Hack Reactor

Hack Reactor is a daunting undertaking, to say the least. My experience was probably similar to many people out there - the novice programmer, the excitement of building and creating slowly budding in my chest as I explored the surface of programming,... Read More growing more enthralled with each new step I took into this marvelous new land until I finally decided to make that dreaded 66/hr a week/3 month plunge. It was exciting, but utterly terrifying, and I had no idea whether I was really going to be able to do it or not.

I've been out of Hack Reactor for 8 months (wow, that's a lot longer than I thought!) at the time of writing this review, and I can honestly say it was the best decision I have ever made. I am happily working in my preferred field, with my preferred techs, and I'm loving every minute of it. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without Hack Reactor.

Now, the school is not exactly what some might think. Those 3 months are not about cramming as many technologies into your head as they can manage, though they certainly do that. It's not about teaching the fundamentals of programming, or design, or data structures. It's about making you a good programmer.

Well, what the heck does that mean, right? Isn't a good programmer someone who knows the technologies?

Oh, it's so much more than that. What Hack Reactor does, better than any other school I've seen, is teach you to learn on the fly. This isn't some Business degree, where you learn the tools you're going to need for the rest of your career, and the rest is up to your own ingenuity. No. Programming is constantly changing, remolding itself, producing new tools and technologies that you need to learn at lightning speed. Just the other day I was handed a project to work on using a technology I had never touched before. And I knew I could do it.

Hack Reactor gave me confidence in my ability to grow and expand in whatever role I was given. Their teaching methods are rough, to be sure. This is not a school that you can float through on minimal effort. And you're not going to be spending just 66 hours a week on this, to be sure - not if you're going to truly experience the course. But that forced work ethic, the speed of the course, the amount of work that is asked of you - it drowns you in the material you're being taught. And if you're really trying, then it's impossible to not absorb it.

You have to be willing to put in the time and effort. You cannot expect the school to do everything for you, though they do everything they can to make sure you have no choice but to immerse yourself. If the idea of spending every waking moment on coding and learning and problem solving is tiring to you, if you cannot stand to be separate from your family for extended periods of time, if you cannot miss your weekly double movie nights out with your friends - then this is not the course for you.

If you are willing to put forth that effort, then you will be rewarded with the staff's unyielding patience and support. Every step of the way, I had support from numerous staff members, who were always there to offer help when I asked for it, and truly seemed to care about my success in the course.

Now there is a fair chance that I was simply lucky in the staff that I got. Every person is different, and it's entirely possible that some of the staff is not up to the standards that I experienced. But I can only write this review based off of what I went through, and the people I was lucky enough to be involed with.

As for other pluses of the school, the community was incredible. You will know everyone in your cohort by week 6, and many of these friendships can stay far beyond. I've made several very close friendships from my cohort, and I know that I can turn to them anytime I need them. Many of us work with fellow grads, with companies that were impressed after hiring their first Hack Reactor student and who decided to keep hiring. The staff does a great job of building a fun culture, with regular events to help ease the stress of the workload.

I would also say that the technologies they teach are fantastic choices for making any student an enticing job candidate. My company was ecstatic at my React knowledge, compounded with the other techs I had to back up my strength there. They know that if they have a problem anywhere in the stack, there's a good chance I could help them with it.

Above all, they gave me an experience that translated well into my new job. It wasn't like back in college, where I came out of my biology studies with no idea what my work would actually look like. Every thing they do is catered to the kind of pattern you'll be following in your everyday life in your new career, and though the job search, and starting a new job, are still daunting, it was incredibly easy to settle into my new role.

This may have come off as an overlong love poem to the school, but I honestly believe I could not have gotten where I am now without Hack Reactor. The support was incredible, and extends to this day. And I know if I need them, they'll still be there to help me. Not because their obligated to, but because they care.

So take this for what it's worth. If you're willing to stick with it, if you're willing to throw your all into this program, it can change your life.

I recently graduated from Hack Reactor Remote. I will say, I didn’t expect to learn so much through the process. If I had known, I would have made the jump instead of letting life situations somewhat force me into it.

