The Slow Path for Studious Learners to a Career in Software Development

Structured Curriculum from First Principles

Our program is about slowly building up mastery of fundamentals, so you understand how higher level abstractions truly work from the bottom up. Our goal isn't to teach you how to use React or Rails, but to show you how to construct accurate mental representations of first principles in order to tackle fundamental engineering problems. Our goal isn't to help you find a job, but help you launch a career. Our goal isn't to teach you to code, but to teach you how to deconstruct and problem solve like an engineer.

By Software Engineers for Future Software Engineers

Launch School was founded by experienced software engineers. We know what it takes to not only break into software, but to build and grow a career as an engineer in the software industry. Our objective is to increase your lifetime earnings by millions of dollars. This is what makes Launch School unique and why we focus on the long-term results of a career. Our curriculum was created by software engineers for future software engineers — you.

Launch School is an incredible place to be. I built a few applications, got to make videos to help other students, make a lot of friends and truly grow as a human being in this field that I never thought was possible. Launch School gave me hope for a better future, that I didn't have before.
Felicia Bacon
I admire how Launch School sticks to its foundational convictions - the way mastery-based learning is encouraged and reinforced over and over again throughout the curriculum has really helped me to internalize it, almost as a philosophy. This has, simply put, changed my life. It has changed my approach to learning in basically all contexts I come across.
Bethany Pietroniro
Launch School taught me how to learn. The rigorous assessments coupled with high-quality learning material really improved my technical skills. I am now confident that I will be able to master whatever I want in the future.
Riz Syed
I began helping on a $50,000 project built in the Symfony PHP framework, and within a month became the lead dev on the project. This was my first time using an MVC, Symfony is quite complex, and PHP is very strange, but I was able to be effective very quickly because I knew what was going on under the hood. My knowledge of fundamentals meant I never felt really lost. From this work, I was given a 20% raise and similar roles in other projects.
Ian Evans
While the curriculum was amazing, I don't think I'd have progressed as much as I have if I didn't have to prepare for each assessment. I learned something from every single one and I'm so grateful to the LS staff for their feedback. They're the secret sauce.
Ric Gonzalez
The support experience from Launch School staff throughout the backend courses were great! I've attended a few TA led sessions during the early courses which were extremely helpful in both getting a better understanding of what to expect from assessments, and with feedback on my understanding of the material at the time.
Esther Kim
"We're one of the oldest and largest coding schools in the world."

Our Learning Goals

The key to unlocking higher level understanding and skills that last a career is focusing on fundamentals. We designed our curriculum with the following learning goals.

  • Fundamentals first, fundamentals throughout
  • A focus on learning things that don't change
  • Learn slowly and deliberately
  • Learn to be proficient, not just build awareness
  • Learn to understand problems, not solutions
  • Learn in a circular fashion

Our students love us, and if you are committed to building a career in software development, you will too

  • Sienna Wood
    Denver
    Software Engineer

    Experts always return to fundamentals because they are the foundation on which everything else is built. Launch School’s core program embodies this principle by emphasizing mastery of fundamentals through purposeful individual study.

  • Steve Kolock
    New York
    Front-end Developer

    I got a different role making significantly more than twice what I had been making as a 'web specialist', putting me firmly in six-figure

  • Letladi Sebesho
    Johannesburg, South Africa
    Full Stack Developer at Co-Foundy

    This programme opened possibilities for me that would have taken me years to reach

  • Sunny Beatteay
    New York City
    Software Engineer

    From the first glance, it was apparent that Launch School had been founded by industry veterans. I have never encountered a curriculum more in-depth and rigorous

A Serious Training Curriculum That's Designed to Launch a Career

Core Curriculum

Mastery of Fundamentals

Capstone

Launch Your Career

Complete the Core Curriculum courses and pass their assessments, and you'll have mastered the fundamentals. Participate in our Capstone Program, and you'll launch a career.

The Proof is in the Results

The average starting salary for 2023 Capstone graduates is

$116,763

(See Results & Outcomes for more details.)

Our graduates have been hired by industry leading companies and some of the most competitive startups

Start our preparatory courses now for free. When you're ready for the real courses, it's just

$199/month

Continue reading about how our pedagogy works and why we're able to produce such amazing results. This is how we're different. You should really read this.

Our Pedagogy