In the end, I can confidently say, the foundation I got from going through core, combined with the rigor of the assessments, helped me to gain a level of competence and a feeling of "I can figure this out" that I hadn't felt before, in any other field or program.

A job reference of mine, speaking to my now employer, told them that one of my biggest weaknesses is a lack of belief in myself (which was revealing to me about the overall level of confidence I exude 😅).

I'd done the traditional college route and was pretty disenchanted by the whole experience. After feeling like I'd payed so much money just to come out feeling lost and uncertain in my skillset, I was looking for something that seemed less focused on what they could make from me and more focused what they could make me. I looked at bootcamps but that seemed like the exact opposite of what I was looking for (even more fast paced in a shorter time span and kind of pricey...). I was about to go back to a brick and mortar institution to get my CS degree, then I stumbled on an article from a former Launch School student talking about their experience. From where they started, to where they were now as high paid Software Engineer. I was immediately sold by their story. The idea of going through a mastery based program and coming out feeling competent in a skillset was exactly what I was looking for and what initially attracted me to Launch School.

This idea of building up mastery and only moving forward once you've proven your competence, with each course building off the last and coming out with a well-rounded education and strong fundamental understanding... this was exactly what I was looking for in an education experience, and a little bit, made me angry that this isn't the the standard approach in all educational institutions.

It's kind of surreal, looking back. That "slow path to mastery" was so jam-packed with learning, it flew by before I knew it (though, in the moment, there were definitely some times where it felt like a slog and I really had to push myself to learn some of the later, advanced concepts).

In the end, I can confidently say, the foundation I got from going through core, combined with the rigor of the assessments, helped me to gain a level of competence and a feeling of "I can figure this out" that I hadn't felt before, in any other field or program. I learned how to take a step back and analyze a problem and then, to map out my approach and come to a solution.

Even in one of my more challenging technical interviews for a company, I was told by my interviewer the problem was intentionally difficult and obscure. But I took my time and mapped out my strategy (which took about 55 minutes) and was able to come to a working solution that I typed up in 5 minutes. I later found out, during the offer phone call, that was one of the things that really impressed them during the interviewing process.

Core helped me gain a much-desired level of proficiency in my base understanding of how programming works; Capstone threw me into a fire and exposed me to scenarios where I had to keep moving forward and focus on the next step, trusting that my teammates and I could figure it out in the process.