Background

I was an Applied Math major... Read More at UC Berkeley, but ended up going down a more business oriented route. I got into online and mobiles games at an early stage and was able to progress pretty decently in my career through that. Still, I always had a passion for building things and if a few things had gone a bit differently would probably have ended up being an engineer down a different path.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I kept wanting to make the switch. Of course I gave myself the same excuses; switching careers is a pretty big risk, I’m too old (mid 30’s), etc.

Fast forward many years, many things happen but I find myself in a position where I’m considering some bootcamps. After a lot of research, I narrowed down my choices to App Academy and Hack Reactor.

Why Hack Reactor

I got accepted to both App Academy and Hack Reactor Remote (didn’t actually finish the application to Hack Reactor onsite because of scheduling). Ultimately I chose Hack Reactor Remote for two reasons (keep in mind this is before starting the program). (1) It was remote and (2) six days a week.

I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t feel as connected with my cohort mates because it was remote, but Hack Reactor does a great job of providing an awesome space to build connections and friendships with others you’re learning with. Also for me personally I’m super open to moving away from the SF Bay Area in the future, so it’s nice to have built relationships with people in other regions.

On top of that, by being remote I saved a good 2 hours a day on commuting. Now, if you are moving to a new city to go do a bootcamp, this probably isn’t a concern for you but it was a realistic concern for me.

When I first heard that Hack Reactor was 6 days a week, I was honestly kind of turned off. As I thought more about it though, If I’m paying for this opportunity (and you are paying even with bootcamps that take a percentage later on), I best get the most out of it. The entire course is only 12 weeks long to begin with, that extra day per week does come in handy.

Also Javascript

Finally, it’s Javascript. There are many other studies out there, but when I was doing my research Javascript clearly was the language to learn. On top of that, once you get into asynchronous calls and such, it just seems natural to be using Javascript.

Material & Learning

Hack Reactor doesn’t just teach you how to code, but they teach you how to become a Software Engineer others want to hire and work with. With that, they teach how you mindsets and mentality needed to grow as a Software Engineer for now just your first job afterwards, but second, third, etc.

Hands down, you are going to learn so much.

The Bad

This isn’t for everyone. Getting in itself a pretty decent challenge. Unless you already have a good backround, be prepared to put in work just to get in. Once you’re in, it continues to get hard. I’ve been in long hour, high stress work situations but nothing really compared to the mental challenge this program was. The plus side is when you come out of it, you know you can take anything on.

It isn’t for everyone. The only promise is you will get out of this what you put in. If you are not willing to put in the work before, during, AND after the program, it may not be for you. However if you are serious about moving into or leveling up your Software Engineering game then there is no better place.

I graduated in September from the Hack Reactor Remote program. Since then I’ve been an HiR doing personal tech coaching and interviews, and I recently accepted a fantastic offer from a really cool company.

I really can’t recommend HR enough. What really... Read More stood out to me early and often was the amount and quality of the career education and support. I attended a reasonably good 4-year public university and never received anything near the quality or quantity of fantastic career support as I have at Hack Reactor. Even early in the course, there are lectures going over the qualities that make a successful software engineer, what to expect, how to navigate the job market, how to market yourself, etc. Then, once you’ve graduated you’ll receive amazing continued job support. When I got my offer, I took it to my fantastic career coach and she helped me with the negotiation process. Negotiating is really hard for me, but she coached me through it, helping me script questions and responses so that my nerves wouldn’t overtake me during the negotiation. We did mock negotiations with role-playing so I could get used to phrasing the sentences correctly. Ultimately I negotiated an already great offer up a bit, and I was happy to accept at that point. I cannot put into words how valuable this is, what’s the good of learning the skills if you can’t get past the application process? Hack Reactor gets people’s butts in jobs, and that’s partly due to the fantastic career coaching and outcomes team who help you put the cherry on top.

They’ll also help you A LOT with resume writing. That’s also the bane of my existence, but with their coaching and help I produced a fantastic resume that got me in to a phone screen easily with several companies. I didn’t even need to attend the last week of the program (since I got a job :D) that goes really intensely over writing cover letters, resume review, job application support and white boarding practice.

Ok, aside from the job stuff, the quality of the course is amazing. You’re working on functioning code bases, mostly to add new features or implement required ones. You’re building web apps from day 1 (Ok, maybe not until day 7 when the sprints start). You are really plunged into the deep end from day one and forced to swim. Be warned: you must be an autonomous person who is goal oriented to take this course. Yes, there is guidance and structure, but it’s ultimately up to you to get what you need done to succeed in the course. There will invariably be extra work you need to do outside of class in order to keep up since it is so fast-paced.

