Launch School

I can't really say enough how much I value the experience I had going through both Launch School Core Curriculum and their Capstone program.  When I started Core, I had just a little bit of development experience, and my knowledge and understanding of programming was very limited.  I wanted a deep understanding of programming fundamentals that would provide me a solid foundation for a career as a software engineer.   
I worked through the Ruby track, and each of the course units gave me another in-depth piece of that solid foundation.  The mastery-based learning approach really works and at the end of each unit, I felt like I truly learned the material.  By the end of Core, I felt like I had all of the tools I needed to write good code, problem solve, and put all the pieces together to make full-stack web applications.  Most importantly, I felt confident that I could go out and learn new technologies and languages on my own and grow as a developer.
I decided to enroll in Capstone, because I wanted to take on a larger engineering project and was impressed with the projects that I had seen from previous cohorts.  It felt like an investment that would jump-start my career.  The experience was 100% worth it.  By the end, I felt like my knowledge and experience had doubled and that I was truly prepared for the job hunt and a career as a software engineer.  I ended up getting a job as an SDE II with a great salary and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Launch School to anyone interested in software development as a career.  It has been truly life-changing.

    The Core Program does a great job of laying a solid foundation for growth. Interviewers were always impressed to learn about Launch School’s chapters on reading documentation and PEDAC. In the age of Bootcamps, the ability to solve problems and find answers is rare in new graduates, and Launch School’s emphasis on this pays off very well.
    That payoff is easy to see in yourself as well. During my interview process, I was asked numerous times to build small applications with frameworks, and even entire languages, with which I had no previous experience. The confidence Launch School’s process gave me allowed me to feel comfortable taking on those challenges, and with the skills I developed during the Core Program I was able to meet those challenges.
    The Capstone Program is where you build on your solid fundamental base and dramatically increase your worth as a new hire. The Capstone Project and the higher-level concepts taught during Capstone are what allow you to stand out in a crowded job market. During an initial interview I heard “I don’t know why HR forwarded me your resume, because you don’t have any experience. But I’m so glad they did, because your Capstone project is really impressive! I’ve even showed it around the company!” Two weeks later I accepted an offer from him for a salary that is $30-40k more than I would have otherwise been thrilled to make, had I not gone through Capstone.
    For the past two years I’ve been singing Launch School’s praises as a coding school. I knew I was learning valuable skills, but I had to trust the process and hope that my efforts would eventually pay off. Now that they have, I can recommend Launch School as a life-changing opportunity.

I remember starting Launch School almost two years ago in 2018, about the same time that I started a new job. I was already working in tech as an IT Systems Administrator, but I wanted to propel my career into something more fulfilling where I could not maintain systems all day. I wanted to get out of the grind of a cost centric job and propel myself into something that provided more value to the business. After dabbling for years, trying to find a program that worked for me, and never feeling satisfied, I finally ran into launch school and started the Ruby Track.
Suffice to say, I have finished the core curriculum and was promoted to a DevOps engineer at my current company. I have Launch School's Core Curriculum to thank heavily for providing me the skills needed to transition into my current role. I almost exclusively use python for automation in my current role; working with API's and the bottom-up approach that launch school provided has helped me succeed in this endeavor. At the beginning of launch school, I wondered how you could have so few courses, and people still admitted that this course could take a year+ to get through. Once I started, I ducked into the deep pool of reality on how much information Launch School expects you to master. 

From learning arrays to reading documentation to solving problems, everything went into so much detail I immediately knew this program was for me. Learning the basics started to give me incredible insights into stuff that I was already working on at work but had no idea how they worked at a fundamental level. I always ended up googling for answers and would spend hours searching for someone else's solution to fit into what I understood to solve the problem that I had at hand.
Currently, I am a key point of contact for developers when they need help with an API because I have demonstrated my knowledge and expertise in understanding how an API works at a fundamental level. I know how to dissect APIs so well that I have almost become a resident expert. Making calls to an API is the same stuff you learn in Launch School but with little extra knobs and features attached. 
This fundamental approach is true for almost everything that I currently do at work and why I firmly believe that Launch School is worth the time and effort. You will see things in the Launch School curriculum that are hard to find almost anywhere else on the web without long hours of searching. The thing with Launch School is once you are done, you will realize just how fundamentally necessary everything is. You will continue to go back to that foundation for everything you do, regardless of what language or program stack you decide to work in or pursue.

