16 of the 24 amazing people I spent my summer with

I am feeling a mixture of emotions today. June 2015 have now officially graduated and I’m so immensely proud of what all the groups produced for their final projects and of the journey we had together. All six groups’ presentations went without a hitch and we proved that together we can create some amazing things and overcome all sorts of barriers to get there. Graduation night was a huge celebration of our achievements and of the fun we’ve had in the last 11 weeks with our cohort and the fantastic staff.

I haven’t blogged this week due to obvious time constraints, but our project really started to come together from Sunday onwards and in the end we somehow created with something bigger and better than we expected, and it looked beautiful too. At times I was so exhausted but it was all worth it in the end. After two frankly horrendous practice presentations on Friday, each team member put their all into making their part the best they could, and when we came off stage we were all riding a wave of elation. Seeing each member of your beloved cohort absolutely rock it too just puts the icing on the cake!

These times are tinged with immense sadness too though. We had to say goodbye to Jack (aka Captain America, aka the guy who brought the party to Makers Academy) at the end of the night as he left for his flight home. There will no doubt be a couple more tearful goodbyes in coming weeks too, which I’m not looking forward to. Jack’s departure signals the start of the disbandment of a very special group who were complete strangers 11 weeks ago but have now experienced so many laughs, lows and so much love for each other. I’ve had such an amazing summer and it’s so sad to know that this part of the journey has come to an end so quickly. Some great friendships have been formed and I’m sure we’ll all keep in contact even when we’re all out in the world doing various awesome things.

Due to the strength of the ever expanding Makers alumni network it seems a lot of alumni end up working together, collaborating on things and even forming startups, so in a way this is not the end. Most of us will be back in for hiring week next week too, which we’ve been warned is very hard work (just carrying on as normal then, really!). A record number of hiring companies are coming in to present to us with the aim of plucking us from the Makers Academy nest to become the awesome developers we now know we can be.

If anyone reading this is weighing up whether to apply or not, I would say a massive, massive 100% YES! Quit your boring job, throw yourself into it and never look back. I would live it all again in a heartbeat.

And so ends… the best summer of my life.

Nat x