I found the sprints challenging, but not overly-so. I found week 4 to be particularly challenging, and really doubted my skills, but the counseling and tech mentors helped me get where I needed to be. It seems crazy that 12 weeks is enough to get people all the skills they need to succeed, but I found that it was more than sufficient to get me into a job. I was even a bit over-prepared. I barely sent out applications; I applied for one, and was asked to interview for a second that I met at a job fair who had seen my resume. I received an offer from both, and ultimately went with the first one that I had applied to. I’m still completely astounded at how easy, painless and quick the job search was, but that’s because I was impeccably prepared and supported throughout (mix some dumb luck in there too). Granted, the jobs I applied for were both to startups, who value more practical skills to get you in the door. I didn’t have to do any white boarding or algorithm problems, just really practical stuff that I found (frankly) really easy.

By and large, your classmates will be fantastic. Hack Reactor goes to great lengths to make sure it admits people who are not only intellectually capable of the rigorous pace and difficult concepts, but those who will be enjoyable to collaborate with. I had so many helpful classmates that made a huge impact on my success in the course.

I would recommend that if you take the course, you set up after-hours study groups early and often. They were instrumental in helping me understand the material.

I’m a female in tech which isn’t always easy, but the support I received from Hack Reactor makes that much easier. I’ll be the first female engineer at my new job. If you’re wondering if you’ll be a good fit for Hack Reactor specifically because you’re a woman/unconfident about your skills or your ability, don’t worry. If you can get into Hack Reactor and get past the pre-course work, you’ve got what it takes to succeed in the program and on the job. You might be judged by dumb guys from time to time, but that just helps you build up a thick skin. For the most part everyone has been great.

This course is HARD and it will kick your ass. But (at least in my case) you might go from zero coding knowledge, to teaching yourself coding, to Hack Reactor, to an amazing job in less than a year. I can confidently say it was the absolute best decision I have ever made in my life, as well as the hardest thing I have ever done. I am incredibly grateful not only to the founders for starting the school, but to all the tech mentors, counselors, coordinators and cohort mates who put in so much hard work and care to make the program amazing.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to respond.

TL;DR:

Unbeatable job support, insane value for the money, challenging but doable sprints, awesome cohort mates, fantastic tech and morale support/mentoring, insane outcomes (yes, those numbers are accurate). The most difficult thing I have ever done, and the best decision I have ever made. DOOO IIIT! IT WORKS! Regarding a few negative reviews I have read... really? 98% employment after 6 months is not impressive? Do you have any idea what the rate is for a 4 year college? I went to college and NEVER got a job in what I studied, let alone 6 months later.
And yes, there's a lot of self-teaching during the program -- they're trying not to set you up to need your hand held through every bit of code you have to work with. I've been working as professional frontend engineer for 6 months now, and I can say that the real world is very similar to how life feels at hack reactor -- you're thrown into an unfamiliar situation, without any expertise about the code, and you need to figure out how to find your way out of the problem. I'm grateful that they didn't hold my hand through the course-- it would have been a rude awakening to move into the job and suddenly have little support and no skills to figure things out by myself.

I went through the Hack Reactor Remote program last fall and it was by far the best educational experience I have ever had. It was a rigorous 12 weeks and took a good deal of preparation leading up to it but overall it was definitely worth it. Everyone... Read More I went through the program with along with all of the instructors and staff members went above and beyond to make the program the best that it could be. The job support team upon graduating was amazing as well and provided excellent resources to guide me through the job search. I was able to get an awesome job as a Full Stack Software Engineer within 4 weeks of graduating and I love what I do.

If you are willing to put in the work and love code, Hack Reactor is definitely worth the investment!

