42 (school)
42
42's logo
Motto
BeyondTheCode
TypePrivateNonprofit
Established
  • 2013 (2013) (Paris)
  • 2016 (2016) (Fremont)
  • 2021 (2021) (Istanbul)
  • 2021 (2021) (Kocaeli)
  • 2021 (2021) (Adelaide)
  • 2022 (2022) (Berlin)
PresidentXavier Niel
DirectorSophie Viger
Administrative staff
  • Paris: 29
  • Adelaide: 7
Students
  • Paris: 2,550
  • Adelaide: 300
  • Istanbul: 492
  • Kocaeli: 275
Location
Colours    Blue, green, red
Websitewww.42network.org

42 is a private institution of education in computer science founded by Xavier Niel, Nicolas Sadirac (former executive director at Epitech),[1] Kwame Yamgnane, and Florian Bucher (former executives at Epitech).[2] The school opened in Paris in 2013. The school does not have any professors and is open 24/7. Students are trained through peer-to-peer pedagogy, and project-based learning.

42's name is a reference to the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy written by British author Douglas Adams: in the book, 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.[3]

History

Xavier Niel, one of the founders of 42

Announced on March 26, 2013, 42 was opened in Paris on July 15, 2013, for the selection phase called La Piscine (the swimming-pool). On May 17, 2016, 42 announced plans to open a second campus in Fremont, California.[4] The Fremont campus was closed in 2020.[5]

As of 2024, campuses have been opened in over 30 countries.[6] In addition to the official campus in Paris, France, the school model was adopted in Lyon, Reims, and Mulhouse, France, as well as in Spain, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova,[7] Belgium, Russia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Finland,[8] Germany,[9]Adelaide, Australia,[10]Armenia,[11] the United Arab Emirates,[12]London,[13]Quebec, Canada,[14]Bangkok,[15]Florence,[16]Rome,[17]Lausanne, Switzerland,[18] Turkey, Vienna, Austria,[19] Tirana,[20] and others.

Admission and registration

The candidate must be at least 18 years old or hold a baccalauréat (it is possible to start an application for candidates in the year of their baccalaureate). No diploma is required for applicants over 18 years of age. In 2015, an experiment took place with Pôle Emploi to train a group of around thirty unemployed seniors in programming for ten months. This training has since been renewed each year.

The first selection is made using a series of logic and memory tests on the institution's website intended to assess the students' abilities to learn computer science. The second selection is called the “piscine”, meaning "pool" in French: an intensive four-week selection process during which the applicant must carry out practical work in the C Language as well as community service, sometimes considered by students as a degrading punishment.[21] It's not uncommon for students to work 10 to 12h per day, including on week-ends, to complete the "piscine". Under the eye of the educational team who scrutinizes all their actions from the "jar" (office of the educational team) using surveillance-based big data: where are the students sitting? With whom are their usually pairing? ....[22]

Registration for training is free and concerns each year about 850 students in Paris.

Training structure

There are no lectures or practical work supervised by professors. Students are free to organize their days to carry out the projects proposed by the teaching team. The establishment is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The training provided is intended to be inspired by the changes brought about by the Internet with a pedagogy qualified as "peer-to-peer". Depending on the course chosen by the student, it delivers an RNCP title of level 6 or 7: a certificate recognized by the French State, but no diploma.[23]

The mode of operation of 42 was inspired by that of Epitech: selection using "swimming pool" sessions and teaching according to the project mode. 42 Network attempts to establish 24/7 technology support communities in major cities worldwide through the participation of collaborative entities, achieving integration of education, industry, and technology exchange.

Program

The new "42Next" curriculum is a gamified, peer-to-peer program divided into four main stages:

Selection (The Piscine): A 4-week intensive C and Shell immersion to test suitability for the model.

Foundation (Core Curriculum): Lasting 12–18 months, covering 7 pillars including C (Memory Management), Algorithms, Systems & Networks, Python (OOP), DevOps/Infrastructure, Modern Web, and—newly added—Artificial Intelligence (LLMs and RAG).

Immersion: A mandatory 6-month paid internship in the industry.

Mastery (Specialization): Students can choose advanced tracks to reach "Level 21," focusing on fields like Advanced AI, Automotive & Mobility (specifically relevant to the Wolfsburg location), Cybersecurity, and Graphics. [24]

Business model

The investment was made by Niel: 70 million euros, including 20 million for the creation of the Parisian establishment and 50 million to cover its operating costs for 10 years. The objective when creating 42 is to allow the creation of 150 companies each year, including five Internet giants, in the hope that these young shoots pay their apprenticeship tax to the establishment. At the start of 2015, Sadirac said "If we are not able to generate five big successes per year, it is because we will have failed. Then there will be no more reason to finance us."

