The costs of Hackership partly depend on our location, that's why the participation fee changes from batch to batch. The current fees per batch are displayed on our apply page.
Previously, learners agreed to pay 15% of their income for the first year after graduating, back into the programme. Currently, we’re trialling an up-front payment model. This is because running a Batch outside of our home patch of Berlin has increased running costs and because of feedback we received that people would rather pay a set amount upfront and know what that figure is. The Alumni Funding Model is not gone forever though. After a few Batches we will be able to see which model is most preferred by the community, and most sustainable long term. We are committed to keeping the Hackership accessible and affordable so we are also introducing grants, to help eligible applicants with the programme fee.
You will need a working computer for the duration of the Hackership. (Mac, PC- we don’t mind.) You will need to cover your return flights to destination, accommodation and living costs for the period. Some guide pricing information is available in the apply page.
The next full batch of Hackership will run for 9 weeks from July until September 2015. This includes a halfway point break or ‘reading week’ in the middle. Please note: these exact dates are provisional and may be subject to slight change. Check the latest dates here
Hackership runs for 9 weeks. We expect all learners to be present in the space full-time from Monday to Thursday, during weeks 1-4 and 6-9. There might be obligatory evening as well as weekend events. Week 5 is a break week. You can remain on site in this period, but you do not have to.
Yes! See our information on grants.
Hackership began in Berlin, Germany. In 2014, as the cold Berlin Winter approached, we thought, “you know what would make this programme even MORE awesome? A beach. and Sunny weather.” So… Hackership On Tour was born. Check the location of upcoming batches here.
No. There are a number of learning structures we provide that help you learn and require your physical presence. These include but are not limited to planning breakfasts, daily stand-ups, end of week demos and the interaction you get from your peers and the Hackers in Residence. That said, on days without an official schedule (the majority of Fridays to Sundays) you are not required to be in attendance.
No, you just need to meet the visa requirements of the location.
No, sorry :(
We are a community effort and began by bootstrapping this programme. We, and our learners are incredibly grateful to all the people and organisations who have supported us so far. Without their donations of workspace, time, technical expertise, workshops, organising know-how and general amazingness -Batches 0 and 1 wouldn’t have happened. Now our goal is to be able to sustainably run the Hackership primarily through alumni support, tuition fees and donations. But, without the huge donation of time that talented developers volunteer to the programme as coaches, we would have to raise the programme fee to an unaffordable amount. Honestly, this community volunteering is our main funding.
We plan to run multiple batches per year. Check here for upcoming batches
Applications are open now! Apply here.
Please have a look at our apply page
This programme does not help you acquire skills for starting or running a company but focuses on making you a better hacker. If that is what you are looking for to start your company, sure why not. But otherwise one of the many incubators is probably more helpful for you. Please keep in mind that during the programme we expect you to learn full-time, but not build a startup.
Nope. This programme focusses on learning together. You probably want to join a Coworking-Space for that instead.
Yes! There are so many ways for you to get involved with the Hackership, other than applying as a learner. Check out the Get Involved page to learn more.
Aside from that, we are always happy for people to spread the word. And of course, signup for the Newsletter please.
That's great. Even though this programme is mostly about hard-skills, you will be able to catch up on soft-skills like presentations, group work or interviewing as well.
For locations other than Berlin, we expect to source furnished and comfortable accommodation that is reasonably priced, secure and offers single room occupancy. For Berlin, we can share some websites to start your search with. More details to follow. If you expect not to need accommodation (because you live on location already for example) then please let us know in the application form.
Grants will be assigned to those that are eligible on a first-come first-served basis, so applying sooner rather than later can have a positive effect on your chances.
This is a non-structured, self-directed learning programme. That means, there is no learning material provided by Hackership but the learners figure out what to learn themselves. Of course the Hackership Team is here to help and facilitate but you pick your direction.
Nope. Our coaches might host informal workshops though, but these will not be compulsory. The core focus is on self-directed learning from your peers, thus either in pairs or small groups.
No.
Most likely not. Our focus is on running a great learning programme in a distraction-free environment and as we have a only limited amount of space, the priority goes to the learners and hackers in residence.
The main language is English. But if another language works better for you in certain situations, great.
As for programming, we don't care about your weapons of choice. Whatever you want to learn and wherever you come from, we'll try to match you with the right people.
We plan to have 25-30 learners per batch, but we might change that number again. Eventually, we want to make sure that we can provide the best learning environment for all participants.
We don't have any restriction on age. But because it is a full-time 4-day a week program and you need to have some experience in coding already, we expect the majority of learners to be in their late twenties to their late thirties.
Smart kid. Yes, this programme is inspired by Hacker School and their great work in New York. We are building this on top of their experience and what worked for them (like methods, group size, etc), plus our own experiences with other great learning Programmes that we have founded, led and been involved with.
This programme was developed and is run by the Founders of OpenTechSchool under which umbrella it is also running for now.
No, sorry, this isn't a beginners programme. The OpenTechSchool offers great ways to learn to code for beginners for free.
That is fine. You just need to have programmed enough to know you love it. You should be far enough to be able to learn self-directed, be able to pick learning resource yourself and have a direction in which you want to learn more.
Hackers in residence are experts in a field, technology or method, who spend some time in the Hackership space, hacking along side you. They are approachable for questions and generally help you to dig deeper into the tech. They are picked and invited depending on learners needs and spend at least a couple of days in the space.
For example a group might be interested in working with NoSQL-Databases. To aid the learning progress, Hackership would invite an expert (e.g. a core committer) as hacker in residence, who'd then hack together with the learners and provide in-depth knowledge for the group.
Maybe. Hackership is not a recruiting platform but focused on becoming a better programmer. That being said, of course you'll meet great other learners and there is a high interest in Hackership Alumni from Industry. Besides, you'll code alongside amazing Hackers in residence who will get to know you and might want to stay in touch. And by focusing on becoming a better programmer you're also becoming a more interesting hire.
On top, the Hackership Team consists of very connected community of people. So if you are quitting your job to attend, just let them know and they'll do their best to help you out.