LONG ISSUE? ► VIEW IN BROWSER
ISSUE #16 · Oct 2026
THE 42 · PINK OCTOBER
42 GOES PINK
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
RUMOR HAS IT…
Frankenstein's monster is just a peer-reviewed project that got merged without anyone running the tests.
◉ MISSION CONTROL · 42 CENTRAL
42 AI STUDY:
WE NEED YOU!
STATUS: ● ONLINE · DEADLINE: Nov 6th, 2026
42 Central is running a network-wide AI study to help us understand how AI is being used across the network, how it is affecting learning and work, and what is changing on our campuses and on the job market.
Please take 10-12 mins of your time to complete the anonymous survey below!
■ STUDENT HIGHLIGHT
“I used to be closed off and struggled on my own. 42 showed me it was okay to reach out to others.”
Meet Herintsoa Rakotonirina from 42 Antananarivo. After a frustrating stint at a private IT university, he decided to give tech a second chance by joining 42. What followed is a tale of overcoming fear, building discipline, and rediscovering what he is capable of!
"I discovered 42 by pure luck. It piqued my curiosity. Part of me thought it was a scam, but the other part had me push ahead with the online games, and soon enough I found myself in the Piscine. It was super intimidating at first. I remember looking around, seeing people coding like in movies and thinking to myself 'I’ll never make it! 😭' After a brief moment of panic, I picked myself up and started thinking that no matter the outcome, it would be a good experience. I powered through it, waited to see what would happen, and here I am now.
In all honesty, my early days at 42 were hard, but over time, I grew and developed new skills. Thanks to 42, I was able to change a lot of things in the way I worked. The most notable change is perhaps how I communicate. I used to be very closed off and struggled on my own, but 42 showed me it was okay to reach out to others and seek help. Discipline was the other big one: I used to really struggle with it, and even though there’s still room for improvement now, I’m much better organized!"
A FEW TAKES ON EDUCATION AND TECH
The Hottest Career Advice in Tech Currently is What 42 Has Always Stood for
In the age of AI, 42's belief in the need to learn to learn has become mainstream, with several high-profile tech executives embracing the idea that tomorrow's tech workers will have to adapt more, be more agile, and be able to learn continuously.
Here's What AI Professionals Value in 42 Students
AI is reshaping the tech industry at remarkable speed, changing not only the tools people use but also the skills companies value. For 42 students, that raises a practical question: which qualities matter most in a field that is evolving so quickly? To find out, we spoke with people working directly in AI, from founders and employers to 42 Alumni.
■ LEVEL · RIDDLE
I hide your data, keep it tight,
Only certain eyes have sight.
Getters, setters, guard the gate,
What OOP rule do I dictate?
► GUESS HERE!
ANSWER IN NEXT MONTH’S 42 GALACTIC POST!
LAST MONTH’S ANSWER
Variable
54.8% of you guessed right, yay! Wanna try surpassing yourself?
■ CAMPUS · STUDENTS
STUDENT INITIATIVE
1337 students left anonymous messages, advice, and encouragement for Pisciners just one step away from the finish line, then filmed those Pisciners reading them live, and the reactions were so wholesome!
From words of motivation to inside jokes only a Piscine survivor would get, every message carries a little piece of what it's like to go through it. Most importantly, this was proof that even in the most intense moments, no one's really going through it alone.
