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.

After completing the back-end portion of the core curriculum, I have much better clarity on a lot of the programming concepts, and have a better handle on my emotions as they relate to impostor syndrome when it comes to being able to program.

Matt Pringle

One thing I've gained so far is a much greater ability to read documentation. I'm comfortable enough with the documentation for the Ruby language, Sinatra, and PostgreSQL that I hardly ever had to reach out to Launch School staff to ask a question. I could usually find everything I needed on my own. This gives me confidence in my ability to figure out what I need to find as well as where to find it.

Michael Rago

The Launch School curriculum has equipped me with numerous concepts and skills, but one lesson that particularly stands out, both for simplicity and profound impact on my learning journey - 'Love the struggle.' This phrase was shared with me on an onboarding call for RB101 by a TA and has profoundly influenced my perspective ever since. Rather than being discouraged by them, 'Love the struggle' encouraged me to view each hurdle as an integral part of my path to mastery, a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block.

Garry Ledwith

I commend the program itself, but particularly the TAs that provide the honest, constructive, helpful feedback that not only helps me grow as a programmer but helps me know that I'm growing.

Ben Zelinski

I don't think I can oversell how important learning fundamentals has been for me. Not only did it basically shift my entire view of learning in all venues, but it made me realize that any learning goal is attainable with the right outlook, planning, and dedicated practice.

Kyle Ledoux

I used to record Excel macros on the side at work, just to make my job a bit easier. After learning the fundamentals, I was able to really dig into how VBA code works and optimize my code. I built several other tools in use by other peers at my company, which eventually got me a promotion to a Specialist role.

Juan Juy

"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.