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.

Having used Ruby for the first half of the course and then switching to Javascript, I feel immensely more confident in my ability to actually learn programming concepts/languages/frameworks. More than anything, I feel like Launch School has taught me how to learn programming, rather than a specific language.

Michael Jung

I was given a lead position and a team for a major, logistically complex project our company received, despite not having experience in the domain itself. The first two weeks of the project were me wrangling everyone together for both explicit and implicit PEDAC sessions. Due to the discovery, planning and attitude-setting that came from those sessions our project came in under-time, on-budget, and with great praise from our client (the federal government).

Alexander Drover

Honestly, I really enjoyed the Ruby programming and back-end development courses. I have been taking some courses concurrently on Python and Django and have been shocked by the efficacy of the mastery based approach (digging into the docs to figure out the root of a problem vs hacking out a solution by trying multiple approaches without systematically solving for why there was an issue).

James Henderson

The algorithms I was having trouble solving on Codewars have now become much easier to solve with my new knowledge of Ruby variable scoping rules, methods, and general problem solving approach.

Krunal Patel

Prior to Launch School, I had probably watched thousands of hours worth of tutorials and had actually worked professionally in web development for years, without having the clarity I do now. Launch School is definitely doing things the right way.

Steven Alston

I couldn't recommend Launch School and Capstone enough to folks looking to launch their careers in tech -- especially from non-traditional backgrounds.

Sarah Voshall

"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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.