These are the notes I took from an intro call we had on 2nd May 2023, a few weeks before the batch starts
On the call were people on my batch, some people currently at RC and two RC facilitators
I've recorded things current recursers said that I found useful or thought would be useful for anyone preparing to start at RC
Expectations and First Two Weeks
Expect that your learning plan may change, and that’s okay.
Say ‘yes’ to everything in the first week, notice how you feel after each event, then use that information to start saying ‘no’ to things.
The ‘building your volitional muscles’ workshop in week 2 is fantastic and will help you if you’re struggling with what to say ‘no’ and ‘yes’ to.
After this the first week (maybe second, too?) is usually a better time to set your expectations in terms of the what, when, why of how you’re going to be spending your time at RC.
Body / Mind Rhythms and Workflow
Notice your preferences for what type of work suits you best at what time, e.g. own work towards the start of the day and then pairing towards the end of the day.
Considering the type of work you want to do
RC is an opportunity to do things that you can’t usually do. So consider what ‘usually’ looks like for you and how you want to approach it at RC: consciously deviate, lean into it etc. etc.
For some people this meant really enjoying having a speculative, circuitous approach to things, which was in contrast to the more outcome-focused approach required by normal work
One example was someone spending time looking into various developer tools e.g. tmux that they’d heard a lot about, but never had time to try, even though these things weren’t directly related to what they went into RC to learn about.
Requests for help and or pairing
People do genuinely drop in if you post where you are and what you’re pairing on, so do post if you want to pair with people.
In the same vein, if you see someone’s pairing on something that you think looks interesting, do drop in.
Lots of affirmation that the RC community is very generous and ego-less, to the point where people on the current batch are consistently surprised by the helpfulness they receive and the humbleness of those providing help.
My takeaways
Consider week 1 an experiment, focus on collecting lots of data to help you make decisions on how you want to use your time from week 2 onwards.
It’s okay for the actual reality of being at RC to surprise you, and for you / your plans to change as a result of that surprise.
The people at RC are generous and kind, so go in with the confidence that it’s a safe place to reach out for help and also to collaborate with others.