I'm early on in starting my software development career, as I graduated Launch School's Core Curriculum just a couple weeks ago. I'm busy preparing my portfolio, seeking out open source projects, and expanding my network. That being said, I am already aware of how Launch School has given me the skills to analyze new problems and grasp how different programming pieces fit together.
In my opinion, the best features of Launch School are the in-depth curriculum, extremely knowledgeable TAs, extensive assessments, and high-caliber students. The curriculum is thorough, organized, and carefully scaffolded to build upon each block of knowledge from course to course. Students can get any question about the curriculum answered quickly by TAs. Assessments are thorough and demand precision in all responses. And, because of all of these things, Launch School by and large attracts students who are diligent, serious, disciplined, and incredibly motivated. Every student that I had the pleasure of coding with cared deeply about the work at hand. We all shared a common goal of wanting to master the material.
When initially researching and comparing coding schools, I realized that Launch School sees learning software development as a lifelong journey of mastering a craft, not learning to code in three months in order to land a job. Launch School is honest and transparent with what they offer. Just by taking a look at the website, you can see that there isn't the window dressing that other online coding schools have. Before enrolling with Launch School, I stumbled across a section on their website: "Who our Program is NOT built for". The description is frank about the extensive time investment, difficulty of the courses, and strict philosophy on first principles at the exclusion of the newest, most sought after modern frameworks. 
It was clear to me that Launch School wasn't interested in just making a sale to one more customer. The people behind the program believe in the work that they do and the approach that they have. On top of that, they offer a free preparatory course and a dozen free eBooks. And the commitment is only month to month, so I was never locked in longer than I wanted to be.
The curriculum content can be daunting and at times even overwhelming. But rest assured that by taking your time, slowly combing through the material, connecting with other students, and taking advantage of opportunities to ask TAs all of your questions, you can and will get through it all. If I can do it, then so can you.

Launch School focuses on the fundamentals - things that don't change even as frameworks and libraries rise and fall in popularity. Mastering this base knowledge set me up to more easily adopt new languages and frameworks and expand my understanding to more advanced, integrated concepts.

Launch School emphasizes breaking challenges down into smaller pieces and examining them from various angles. They provide a framework for developing and updating your own mental models for the concepts. They push past rote memorization until students fully grasp the "why"s behind the techniques.

I can't speak highly enough of the support of both the staff and student community fostered at Launch School. Questions are answered promptly, suggestions for improvement are taken seriously and adopted quickly, and camaraderie between students is both encouraged and supported by the Launch School staff.

The assessments guaranteed I was able to both write and speak with confidence and precision about technical concepts. This was vital in preparation for my technical interviews and a career as part of a technical team.

Not everyone can take the time to learn to this depth. It is a long and intense journey. However, those who commit to the Launch School path will find themselves surrounded by dedicated and encouraging fellow students and staff who will then comprise a strong network of top-notch Software Engineers.

If you’re a Launch School student, you already know that the curriculum and instructors are top notch. As a Capstone student, you can expect the same level of pedagogy, rigor, and thoughtfulness. The only difference is that Capstone is several times over more intense, more interactive, and even more personalized.

Before my cohort started, I had many worries. Would the remote nature of the program result in a diminished learning experience? Would very recent changes to the program result in worse outcomes for graduates? Were the promised outcomes simply “too good to be true”?

During the first week of Capstone, these worries of mine quickly dissolved. Our cohort was distributed all over the US, but everyone was synchronized on the same schedule. Moreover, our twelve hour days were meticulously planned, even down to lunch and break times. Activities were optimally split between lectures with our mentor, cohort wide activities, team activities, and individual work. Time was precious, and we wasted none of it.

We also made ample use of real time video chat. There were even a few occasions where my team spent the entire day on video chat, either discussing research and/or pair programming. The whole thing just felt very collaborative in general. I learned something new from each of my Capstone peers, and it was truly a delight to go through this crazy experience with them!

By the time the job hunt phase rolled around, Capstone surpassed my already high expectations yet again. Yes, we were all on different schedules now. But there was never a time when I didn’t know what to do next. I was pushed so far beyond my comfort zone in the areas of networking, facing rejection, and even public speaking. I presented a talk about our Capstone project at various tech meetups in the Bay Area, and the feedback was nothing short of incredible.