Like you, I was extremely skeptical of attending a programming bootcamp. The thought of it just seemed way to good to be true, there had to be a catch, and there is one. The catch is hard work. The only way to achieve success at a bootcamp is the same... Read More way you achieve success anywhere else: putting in 100% effort and persevering. I was unsure of the remote experience and whether I would like the structure of the class or not, so I attended the remote prep program. The prep course was worth the money and gave me a great preview of what the Hack Reactor environment felt like and I loved it. I wasn't sure if the full program would be worth the money (spoiler alert it TOTALLY was) or that it would really be enough education to get me a job with zero experience. I read dozens of reviews from alumni saying that Hack Reactor was the best choice they ever made. Finally, I decided to go for it, got accepted, and never looked back.
Even in a remote environment the staff finds ways to bring the class together for an unrivaled sense of comradery and collaboration. All of the staff and students I encountered during my time in the course were, without exaggeration, the nicest and most intelligent group of people I have ever met. I didn't have a single negative interaction. Prior to Hack Reactor, I didn't have any professional programming experience. All of the material covered in the curriculum is accurate and relevant, containing all of the most in demand skills in the Javascript ecosystem and delivered in an effective (but really rapid) manner. After graduating Hack Reactor in December of 2016, I got a job offer in January of 2017 for a Full Stack Software Engineer role that has gone above and beyond my expectations.
I got an amazing job, thanks to the skills I picked up during my time at Hack Reactor. Some of these non-technical skills include writing a resume, how to ace job interviews, and tips on how to be effecting during the job search. I was able to get an amazing job, that I still love, at a very reputable company. Hack Reactor prepared me extremely well for the path that lay ahead after I left the program. I still tell everyone I meet how much I love Hack Reactor and what a great experience it was. The education that Hack Reactor provides is so impressive and it was doubly as apparent once I was on the job able to keep up with experienced engineers.
All of the team members and management I interact with at my current job are honestly quite amazed at the efficacy of the program and the amount I was able to learn in 3 months.
Hack Reactor is by far an amazing overall experience, and I would go back and do it all over again if I could.

I've been to some good schools, like the US Military Academy at West Point's pre-freshman year course, and there I was one in four students to be in all of the highest level classes, and I still made it onto the Honor Roll and Dean's List. The staff in... Read More my high school nominated me for the #1 graduate, and I graduated #1 in US Army Human Resources school. I scored perfectly on every test that I've taken (if I tried to), and I went into Hack Reactor knowing I could do very well there. Boy, was I in for a surprise! I struggled the ENTIRE time, and, though there are no rankings among Hack Reactor alumni, if there WAS to be ranks, I would have definitely, definitely been dead last. I was around people whose intelligence levels were higher than I could fathom. Sure, some of them were just more experienced than me, but there were several who were just plain smarter than me. It was truly a humbling experience, to say the least.

I was the 1% who did NOT find a job in 3-6 months. It took me a year. I can tell you with full confidence that this course will test your limits. Don't enroll if you have any responsibilities for those 13 weeks; you will be consumed ALL day and night, and even outside of the normal hours of operation, you will want that time to study and catch up.

This course was incredible, I learned so. much. from it, and I think all schools should teach this way. At Hack Reactor, cooperating isn't called "cheating" like it is in Academia. My second day on the job, a year later, I was contacted by a Google recruiter who told me that Google has seen enormous success with Hack Reactor graduates, and he called it the "Harvard of Coding Bootcamps".

Hack Reactor probably isn't totally what you expect. There's no way for even the most pedagogically brilliant of teachers to crack open your skull and wholesale pour information into your brain. Knowing this, I was curious as to how the outcomes could... Read More be as good as they stated.

The reality is that the secret sauce of Hack Reactor is in the environment they cultivate, the cohorts they construct and the almost Machiavellian way in which they guide your learning down very specific avenues without you even realizing you're being guided. The frustration is a prized ingredient baked into the dough. As they say in this industry - it's not a bug, it's a feature.

The other part of this is that Hack Reactor is often terrifying. Virtually everyone has days where they question whether or not they're cut out of this. Whether or not they're going to fall flat on their faces. I'm sure there were a few exceptions, but those people certainly weren't any of the people I spoke to. Turns out, this stuff is difficult, even for those of us with some familiarity and experience going in. If this field were easy, I'd imagine there would be no programmer shortage anywhere.

HR throws you in the rapids and the screams "SWIM!" at you from the shore. It's stressful and scary while its going on, and you occasionally think you're going to drown, but then you finally climb back up the bank a few months later you realize you've a much better swimmer than you imagined you were when you were straining against the rapids and that at least some of the interviews you're walking in to are more like swimming in a pool.