■ LEVEL · HIGH SCORES
TOP 10s OF
THE MONTH (Sep-2026)
TOP 10 - MOST EVALUATIONS
01 berrabia (1337 Rabat): 57
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02 andjajas (Codam): 51
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03 azdursun (42 Istanbul): 46
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04 ktiew (42 Kuala Lumpur): 40
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05 jorbarro (42 Madrid): 39
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06 ybalkan (42 Kocaeli): 29
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- alkhan (Codam): 29
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08 snourry (42 Angoulême): 28
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- stales (42 Angoulême): 28
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10 bsampaio (42 Luanda): 27
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TOP 10 - MOST EXPERIENCE GAINED
01 alrahmou (42 Luxembourg): 218,482
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02 snourry (42 Angoulême): 181,803
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03 stales (42 Angoulême): 174,484
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04 mrios-he (42 Luxembourg): 159,840
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05 tkaragoz (42 Paris): 145,032
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06 chuynh (42 Luxembourg): 144,377
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07 thi-le (42 Paris): 141,950
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08 tgernez (42 Paris): 139,495
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09 yeomin (42 Seoul): 138,872
██
- jusohn (42 Seoul): 138,872
██
■ ALUMNI
MOUNIA EL KORAICHI
It all started when I founded an IT club at ENSAM Casablanca. Little did I know that, one thing leading to another, this was the stepping stone for me to join 1337. What had initially began as a curiosity thing turned into real excitement during the Piscine at 1337 Benguerir in August 2021: all of a sudden, it clicked. Somehow, I knew I had uncovered the future of education. Since then, I've grown far more confident spotting bugs and vulnerabilities, and while impostor syndrome still creeps in, it never lasts more than a week, because I am confident that what I don't master today, I will tomorrow. I'm now a Data Scientist at CRSA-UM6P and I give back to 1337 and the wider 42 community by helping host events like HackAI 2026 along with 1337AI and the 42 AI Federation.
■ CAMPUS · NEWS
CAMPUS NEWS
São Paulo Wins Top Prize for AI & EdTech in Brazil
42 São Paulo won 1st place in the Artificial Intelligence & Educational Technology category at Brazil's Education Highlight Awards, announced on October 2 in São Paulo during the 10th anniversary edition of Educa Week.
Across 16 categories celebrating those transforming education in Brazil, 42 São Paulo came out ahead of Canva Education (in partnership with SENAC) and Paula Souza Robotics.
42 Students from Across France Gathered to Code for the French Public Services
114 students from across our French campuses met at the Fort des Saumonards, our Forty 2 off-site campus, to work side by side with developers and experts from the Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM - France's interministerial digital directorate) on La Suite Numérique de l'État (the French State's open source digital workspace). 42 Paris, 42 Le Havre, 42 Angoulême, 42 Nice, 42 Mulhouse and 42 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes all answered the call!
42 Campuses Shine (again) at the CodinGame Summer Challenge 2026
After sweeping the Winter Challenge and Spring Challenge, the 42 network has done it again: six 42 campuses finished in the top 10 of the 2026 CodinGame Summer Challenge!
42 Urduliz Bizkaia wins at the DOK Summit Awards 2026
42 Urduliz Bizkaia received the Premio al Mejor proyecto de impulso del talento digital y la formación tecnológica (Best Project for Promoting Digital Talent and Tech Training) at the DOK Summit Awards 2026, sponsored by CONETIC.
Itecor and 42 Lausanne Team Up for IQ Day
For its IQ Day, Itecor partnered with 42 Lausanne to run a hands-on design sprint focused on artificial intelligence. Together they explored how promising ideas can be turned into concrete, actionable projects, giving participants a practical taste of what it takes to move from concept to execution.
42 Malaysia hosts the Gauntlet Mini Game Jam with Larian Studios
42 Malaysia cadets and university students took part in the Gauntlet Mini Game Jam with Larian Studios Malaysia: one week of C++ training, then one week to build a game from scratch, solo and without AI. At Demo Day, participants presented their playable games and connected with fellow aspiring developers.
■ LEVEL · POLL
WOULD YOU
RATHER?
PLAYER A
Be stuck in Emacs...
VS
PLAYER B
... or in Vim without knowing how to escape?
► VOTE HERE!
LAST MONTH’S RESULTS
73%
would rather rebuild assembly language from scratch
27%
would rather use MLX for all projects their whole life
■ STARTUP
START-UP OF
THE MONTH
Co-founded by 42 Paris Alumni Louis Demeslay, Mathis Grosjean, and Fredrika Lindh, Zealy has become one of the go-to platforms for community engagement in Web3.
The startup helps companies turn onboarding, education, and community growth into gamified "quests," letting members earn crypto, tokens, and digital rewards for completing tasks, replacing the patchwork of Google Forms and Discord bots that most projects relied on before.
Since launching, Zealy has supported thousands of communities and raised $3.5M in funding to keep building!
$3.5M
in funding
● ● ● ~/42/wise_words.sh
> WISE WORDS:
“Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly.”
_Alain de Botton▮