Was it all worth it in the end? Without a doubt, my answer is a resounding yes! After 10 weeks on the job hunt, I accepted an offer for a position where I’ll be making more than $100k/year. Moreover, this job is everything I wanted in terms of location, company size, product, and people. I’ll be using Python in my new job by the way, and I’m not worried at all about the change in language. I know that the fundamentals I learned at Launch School will be more than enough to carry me through.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy. The Capstone schedule was so demanding that I dreamt about code at night. Besides that, it was really difficult to explain to my friends and family what I was doing. People discouraged me from moving to the super expensive Bay Area before I had a job offer. If you’re mentally prepared for all that though, then I would definitely encourage you to go for it. Capstone will propel you like a rocket ship to the moon.

It's hard to overestimate the role Launch School's Capstone and the Core Curriculum programs played in me getting my first full time tech job. No part of this was quick and easy - but it was absolutely worth it.

If I had to summarize the experience in way too few words, I would say the Core Curriculum had taught me how to think as a developer, and Capstone taught me everything I might need to do well in the current job market. Now, I don't say 'everything' lightly. This really was nearly 'everything', and acquiring this knowledge was, again, not easy, but when you know the fundamentals well - it's doable. Without knowing them - probably not.

And that is Launch School's real success - with the right selection of materials and with Launch School's mastery based program, a Launch School graduate can take on new challenges quickly and intelligently. This played a key role both while interviewing and learning new concepts and technologies on the fly, and on the job, where learning new things quickly is probably one of the most valued skills an employee can have.

Launch School's core curriculum & capstone programs do this right. I really cannot stress this enough. When I had started I was worried that this might take too long - I am now shocked at how far I've come at such a relatively short time. My first full time tech job far exceeded my expectations in terms of salary and seniority level (even after reading about all the success stories). I could not have hoped for a better result, and I can say with great confidence that this is all thanks to Launch School.

My college degree in Actuarial Science did not prepare me well enough to land a job in the field. I was stuck working in a role that required only a high school degree. That went on for a full year. I was able to pay my bills and have some savings, but I realized that I wasn't happy at my job - it lacked meaning. That's when I started looking elsewhere - into tech and into programming. I eventually found Launch School.

Launch School is one of the best decisions that I made. The learning journey may be long, uncertain and at times, rough, but finishing the Core Curriculum and Capstone have been absolutely worth it. I want to point out a few tangible benefits having gone through this process with Launch School.

Having mastered the fundamentals, it has improved my ability to learn new technologies quickly. I was able to pick up React/Redux in a short period of time and tackle take-home assignments with confidence. Even if there are unfamiliar requirements (such as handling 3rd party API calls), I was able to look up appropriate resources and learn how to build certain features quickly and implement best practices. This helped me passed interviews and often landed me into on-sites.

Capstone is another level. Coming out of it, I gained a strong understanding of high-level systems architecture, data structures, algorithms and some CS fundamentals. On top of it, I built an impressive project, which employers find impressive. All that makes me an invaluable candidate to good companies. Capstone also provides zero-interest loans, which helped me to pursue my highest goals in finding my next job - despite receiving numerous rejections and not-so-great offers.

I eventually landed an offer with DigitialOcean - which is beyond my imagination! I am so grateful to have the opportunity pursue my career with a company that supports long-term growth, a caring community and great work-life balance. Not to mention a great salary, excellent health benefits, free lunches everyday, and a long list of other perks. I would not have landed this opportunity without Launch School and Capstone.

Besides landing a career-launching job, I also get to make life-long friends. Sunny and Julius are the alumni that not only inspired me to finish Capstone, but also gave their support throughout the long job hunt process. I am also happy to say that we all work in the same company now!

Finally, I would like to thank the people behind Launch School - Chris, Kevin and the amazing TAs for providing us a path to achieve greatness. Not just in terms of salary numbers, but also in building confidence and the skills necessary to land great jobs.

