At the turn of the 21st century, 2000, I discovered my love for poetry. I was enrolled in Ramaz Upper School, in 10th grade, and turning sixteen. I explored the universe with Walt Whitman and his Learned Astronomer. William Carlos William gave me an appreciation for the every day riding…

Monday, June 8th, 2020, was Flatiron School’s eighth birthday. Starting Flatiron School with Adam has without a doubt been the most rewarding, challenging, and exciting endeavor of my life so far. With a heart full of love, I will be leaving full-time employment at Flatiron School at the end of…

Ruby may have a smaller place in the market. But that’s not why you should learn it. — This post originally appeared on Learn.Love.Code. As the Co-Founder and Dean of Flatiron School I thought it important to write a response to the recent implication that because a school switched their curriculum focus from Ruby to Java that means the Ruby and Ruby on Rails job market is waning…

Given on 3/9/2018 for the binding.cry Graduating Class of Flatiron School Good morning everyone. Hi, I’m Avi, I’m one of the co-founders of Flatiron School, Dean, and Chief Product Officer and it’s my privilege to welcome you all to your graduation. I haven’t given one of these in a while…

Ruby may have a smaller place in the market. But that’s not why you should learn it. — As the Co-Founder and Dean of Flatiron School I thought it important to write a response to the recent implication that because a school switched their curriculum focus from Ruby to Java that means the Ruby and Ruby on Rails job market is waning or the popularity and importance of…

My mom was an elementary school teacher. Every day after school she’d tutor her students, and I’d have to wait around for her for two hours, playing with my school’s one computer (this was 1993) before she’d drive me home. My favorite game was Nibbles, a “snake” game written in…

At the turn of the second millennium I was a sophomore in an NYC high school. I remember having a handful of interests: movies, fiction, gaming, computers, the internet, programming, and being cool. Trying to merge as many of these into one activity, and after being utterly rejected from my…

I wrote this letter to my dad on his birthday 3 years ago. I’m sharing it today to honor him on Fathers’ Day and put a bit of gratitude out in the world. Hi Dad, I’m writing you a letter. I know that we might equate writing a letter to…

These days, I get to teach people to program at Flatiron School, but I’m personally self-taught—I’ve been teaching myself teaching myself how to code since fifth grade. Along the way, I’ve found there’s no fairy dust to sprinkle on your code that will suddenly make learning easier. Learning to code…