Controversies

On November 2, 2014, one of the 60 cameras installed at Nicolas Sadirac's request, caught him spanking a young woman, followed by sexual intercourse, in one of the school's amphitheater.[25]

In 2017, with less than 10% female students, a report from the magazine Usine Nouvelle highlighted sexist behavior at 42. This included pornographic websites as wallpapers, misogynistic pornographic content being commonplace on some public Slack channels, and upskirt pictures. Fabienne Haas, director of communication, argued that since the slack is managed by the student themselves, it is hard for the school to moderate it. Some sanctions against students were taken, but none were expelled from the school.[26][27]

In July 2018, Sadirac left after a financial audit ordered by Niel, giving away all his parts in the school.[25][28]

In June 2024, Québec numérique (the non-profit organization hosting 42 Québec and its campus) announced its closure in the following month, blaming a missing grant payment from Quebec's Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity.[29][30] The Ministry blamed "possible irregularities [...] on the management of the grant."

42 Network

42 Network is an international of network of partner schools that run using the same processes as the original 42 school.[31] They are funded by institutions and companies. The educational curriculum of these establishments is based on a common core, but the campuses can adapt their projects to the labor pools in which they are located.

During Emmanuel Macron's visit to Algeria 2017, Niel announced the creation of a 42 school in Algiers, but this was not followed by an opening. In June 2019, 42 announced the opening of eleven new campuses by 2020, including in Rio, São Paulo, Jakarta, Yerevan, Tokyo, Bogotá, Angoulême, Madrid, and Quebec. By 2020, Vigier stated that 33 schools were open in 22 countries on five continents.

List of schools

Name Country Location Year founded Official website
42 Paris FranceParis2013 42.fr
1337 MoroccoKhouribga2018[32]1337.ma
Codam NetherlandsAmsterdam2018 codam.nl
Hive FinlandHelsinki2019[33]hive.fi
42 Yerevan ArmeniaYerevan2020 42yerevan.am
42 Nice FranceNice2020[34]42nice.fr
42 Lisboa PortugalLisbon2020[35]42lisboa.com
42 Bangkok ThailandBangkok2019 42bangkok.com
42 Madrid SpainMadrid2019 42madrid.com
42 Adelaide AustraliaAdelaide2021 42adel.org.au
42 Québec CanadaQuébec2021[36]42quebec.com
42 Wolfsburg GermanyWolfsburg2021 42wolfsburg.de
42 Istanbul TurkeyIstanbul2021 42istanbul.com.tr
42 Kocaeli TurkeyKocaeli2021 42kocaeli.com.tr
42 Vienna AustriaVienna2022 42vienna.com
42 Prague Czech RepublicPrague2022 42prague.com
42 Berlin GermanyBerlin2022[37]42berlin.de
42 Porto PortugalPorto2022 42porto.com
1337 Med MoroccoTétouan2022[38]1337.ma
42 Warsaw PolandWarsaw2023 42warsaw.pl
42 Luanda AngolaLuanda2023 42luanda.com
42 London United KingdomLondon2023 42london.com
School 21 UzbekistanSamarkand2023 21-school.uz
42 Beirut LebanonBeirut2024 42beirut.com
School 21 UzbekistanTashkent2024 21-school.uz
42 Belgium BelgiumAntwerp[39]2022 42belgium.be
42 Belgium BelgiumBrussels[40]2018 42belgium.be
42 Belo Horizonte BrazilBelo Horizonte42bh.org.br
42 Rio BrazilRio de Janeiro42.rio
42 São Paulo BrazilSão Paulo42sp.org.br
42 Angoulême FranceAngoulême42angouleme.fr
42 Le Havre FranceLe Havre42lehavre.fr
42 Lyon FranceLyon42lyon.fr
42 Mulhouse FranceMulhouse42mulhouse.fr
42 Perpignan Occitanie FrancePerpignan42perpignan.fr
42 Heilbronn GermanyHeilbronn42heilbronn.de
42 Firenze ItalyFlorence42firenze.it
42 Roma ItalyRome42roma.it
42 Tokyo JapanTokyo42tokyo.jp
42 Amman JordanAmman42amman.com
42 Antananarivo MadagascarAntananarivo42antananarivo.mg
42 Iskandar Puteri MalaysiaIskandar Puteri42iskandarputeri.edu.my
42 Kuala Lumpur MalaysiaKuala Lumpur42kl.edu.my
42 Penang MalaysiaPenang42penang.edu.my
School 21 RussiaKazan21-school.ru
School 21 RussiaMoscow21-school.ru
School 21 RussiaNovosibirsk21-school.ru
School 21 RussiaSurgut21-school.ru
42 Singapore SingaporeSingapore42singapore.sg
42 Seoul South KoreaSeoul42seoul.kr
42 Barcelona SpainBarcelona42barcelona.com
42 Málaga SpainMálaga42malaga.com
42 Urduliz SpainUrduliz42urduliz.com
42 Luxembourg LuxembourgLuxembourg2022 42luxembourg.lu
42 Lausanne  SwitzerlandLausanne42lausanne.ch
42 Abu Dhabi United Arab EmiratesAbu Dhabi42abudhabi.ae

