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.

I learned that mastery-based learning really works! I had a couple of pauses in my studying throughout the backend, and I was always amazed when I came back to the curriculum how much knowledge I had actually retained even after my time off. It's really fun to get further into the curriculum and see connections with earlier material - and it makes you appreciate how essential it really is to master that earlier material before moving on.
Ping Honzay
Launch School provides an amazing environment that promotes hard work, dedication, empathy for your learning process, and I am so thankful to have found it.
Kimberly Ramirez
Being afforded the time to study without having deadlines get in the way has been a game changer for me. But learning the fundamentals has been the eye opener. It simply works.
Alfonso González
I'm achieving what I never got in other programs, which was an overall perspective on how software is made (web applications in particular).
Caleb Heath
I built and launched a couple WordPress websites late last year. What I learned from Launch School helped me better grasp what a CMS like WordPress does beneath many layers of abstraction. Understanding fundamentals and how to read documentation also made it possible for me to play with C# and Unity over the Xmas holidays which was a lot of fun and a brand new learning experience.
Sephora Maltais
At the top-level Launch School had two primary benefits for me - (1) Helped me build a complete-enough mental model for web app development to (2) feel confident applying what I know and learning further material as-needed.
Andrew Doss
"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 2024 Capstone graduates is

$115,766

(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