connections, and two internships at the largest IT companies in the country, plus everything is free with accommodation in a dormitory (Kazan). Overall, this was my chance! I have been involved in development for quite a while, working at a small IT company, handling both front-end and back-end, in simpler terms, I know what a function is. But at this moment, I feel a certain barrier. Sometimes there's a lot of work, and at other times so much to study that it's hard to focus on anything. It would also be nice to establish useful connections. I firmly decided â I need to apply.
I completed the online test and was invited for a meeting. I'll explain everything step by step.
To apply, you need to go through several stages:
First stage: testing
At first, I thought this was the hardest part (besides the pool), since after this comes the video interview (more on that later) and the pool. Only the best should get through (not really).
The testing has two tasks: the first is about short-term memory (cells on the screen change color, and you click on them after they disappear), lasting 10 minutes. The second is on logic. No instructions, minimal text, you figure out what to do. It took me about 7-10 minutes to understand. Overall, you donât need to be exceptionally intelligent to solve it, but what is useful is the ability to think long about a problem and not give up if something doesnât work. The duration is 2 hours.
I think this: if you can read articles longer than 5,000 characters (not just skimming, but reading thoughtfully), you will pass. If your thing is scrolling through memes with captions of three letters â you might make it too, judging by the crowd sitting in the meeting and the speaker (more on that later); everyone has a chance.
Second stage: video interview
After all this, approximately within a day, you will receive information on whether you passed.
I want to pause for a minute. Are there any here who did not pass the first stages? Could you share what you did there? How many tasks were you able to complete? I'm genuinely curious to know.
You will be invited to a video interview. I hoped they would take the time for each student and ask genuinely interesting questions about your skills and what you want to learn. But whatâs it really like? In reality, you need to record 6 videos answering the most clichĂ© questions that could be imagined. You can go through it on both a PC and a phone, which is a plus. The downsides: You cannot re-record an answer, and you have a limited time (20-40 seconds, I don't remember exactly) to read and think about the question. Because of this, a situation may arise where you didnât understand the question, couldnât come up with a decent answer, were distracted, or your pet pterodactyl dropped a iron. Anything can happen; you wonât be able to reread the question, re-record your answer, or simply pause the interview. However, you can review your answers afterward. This means you can have a good laugh at how awful you were, the nonsense you spouted, and how stupid the questions were. And here they are (I don't know if you can upload them, but if you donât want to, donât give access to them):
Please introduce yourself. How old are you, and what are you currently doing?
What are your plans for the year 20**?
Why School 21? What are your expectations from the School?
The next question has been modified for universality, but the meaning has been conveyed accurately.
Training at School 21 will take place according to your personal schedule, but before it begins, you will need to complete a 4-week intensive ('pool') in City N focused on programming education. It will take place during Z on a full-time or X basis. Which specific pool will you choose, and how does that fit into your personal plans?
What do you plan to do after completing your training at School 21?
How did you hear about School 21?
Draw your conclusions if this is precisely what they want to know about you.
Questions may differ; the 'interview' took place in the fall of 2019.
I donât understand all these restrictions, but they exist and, I think, are just for show. If there is a practical reason for them, please explain it.
Once again, if anyone hasn't gone through this, what were you doing in that video?
Stage three: Meeting
There's nothing to be afraid of here. You are already among the billion 'chosen ones' who have gone through all these 'circles of hell'. You will be invited to the city of your choice on the date and time you select (from a provided list), and you need to register two weeks in advance, as spots fill up quickly. If you do not live in the city where the meeting will take place, no one will cover your travel expenses, let alone your accommodation. Personally, I spent a lot since I had to travel from quite far away, and I had to rent an apartment for a day (the hotel would cost the same, but an apartment is much more convenient).
Attention! Everything I write further concerns my particular meeting; at your meeting, they might have given out donuts or let you ride ponies. Mine was quite different.
So, you arrive, and you will be greeted by a very arrogant and unpleasant person (that was my experience), who will show you where to go. No one will explain anything to you; youâll have to figure things out yourself.
You will be given three documents to sign: two copies of the admission agreement and one confidentiality agreement (I don't remember the exact name, but the essence is clear). The last one surprised me. The agreement includes a clause about the transfer of your personal data (name, phone numbers, birth dates, and some other information) to third parties without your knowledge. And they can, of course, do this. It will be interesting to see when the banks start calling me with offers for loans and promotions. Additionally, they will have the right to use recordings from the cameras located in the hall at their discretion, without prior notice to you. Is all this critical? It depends. For me personally, itâs not pleasant.
The first agreement is quite amusing. Besides the usual banalities like not breaking computers, studying, and not wandering around, there are rules that really made me laugh:
Especially the clauses allowing them to distribute your belongings and food.
There is also a clause stating: 'Everything that is not explicitly allowed is prohibited on the premises.'
Now about the presentation itself. The presentation consists of: 89% about how great they are (water), 10% answering questions, and 1% on what we should expect.
Judging by the channel the host was leading, it would have been more pleasant for them to see completely novice gentlemen there; I found his phrase, "Self-taught people usually struggle here; they come in thinking they know everything and waste their time. I came in not knowing anything and got through," quite amusing. The first question that arose for me was: are you preparing self-taught individuals there?
They are proud of having 25% female students (not sure what's special about that).
Now about the training, it is conducted entirely in C language, which for me is not a plus but rather a minus; it would be nice if there were an option to choose the programming language for tasks, but for some reason, students are limited again. They promise to write other projects in different languages, but no detailed information was given on that. Also, the entire training plan is kept a secret (perhaps it simply doesn't exist), which is odd. That's all I can share; as I said, about 1% will be dedicated to the training.
They do promise practice; serious companies like Yandex and Sber were displayed on the screen, but I was unsettled by one speaker's story: several guys were tasked with sorting through papers during their practice instead of working with code, which led me to think that companies may not take graduates/students of the school seriously, although Sber's articles promised a queue of employers. They take them for practice because Gref asked for it (in my opinion).
The audience. From the questions, I gathered that 90% of them had never printed "Hello World"; the presenter even asked the audience a question for testing: What is a terminal? (I have no words). I can't find the reason for admitting totally inexperienced individuals; there are plenty of people who can do something and want to learn but don't want to go to university.
Dormitory! This is an important point that those wanting to enroll from other cities/countries should read. The attitude towards dorm residents is special. You will have to pass all the trials much faster (this is a mandatory condition that was announced); no one wants to keep you there for long. For the pool that I will be attending, there will be no dormitory; it is currently under construction, and there's no way to see the dorm plans or check the work area.
As you may have gathered, my enthusiasm for this institution has waned. There is no information regarding training, elevated requirements for newcomers, and the admission process is not based on knowledge but rather arbitrary criteria. This all suggests a desire for some individuals to earn money or gain accolades from the government (I am not making any accusations). They do not plan to educate anyone, and these courses will not last much longer. Will I go to this pool? Iâll check it out; I have nothing to lose, but if I am wrong, I will gain something. If this post receives positive feedback, I will write another article about the pool after my visit.
Donât forget to ask questions; I will try to answer them all. Thank you.
And yes, this is my first article đ
Update: I found assignments from different pools (you can roughly gauge what to expect): , as well as upon request: . One of the pool participants recommended it, thanks to him for that.
Source: habr.com