When I started my journey into programming I quickly realized that there was a million resources out there and very little structure. I was constantly battling the questions of "what should I focus on and to what depth?". In addition, I saw a lot of flashy quick-turnaround solutions flooding the marketplace. My intuition told me that programming was a difficult undertaking and that cramming all that I would need to know into a 3 - 6 month window seemed too good to be true. Fortunately, during my search I found Launch School. They confirmed my belief that becoming competent in programming is a long-term, fundamentals-focused journey. After having spent the past two years learning in Launch School, I can attest that the Launch School philosophy is the right path for long-term growth.

The Core Curriculum does a fantastic job of laying a solid foundation. You'll need that foundation no matter what you decide to do and it is a natural ramp to the topics covered in Capstone. Capstone really is a fantastic career-launching step. It first covers valuable subject areas that are out of scope for the core curriculum and combines it with what you learn in the core curriculum to build challenging and impressive projects with your team members. By the time I finished Capstone I felt much more grounded and confident as an engineer then I would have otherwise.

Aside from the obvious technical training, Launch School really pushed me to hold myself to a higher standard of learning. I now have a stronger drive to learn than when I started and I enjoy pushing my boundaries. I also learned how to really believe in myself and that I bring significant value to the table for employers. During my post-Capstone job hunt I turned down job offers that I would have been thrilled to have received before I started my journey with Launch School. I believed that, even while they were great offers, I was worth even more. This doesn't get talked about a lot, in regards to Capstone, but it was really drilled into us during the process to believe in our abilities and our value. That newfound confidence paid off with an amazing fullstack engineering job offer that pays almost double what I made as a manager in my prior career. I wouldn't have had the belief in myself to hold out and get job I did without the training I received at Launch School.

Anyone who aspires to push themselves to be the best that they can be should consider Capstone. It will be hard. It will be daunting. But it will be well worth it once you are done.

When gyms advertise "Train here to get lean and jacked within 10 weeks!", most of us roll our eyes and are skeptical. But coding bootcamps do the exact same thing and people bite. 

LaunchSchool is the "boring" coach that tells you to follow a longer path but you'll 100% get into the best shape of your life. And trust me, it works.

If you want to land the best jobs in the tech industry without having to go through a 4 year computer science degree, LaunchSchool will help you do that. I recently landed multiple offers from FANG type companies and I couldn't have done it without LaunchSchool. 

I wanted to give Launch School a high rating. As a developer with 3 years experience, I came into the program to iron out my weak points rather than learn programming from the beginning. But after taking, and not passing Launch School's written assessments multiple times, I've lost confidence that their grading scheme is fair.

The `this` keyword is one of the most complex subjects in vanilla Javascript. I spent several days learning its rules from several sources, including Launch School's materials. I detailed the rules of `this`, ordered by priority, wrote examples to illustrate how `this` is determined in different scenarios, and repeated these explanations for unusual cases including arrow functions. Launch School gives one about 11 minutes per question on the test I took, to give perspective. The grader assigned a 3/5 score and didn't elaborate why points were withheld.

This wasn't a one off. In multiple questions a 3 or 4 out of 5 score was given with no explanation of why. Generally for the whole test, one can lose only 8 to 10 points and still pass, causing one to fail the test (Not Yet in Launch School's terms) if he receives too many 3s and 4s. This is what happened to me.

After the grader marks the test as a Not Yet, Launch School has a policy that you can not ask where you went wrong or whether your new answer that you worked on would pass. This opaque practice leads to scoring less than perfect on the same questions and continuing to not pass. 

When I asked the TAs, and Chris Lee, the lead instructor, about this, I was given only vague suggestions to study more, find study groups, and write explanations in a teaching format. The underlying issue of why very detailed explanations of the concepts received not-passing scores was never addressed. 

My theory about how Launch School's graders assign points, is that they value their own material highly and look for specific nuances listed there, and nowhere else. So if you study material from other sources (a common practice in programming) and incorporate it into your answers to cement the concept at a deeper level, you will actually be more likely have points removed, because the answer lacked specific phrasing that they look for but never explicitly mention.

If you are reading this and wondering what to do instead, I would suggest either the programs at App Academy or Hack Reactor -- both top rated boot camps -- or simply self study, and implement your knowledge in the form of projects to show off to potential employers. 

The Launch School program has potential. But their grading scheme, in my opinion, needs to be revamped to have less hidden criteria and subjectivity in point assignments.