| | John Doe | If you're thinking about joining 42 I'm not going to flat out tell you to avoid it, but I will tell you to read all of this so you aren't going in blind.
If you get accepted for the Picine you will code for 26-ish days. You'll be learning terminal commands for the first two days and then it will be nothing but C. They give you problem sets that cover everything you really need to know about C. It's brutal in its workload and grading, but they don't expect anyone to ace it, they just want you to learn and grow. I have no issue with this part as it's very effective in weeding out the people that aren't made for it. The reason I gave it one star is what came after.
Like I said, the Picine covers almost every topic that really matters in C, so you'd think that after the Picine you'd be allowed to submit projects in a different language - a marketable language. The marketing material (at the time I went to 42) certainly gave that impression. Nope, you're still coding in C. And on top of that, you're still having to code using their style guide that doesn't even allow switches or for loops. It got so bad that I found myself writing terrible code, that was a nightmare to debug, simply because I had to make everything conform to the "norm." It honestly almost encourages bad coding practices, though they swear it's better that way.
If you try to have a reasonable conversation about the fact that C is not a language that many companies hire for they will say it's not about getting jobs, it's about becoming the best programmer possible. If you try to tell them that the "norm" promotes bad coding practices they will say it exists to make it more challenging, thus making you a better programmer. It is mind-numbingly infuriating.
My recommendation to anyone that goes to 42 is to take CS50X (it's free) before going so you don't burn a lot of time during the Picine, but you'll also become very good at coding in C. Then if you get into the program literally get the minimum requirements out of the way in order to stay in the dorms rent free and spend the rest of your time teaching yourself how to code in a language more marketable than C.
Of note, they have a C++ Picine you can take once you've reached level 7. So teach yourself C++ at some point so you can "pay rent" with the points you get from completing the C++ Picine.
Oh, and don't expect them to be a good source for jobs. The job fairs are literally such a joke that it was painful to attend. Do not expect them to be able to help you get a job. Make interesting things in the language of your choosing and use that for job interviews, because 42 isn't going to give you projects that will impress a potential employer. |