Hack Reactor's outcomes speak for themselves. It's not a perfect school nor do I believe it's for everyone or even most. There are a lot of people who don't learn well in a sink or swim arrangement. If I had one major criticism, it's that a lot of their outbound marketing efforts indicate that HR could be for everyone and I think that's setting a lot of folks up for disappointment or screwed up expectations and making admission's gatekeeping job all the more difficult and more essential. That said, I get it - they don't want to scare away people who are potentially much more capable than they give themselves credit for.

A quick reminder: Hack Reactor was created in late 2012 by DevBootcamp grads.
In this article I’ll review the curriculum of the bootcamp and the reality graduates are facing.
The curriculum.
~45 per class 90 per floor. 180 at any given time. The “Elite”... Read More program generates a cool $3.56M every 3 month.
The first week is here to set your expectations, they have hours of lectures specifically on what to expect for the next 11 weeks. They offer you to drop out within the first week with a refund, minus the $2K+ deposit you paid. Ironically the number of lectures drops dramatically after the first week. After which lectures are every other day, 1 hour long each, for the first 6 weeks. The second 6 weeks you’re basically learning on your own.
The material is divided in “sprints”, you have to understand and remember the topic in 2 days, hacking through it, while paired with another student. After a 2 day sprint you see a rushed video you’re supposed to learn from, if you need help during the sprints you get in queue to get help from a recent graduate who himself barely knows the material to help you.
To resume: You’re getting an hour long lecture, after which you have two days to work on the new topic, after which you get a 1h long video of the instructor explaining how he would have solved the assignment. (apparently that’s worth 20K)
The students assigned to help during the sprints have graduated just before you started. They offer certain students to work part time as instructional help for 3 month after they graduated. Unfortunately they are not experts. They do not know best practices that comes with real work experience, that they don’t have.
Mind you, the first 6 weeks (instructional weeks) you have to use 4 years old mac mini, plugged in to a shamefully slow internet. With wireless peripherals that keep breaking all the while you’re trying to hack your way through the curriculum. You would expect more for the price you’re paying.
The third month you’ll work on your thesis project with a team chosen for you. You’ll receive endless lectures on how to find a job and how to present yourself. They have squeezed the actual technical teaching time to the first 6 weeks. The second half is cruise control.
The reality.
Learning one language isn’t enough. There are too many bootcamp grads nowadays, people want you to know more than one paradigm. Hack Reactor only teaches javascript. And a lot of veteran programmers, however wrong they might be, regard it as a lesser language. For an “Elite program” I would have expected to learn at least one additional language, maybe a back end one such as Python or Java. It would make grads much more competitive in the job search.
The reason you don’t see bad reviews is the alumni program, they invite you to meet your old classmates in “reunions” about once a year and they promise they’ll help you review your resume at anytime in the future should you decide to go back on the job hunt. But between us grads, we talk about how overpriced the program was. I even had an interview where the interviewer happened to be a hack reactor graduate, he was complaining about the latter.
The idea itself is becoming outdated. They just updated their outcomes data going from 99% of grads find a job in 3 months, to 98% of grads find a job in 6 month that just does not seem reasonable by any standards.
Another observation, most people who get in, are already qualified people, with top university degrees. These very people will now take up to 6 month to find a full stack job with this pseudo degree.
In reality anyone actively looking for a job can find one within 6 month. These statistics are really there to wow you, but after a short analysis, you realize how little is means.
I was lucky to have found a job after a couple month but I know dozens of intelligent graduates who are currently still looking for a job several months after graduation. Having Hack Reactor on their resume might actually repel potential employers, not because of the name but simply because it’s a bootcamp. Most employers don’t know the difference between bootcamps.
They have just increased the tuition by $2,000 it now is $19,780. Why increase tuition knowing the cost hasn’t changed but your outcomes stats have worsened ? I’m guessing they want to cash in as much as they can while they can.
I felt the need to write this for potential students who are interested in the program. I wish, that myself, read something like this before signing up. You should know what you’re getting into. In my opinion, it’s not worth the price. Study the material yourself (see the medium article by Andrew Charlebois) or join a cheaper bootcamp. You’ll learn the same and you’ll be $20K richer.
I have included the current curriculum (publicly available at the time of publishing) to give you an idea of what the program teaches.
Technical learning part of the program ~6 weeks
Orientation and Precourse Review
Data Modeling and Classes
Data Structures and Complexity Analysis
Inheritance Patterns
Algorithms
D3
Browser apps, jQuery, and AJAX
MVC and Backbone
ES6, APIs, and React
Servers and Node
Server-side Techniques
Databases
Authentication
Deployment
Angular
MVP Project
Greenfield Project
Technical Assessment (full day assessment on what you learned for the first 6 weeks)
Solo Week (one week off)
Thesis project part of the program, lectures are now all about job search ~6 weeks
Senior Schedule Begins
Legacy Project
Post Development
Professional Resume
Thesis Project Kickoff / Thesis Sprint 1
Thesis Sprint 2
Thesis Sprint 3
Thesis Sprint 4
Thesis Sprint 5
Thesis Sprint 6
Thesis Sprint 7
Thesis Sprint 8
Thesis Sprint 9
Thesis Sprint 10
Thesis Sprint 11
Thesis Sprint 12
Hiring Sprint
Career Search Sprint
If you want to make a successful bootcamp just follow the recipe: 1. Go to a bootcamp yourself to learn the tricks 2. Hire smart people to help you with student’s moral support, and designing a curriculum 3. Use guerilla marketing and tech blogs to raise attention 4. Only let in people who could already get a job without coming to the bootcamp 5. Publish numbers like 99% get a job or 3% acceptance rate by manipulating the fine print.
TL,DR.
Hack Reactor is not the best learning program out there, they’re trying to save a concept that was working 2 years ago and that is no more. Their promises aren’t as appealing as they used to be, and it’s definitely not worth the $19,780 that they are asking.
If you have any questions about my experience or would like to know more, feel free to message me. I encourage all recent Hack Reactor graduates to write about their own experiences to raise awareness about the program.
Nori Maki Arare

