Hi everyone, I wanted to share something that genuinely made me happy today. Prakruthi joined our community a while ago and reached out to me for some guidance around computational design applications, portfolio development, and interviews. Today, she announced that she has joined Dar as a Computational Designer (see the attached image). I showed her a few things along the way, but she did the hard work and earned this opportunity herself. Seeing someone from this community take what they're learning, put in the work, and turn it into a real career opportunity is exactly the kind of thing I hope we see more of here. Congratulations, @Prakruthi Hm ⭐ Very proud of you! You can see her original post and congratulate her here :https://lnkd.in/p/gZYUWJCa

Ertunc and I completed our one-on-one Grasshopper journey last week. It was a 12-week experience filled with exercises, challenges, and, perhaps most importantly, a lot of thinking. When I started, I had a pocketful of things I knew, things I didn’t know, and things I only thought I knew. I felt like I was drowning in the vast sea of parametric design, struggling to even catch my breath. Now that the course is over, looking back and seeing how all of that has evolved makes me genuinely happy. More than anything, I feel that I now have a way of thinking and a system for approaching problems. We actually started back in May with a couple of preliminary sessions, so the whole process was more like 2+12 weeks. During those first two weeks, Ertunç asked me all kinds of questions. In many ways, we simply talked. By the end of those conversations, he had prepared a series of observations and suggestions specifically for me. We went through them together, and from there, we began the course with a learning path tailored to where I was and what I needed. Each week had its own rhythm. Ertunc would introduce a new topic, challenge me with a problem during the session, and finish by giving me an assignment to work on before the next one. Throughout the week, as I reviewed what we had covered and worked through my assignments, I could keep track of every point where I got stuck through a system we both stayed synced on. We could then discuss those problems as they came up. In that sense, a lesson never really stayed confined to the few hours we spent together. It extended across the entire week. I think another thing Ertunc did particularly well was managing my learning curve. He made sure that the things we discussed gradually became skills I could actually use, rather than ideas I had simply encountered once. Somehow, he kept me engaged with the repetition, practice, and reflection needed for that transformation to happen. He is a very good educator in that regard. I know parametric design is still a vast ocean, and there is an enormous amount left for me to learn. But today, I can see that I have learned how to swim in it and how to keep myself afloat.

I’ve just completed a 12-week one-to-one Grasshopper course with Ertunc, and it has completely changed the way I approach Grasshopper. What makes Ertunc, such a great teacher is that he doesn’t just show you which buttons to press. but instead he starts with the foundational logic, moves into geometry manipulation, and then explores how Grasshopper can help us find better design solutions in architecture. Our weekly exercises and discussions made the learning feel real and relevant, rather than just following another tutorial and hoping for the best! What I appreciated most was his patience and ability to explain things in different ways until they finally click. Mistakes were never a problem—they became part of the learning process (and there were a few!). He always encouraged me to think for myself rather than simply giving me the answer, while being incredibly supportive and motivating throughout. Ertunc, genuinely cares about what you understand, not just what he has taught. After 12 weeks, I now feel much more confident exploring Grasshopper on my own—and, importantly, I’m no longer afraid of the occasional Grasshopper meltdown! Highly recommended

Working with Ertunc as a coach to build my portfolio has been a career-changing experience that went way beyond my initial expectations. Many may know Ertunc as a computational design expert. Through working with him closely, however, I have discovered that Ertunc is simply much more than that: he is an outstanding leader with an exceptional talent for teaching and motivating others to do their very best with a positive, self-reflective and healthy mindset. Ertunc's ability to tailor his advice to my very own situation and to give the right guidance based on context, without dogma, are rare gifts among specialists. I started the coaching with some very scattered, unpresentable work and a very vague, over-ambitious and therefore unproductive idea of how to deliver the portfolio as a whole. Coaching with Ertunc on a twice-a-week basis gave me a structured roadmap, from base camp to summit. Starting an adventure with a guide is completely different from having no guide and having to figure out everything on one's own. I will be forever grateful for his earnest and relentless push (always cordial, respectful and with a lot of warmth) for me to leave my comfort zone at exactly the right time. This is exactly what coaching is about: pushing you to confront uncomfortable realities and make adjustments accordingly, instead of giving you sugar-coated feedback. I will also be forever grateful for his willingness to accept a success-shared payment model. No one else in the architectural world does this, absolutely no one. This shows Ertunc's patient way of seeing coaching as an investment in a person's success and his genuine wish to make you succeed. As a result of working with Ertunc, I evolved from having no presentable portfolio and feeling very stuck with a non-traditional master's degree, to having a very strong portfolio that earned me interviews with leading firms in Berlin, Hamburg and Karlsruhe, and eventually got two offers - one solid architect role covering LPH 1–5 in a German university town as well as an architect role at Europe's biggest architectural firm - and I chose the latter one.

I recently completed the 2-Day Challenge, and it was an excellent introduction to Grasshopper. The course offers a clear understanding of how the software works while showcasing its vast potential. The examples are easy to follow, and Ertunc explains each step in detail, sharing valuable tips and thoughtful recommendations throughout. What truly sets this course apart is how it explores the core principles behind each concept. It not only teaches you how to use Grasshopper but also helps you understand why it works the way it does—opening the door to the endless possibilities of parametric modeling. I highly recommend this course—and Ertunc as an instructor—to anyone looking to gain mastery of Grasshopper. Thank you, Ertunc, for your incredible support and for two days full of valuable knowledge, engaging lessons, and a fun learning experience!