I am writing this in the plane from San Francisco to Paris (actually Newark to Paris but who cares about layovers).

I am leaving for a bit, but I will be back. I usually make my posts in ¾ parts, to talk about specific topics, but today, this is a letter to the people I met in SF.

First, I want to say that I love you. I love you all, the ones I spent a lot of time with as much as the ones I wish I spent more time with, the ones I slept in the same bed with, the ones I never knew the names, all of you.

3 months ago, I was coming to San Francisco and I knew none of you guys. I knew nothing about anybody else’s history, almost nothing about the US, about San Francisco, and actually not much about myself. It feels like you guys taught me so much about all of this.
And now, thanks to you, I would not say that I know much more about all of that, but what I can say is that I now know that I don’t know much, but that if I am interested in getting answers, I can make it happen.

In these 3 months, I met all of you guys. TV Star, writer, designer, fresh out of school or with a ton of experience, all of you are just incredible. One could thing I make a general statement about a group full of very different individuals, but I can assure you that I am not. Every single person that I met during these 3 months is incredible. Everybody a different way, with different traits, good sides and bad sides, but all of them are incredible. All.Of.You.

But let me split all of you guys in smaller categories to prevent too many generic statements.

To the DBC Staff

If I could tell you just one thing, that would be : Thank you for everything.

What you do is great, and I am not talking about code, but about the human experience that you set up, and make us experience. Coming here, I thought I would get a lot of coding experience, but more than coding, what I got was an incredible life experience. As if being around people like Karim Bishay, Sherif Abushadi, or Steven Harms, for example, was not enough, the program is made so that every part of the staff contributes to making you learn so much about how to approach everything.

And the funny thing is that you actually get out with more questions that you came in, but you can now realize that questions are what will take you further. Wondering about them, asking them, and searching for the answers will give you so much more than just having the answer. I realize that now, but 3 months ago, that would probably not have been the case.

And I know some names come up much more than others, but people like Keren and Sam, Brandon, or the people that I never asked the name of (oops, sorry) are just as important. You may get through DBC and not realize that, but if any of them was any different, your experience would also be completely different.

To the alumnis/previous cohorts

Whether you are a coach of not does not matter, you guys rock. Seeing what people did before us has been an inspiration all throughout these 3 months. And just the fact that most of the people are so accessible, so open-minded, and even years after going through the program, are sill that friendly with former boot, is something that I don’t think I experienced before. And now, I will do my best to perpetuate this tradition!

As for the coaches… Thank you. In my opinion, spending days on Three.js with Salar is just as valuable as finding the solution to that hard problem you’ve been given. In the end, what makes us good is not the challenges we finish, but the fact that we like to wander around and discover everything we can.

Never stop learning and redistributing that knowledge. This is what makes us great, this is what make you great, this is also what makes the program and the whole experience that valuable.

To the cohorts after us

Golden Bears, thank you for being my confidents, give me that feeling of that a big brother has when he sees his younger siblings grow. You are much better than what many of you could think, just keep up the good work, gather, and built great things!

Fiery Skippers, when I am writing this, you just graduated (yup, 2 weeks for a post). Congratulations, I never ever doubted that you would do great. You guys have an incredible group dynamic that will take you so far… I envy you just as much as I thank you. Now blow everybody’s mind, you have to!

Pocket Gophers, I don’t know you as much as I wish I would. I met you guys when I already knew I had to leave. But the things I saw in your cohort from the small window I had make me think you are bound to be great. I have a lot of faith in what you can do, and I can’t wait for you to graduate, to see what happens.

The Red admirals, I … genuinely don’t know you, except 2 of you that I met at our graduation party… But I wish you a lot of fun and learning!

To my cohort, the Banana Slugs

I love you guys! I came from far away, first time in the US, no time to adapt, but from the very first day I felt at home among you guys. I slept in the same bed as some of you, same floor as others, same couch as (many) even more of you. I lived with 9 of you guys, I worked with most of you guys, and I have only good things to say about every one of you. When the worse thing you can say about somebody is “He wants to get things done asap”, I consider that a good thing, right? ;)

I thank you all for welcoming me, sharing with me, being great altogether, and making me feel good about myself! I love you guys and I will be available for every one of you, as long as I can.

SLUGS LIFE~~

Special mentions

Armando, my new brother, I love you. Even now that we are far away, you are still changing my life everyday. I am reading your book, making life changes from stuff you said, you are everywhere. Damn you big brother ;)

Christine, damn you for being that awesome! I felt bad when I did not know what was up with you, I cried with you, I even made you taste french food (not that good though)! I feel like you will do great things. You are so much better than me >.<
Now be great, and be happy. We talked about it before, but even more than “you deserve it”, think about it as “you have a duty to do so”.

Drew, I wish I had spent more time with you. I really feel a great connection with you, and at times I felt like you were losing hope, losing part of that motivation… You should not. I believe you can do great things, and I am and will be available for you whenever you will need it.

Sherif Abushadi, thank you for being you. My new goal in life is to give that same feeling you’re giving people around you one day. You have to feel that one day!

Karim Bishay, thank you for that new vision of life you brought me with these EE sessions. I was interested in Empathy before, but now I actually know how to share it. Thank you.

Steven Harms, thank you for all that knowledge. I felt like I learned as much in DBC than outside of it when we got these lunches. I love the way you teach, the way you share what you know, and I will work to get back to get lunch again!

Rao, meow. Meow meow meow meoooooow meoow. Meow meow meow Mouw.

Salar, thank you for being awesome. Keep on being awesome like that. I am looking forward to the day I can work with you!

Ben, Pocket Gopher, I did not spend half as much time as I wanted with you. I feel like you are an incredible person, and I want to learn everything about your life. Let’s meet again when you get more time!

Matthew and Johnny, thank you for being around. I felt so good around you and I will feel good again when I am back. I consider you like my little brothers. Overachieving brothers that will end up ruling the world, haha.

Stephen, man, I love you too… But you keep me so worried all of the time. Please take care of yourself, and keep on being great. Don’t listen to that voice in your head, ‘haters gonna hate’ ;)

Not sure how to finish that letter, but I’ll go with : Keep on being awesome, people, I love you, you changed me.