I was originally hesitant to attend the bootcamp, especially with the price tag. I had enough saved up to attend the bootcamp but I was worried about affording to live in San Francisco. Luckily, I took the leap (and I'm 100% sure I made the right choice!).... Read More

I paid off the tuition with my savings and I crowdfunded a loan using WeFinance.co for my living expenses. Best (and toughest) 3 months of my life.

The people there were great, I learned a lot, and they have an AMAZING network. When people refer to it as the "Harvard of coding bootcamps" it's not an understatement. People who attend basically have their choice of jobs.

If you're on the fence, make the jump.

I attended Hack Reactor from August through October 2013, and it was the most useful educational experience I've ever had.  I don't say that lightly, as I've attended two highly ranked universities.

Hack Reactor's value stems from both the sheer amount... Read More of knowledge they stuff into your head and the "how to solve problems like a programmer" ethos they distill into you.  On the knowledge side, I'd  say there are five distinct phases of the course: Precourse work, structured learning, individual projects, group projects, and the hiring phase.

The precourse work is intense and ramps you up to a speed at which you could probably go ahead an get hired as a junior developer (!!!).  You learn the basics of the distributed git workflow, reimplement the wildly popular Underscore.js library, build a twitter clone, and master recursion in a way that makes you familiar with the DOM.

The structured learning phase lasts for the first five weeks of Hack Reactor.  You're implementing JavaScript inheritance patterns and data structures by the end of the first week.  The four weeks after that are a marathon run through jQuery, a couple of different frameworks, algorithmic thinking, and complexity analysis.

After that, there's an individual project phase - at this point, you're turned loose to work on a personal passion project (which they must approve). There are also paid client projects available for those who want them.  This is a great time for people to work out kinks and learn how to hack on their own.

Once you've had this experience, students form groups and unleash their combined brain power on creating apps.  Some really impressive stuff has come out of this, e.g. http://redditInsight.com.

After that is the hiring phase. Hack Reactor hosts a hiring day at the start of the 11th week of the program and then provides interview support until, well, everyone gets a job... which doesn't usually take very long! Most people in my class got multiple six-figure offers.  Interestingly, a massive amount of learning seems to take place during those two weeks, too, as people all go nuts solving ridiculous toy problems that interviewers threw in front of them together.

I'm giving Hack Reactor 5 stars.  The 3 months I spent there have launched me into a more productive, high-paying, and satisfying job than I could have ever gotten otherwise.

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