LaunchSchool: An online school for Software Engineers

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.

The staff and student body are some of the most helpful groups of people I have ever encountered in a learning environment. I particularly enjoy how the early courses present you with countless opportunities for support (TA sessions, SPOT sessions, large problem sets, etc), but then wean you off a bit as you progress.

Derek Novak

These courses made me understand what programming is. I had no programming background before this but just learning and becoming familiar with what it takes to build a web application at a foundational level was enjoyable. I found that all the material was clear as to what was important to know.

Bradley Taylor

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

After completing the back-end portion of the core curriculum, a friend asked me to help with issues she was having with her Wordpress site. I'd never worked with WP before but it didn't feel out of reach after some time learning the fundamentals.

Juliette Sinibardy

With the skills that I have learnt so far, I felt comfortable enough to start working on many of my own projects. I have a strong enough foundation to be able to start any small project or at least learn the necessary skills to work on any project.

Jacob Resnick

With the knowledge learned even just in the back-end portion, I feel confident enough that I could apply for software dev jobs now that I would have had no business applying for even three months ago; let alone, that I can write my own real-world applications now.

Nicole

"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.