Formation Monthly Deploy: June 2025

Welcome to the Formation Monthly Deploy, our monthly blog highlighting achievements, insights, and innovations from across the Formation ecosystem. Whether you're a current Fellow navigating challenges, an Alumni building your career, or a Mentor guiding others, this space is designed to keep you connected to your community.

🌎 Engineering tip from Daniel Tomko

💡 Using AI in your practice the smart way

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are evolving fast, and they can absolutely support your growth if you use them intentionally.

Here are a few quick dos and don’ts:

✅ Do use AI to augment your work. Ask for code review, optimization tips, or debugging help after writing your own solution.

❌ Don’t skip the reps. Reading an AI-generated solution isn’t the same as working through it yourself.

🧠 When stuck, try asking: “What strategies could I use to approach this problem?” instead of pasting the prompt directly.

At Formation, we believe the goal is long-term skill development, and smart use of AI can absolutely accelerate that. Just make sure it’s your partner, not your shortcut.

🌟 Last month's Light House winners

The Light House award recognizes mentors who illuminate the path for others. These mentors made a lasting impact on Fellows this month:

Nina Mametsuka was recognized for her generosity and ongoing support. Her nominator shared: “One thing I liked was that she made herself available in the future and offered to help with mock interviews and negotiation prep.”

Jon Kotker made complex problems easier to tackle through visual teaching. His nominator shared: “Jon had a significant positive impact on my preparation during coding interview office hours. His patience, expert guidance, and use of the draw tab made a tough prefix sum problem much more approachable.”

Kevin Farst stood out for his empathy and encouragement. His nominator shared: “Kevin has a high EQ and knew exactly what to say to encourage me after a tough onsite. He also shared helpful app architecture articles that played a big role in helping me ace my next system design interview.”

Amitabh Srivastav earned praise for his clear explanations and inclusive teaching style. His nominator shared: “Amitabh made sure every member of the session was able to understand the concepts and solutions. He even rescheduled after technical issues and provided extra practice questions. I definitely learned a lot from him today.”

🚀 Recent launches at Formation

We’re constantly evolving Formation to give engineers the fastest path to leveling up, with tools that mirror real-world work, AI that acts like a mentor, and environments built for learning by doing.

Here’s a look at what’s recently launched:

✨ Nova now provides post-session feedback

Formation’s in-house AI teaching assistant, Nova, now delivers personalized feedback after every session. A few hours after a technical module or mock interview, Fellows receive a DM from Buildbot with actionable tips — like having a mentor follow up with notes on what to improve.

This update makes it even easier to reflect, reinforce learning, and keep momentum between sessions.

See you next month!

We’re always proud of how this community shows up — with generosity, determination, and drive. Keep asking questions, lifting each other up, and pushing the limits of what you thought you could do.

Until next month,

The Formation Team

This blog is adapted from our monthly newsletter, The Monthly Deploy. If you're not yet part of the Formation community but would also like these updates directly in your inbox, subscribe to our blog.