Formation Monthly Deploy: October 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

Debugging Starts with a Hypothesis 🕵️‍♀️

When debugging, resist the urge to just start changing code and hoping something works. Great engineers debug scientifically, with a clear hypothesis first. 

Here’s how to stay systematic and effective:✅ Form a hypothesis before touching the code.“If X is true, then this function should fail in Y way.” Then test exactly that.

🧩 Make one change aligned with your hypothesis — and design a narrow test (unit test or print statement) to check its impact.

🔍 Observe carefully: Did the change make a difference? If not, don’t keep it. Revert and refine your hypothesis instead of piling on random fixes.

🧠 Stuck without a hypothesis? That’s a signal to move upstream in the Engineering Method — maybe you’re missing context from earlier steps, like understanding the problem or reproducing the bug.

At Formation, we want you to debug with intention, not luck. Every fix should teach you something, even when it doesn’t solve the problem right away.

🌊 Last month’s Rising Tide winners

Each month, we recognize Fellows who go above and beyond to lift others up. These standout Fellows showed up with support, positivity, and generosity, making Formation better for everyone around them:

Nick Hujarski was recognized for his eagerness to learn and how he makes space for others to do the same. His nominator shared, “Nick is eager to learn and he makes space for others to do the same.”

Layne Taylor stood out for her systematic problem-solving and collaborative mindset. Her nominator shared, “Layne systematically attacks a problem with gusto and a measured approach. She makes difficult problems approachable.”

Bam Erfanian was recognized for his thoughtful communication and supportive presence during mock sessions. His nominator shared, “Bam was a wonderful interviewer during my mock session. He collaborated with me throughout, listened attentively, and provided thoughtful guidance during the discussion. At the end, he shared actionable feedback that was both constructive and encouraging. Beyond his skills as an interviewer, he was also a pleasure to talk to, which made the session engaging and comfortable.”

🌟 Last month’s Lighthouse Award Winners

The Lighthouse Award recognizes mentors who go above and beyond to guide, support, and light the way forward. Last month’s winners exemplified what it means to meet Fellows where they are and leave them better than they found them.

Jerica Huang was recognized for her deep knowledge, supportive teaching style, and ability to make complex topics feel approachable. Her nominators shared:“Jerica guides mentees with deep knowledge and patience. She's a pleasure to work with!”“Jerica is very knowledgeable and frequently shares cool tips and tidbits for data structures and languages. When someone makes a mistake, she handles it really well... softening the blow and guiding the fellow towards a fix. I really admire her. She is definitely one of the best session hosts (based on the ones I have had repeat sessions with in my 2 months here).”

Olusola Akinsulere stood out for his targeted and actionable feedback that helped Fellows reframe their design thinking. His nominator shared, “Olusola had the biggest impact this week by giving actionable, targeted feedback that shifted my system-design approaches. For example, he pushed me beyond a DB-centric mindset and into asynchronous patterns, told about separating data types and pick fit-for-purpose storage. He also followed up with examples and things I could look up to practice after the session.”

Christian Kerr was recognized for his clarity, thoughtful feedback, and recruiter’s perspective. His nominator shared, “Christian provided very clear feedback, offered insights from a recruiter's perspective, and always gave long, thorough answers.”

🏆 Job placement celebrations

We’re celebrating Fellows who turned persistence into progress and landed new roles this month.

Fiona Jiao → Waymo"Coding was about fluency and fundamentals. For system design, I found quantity turned into quality — patterns began to emerge after enough reps. Behavioral prep had a huge ROI. I built ten core stories and adjusted my delivery through multiple mocks. My advice? Communicate clearly, mock often, and keep rotating topics to stay sharp."

Anthony Martin → Maiven Energy"No CS degree, career switcher — the job hunt was hard. I aimed for Big Tech at first, but found great roles at startups and non-tech companies. Behavioral interviews matter more than people think, especially at smaller companies. System design prep helped me speak more clearly about past work. And Formation’s community was everything — supportive, generous, and grounding. Be kind to yourself."

🚀 What’s new at Formation?

Practice Studio is now live

Interview prep doesn’t end after one challenge, or even one job offer. Engineers at every stage asked for a more flexible way to revisit core skills, reinforce muscle memory, and maintain momentum throughout the job search. Practice Studio was built in direct response.

The new experience unlocks seamless access to hands-on practice across both algorithms and system design:

• Review past Subchallenges directly from the Roadmap, with targeted practice already configured
• Revisit completed Challenges to access all topics in one central place
• Start new Subchallenges with built-in practice workflows from day one

Formation’s goal with Practice Studio is simple: continuous, customizable skill development that supports engineers long after their first interview loop.

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.