References

  1. ^Camille Gévaudan (2013). ""42", v'là les geeks !". ecrans (in French). Archived from the original on 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2014-06-24..
  2. ^Damien Leloup (2013). ""42", l'étrange école d'informatique de Xavier Niel". lemonde (in French)..
  3. ^"FAQ". 42 Singapore. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
  4. ^"Press release"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2021-11-28. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  5. ^Yamgnane, Kwame. "On the Closing of 42 Silicon Valley from 42 co-founder Kwame Yamgnane". blog.qwasar.io. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  6. ^"Home". 42 The Network (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  7. ^French educational model to gamify IT education in Ukraine, Kyiv Post, May 19, 2016
  8. ^1337, l'École qui veut former des génies du numérique, Le Monde, September 05, 2018
  9. ^"About 42 Wolfsburg | The radical new coding school, now in Germany. - Home". 42wolfsburg.de. Archived from the original on 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  10. ^Australia, Premier of South (2021-03-15). "42 to open first Australian campus in Adelaide". Premier of South Australia. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  11. ^"42 Yerevan Coding School Opens Its Doors at TUMO". CIVILNET. 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2022-07-03.
  12. ^"42 Abu Dhabi". 42 Abu Dhabi.
  13. ^"42 London". 42 London.
  14. ^Campus 42 Québec https://42quebec.com (French) Retrieved 10 August 2021
  15. ^"THE FOUNDING OF 42 BANGKOK". Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  16. ^"42 Firenze". 42 Firenze.
  17. ^"42 Roma". 42 Roma.
  18. ^Campus 42 Lausanne https://42lausanne.ch (French) Retrieved 27 June 2022
  19. ^"Döbling: Internationale Programmierschule 42 Vienna hat eröffnet". MeinBezirk.at (in German). 2022-10-19. Retrieved 2025-02-24.
  20. ^"42 Tirana".
  21. ^""Pourquoi j'ai dû faire le ménage à l'école 42"". Les Echos Start (in French). 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  22. ^"Pourquoi l'école 42 reste l'extraterrestre du sup'". L'Etudiant. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  23. ^"IT architecture expert". 42. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  24. ^https://42wolfsburg.de/42-programming-curriculum/
  25. ^ ab"À l'« École 42 » de Xavier Niel : sexe, harcèlement, arnaques et comptes offshore, une enquête de Mediapart". Developpez.com (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  26. ^Nouvelle, L'Usine (2017-11-16). "Porno, blagues et dragues lourdes... pas facile d'être une femme à l'école 42". usinenouvelle.com (in French).
  27. ^"A l'école 42, entre blagues sexistes et ambiance de vestiaire, les étudiantes ne se sentent "pas en sécurité"". Franceinfo (in French). 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  28. ^Mauduit, Laurent (2019-04-18). "A l'«Ecole 42» de Xavier Niel: sexe, harcèlement, arnaques et comptes offshore". Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  29. ^Benessaieh, Karim (2024-06-19). "Québec numérique fermera... sans savoir pourquoi". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  30. ^Trudel, Marie-ev; Pontbriand, Marie Maude (2024-06-11). "Québec numérique annonce la fin « imminente » de ses activités". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  31. ^"Our mission". 42 The Network (in French). Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  32. ^1337 opened in Khouribga in July 2018, and in Benguerir in 2019
  33. ^Hive. "Hive Helsinki trains the next generation of world-class coders. We want to give people from all walks of life the tools to solve problems of tomorrow". About Hive. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  34. ^"42 Nice Région Sud". 42nice.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  35. ^About 42 Lisbon
  36. ^Ouellet, Isabelle (2020-07-02). "First Piscines announcement!". 42 Québec. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  37. ^"Freie Programmierschule "42 Berlin" eröffnet". zeit.de. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  38. ^1337 MED was inaugurated in 2022
  39. ^"Jezelf gratis omscholen tot IT-er van de toekomst? Dat kan weldra in de moderne Campus 19 bij DPG Media in Antwerpen". hln.be. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  40. ^"Campus 19". digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
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