First Week at the Recurse Center
Context: I arrived in Brooklyn last week to start a 12 week program at the Recurse Center (RC). Read more about how it works here.
Everything is new; my routines, environment, habits, diet, etc. But for all the stress and uncertainty leading up to this, I can finally say it worked out beautifully. I'm subletting a cozy room with a kind & considerate roommate near Prospect Park, and actually enjoy my 25 min commute via subway each day.
I'm happy here.
At the Recurse Center, days flew by in a frenzied blur of activity as we oriented ourselves to a new lifestyle. Below is a summary of how the first week progressed.
π Day 1 - Virtual Welcome
Fun fact: I'm part of the largest ever batch at 52 people! Since half are attending remotely, the first day was spent on Zoom doing onboarding, learning the social rules, 1:1 introductions via breakout rooms, and learning how to use Zulip for connecting with the wider community.
π Day 2 - Keys to the Kingdom
The first real day at the Hub in Downtown Brooklyn. The building has two floors dedicated to Recursers; one is the general social area with a kitchen, presentation space, art & music room, and more. The other is a quiet working area with a library; my favorite place to be. We were given a tour of the space in groups while munching on bagels & cream cheese. The rest of the day was spent in a flurry of conversations with others about their interests, ambitions, and background. There's so many brilliant and kind people here, I'm so grateful to share space & time with them.
βοΈ Day 3 - Blog Day
I've decided to make "Writing Wednesdays" a thing, so I added a Now page that describes what I'm currently focusing on, updated my newsletter backend to EmailOctopus, and got a draft post written about the time I got jealous of a tire and started eating a lot of butter (stay tuned for that one).
πΌ Day 4 - Job Market Facts
I met with staff at RC's Career Services to talk about the job market and get a better idea of what lies ahead. I learned a number of very important things this day:
- Remote jobs are declining; most of the open positions are for in-person work in cities like LA/NY/Boston.
- Technical difficulty in interviewing is at an all-time high, competition is fierce and the bar has been raised considerably.
- Typescript is so hot right now.
- AI-assisted development experience is expected, Cursor/Claude Code being strongly preferred for most roles.
This week I'll be attending a Freelancers & Contractors meeting with other entrepreneurs to see what that side of the economy looks like. I still have no idea what 2026 holds in store, but finding these facts early will help.
π Day 5 - Saying No
On Friday, we gathered for a Volition class; volition being the power of using one's will to follow through on projects & ideas. We made a list of everything we wanted to work on, sorted them by various criteria, and were encouraged to make cuts. I slashed my list of projects in half for the sake of focus. It's hard to realize that your time and energy is limited, especially at a magical place like RC.
I am however very excited for the projects that remain and can't wait to share them with you.
π Keep In Touch
I don't plan on doing weekly summaries, but writing is a first-class focus during my time here. If you'd like to stay in the loop, you can checkout my Now page to see what Iβm up to recently, and you can always sign up for the Friends of Flaviusβ’ Newsletter below for doodles, photos of Roci, and things I find fascinating.