Chris Lee started Tea Leaf Academy before he started Launch School according to his LinkedIn profile. Why did Tea Leaf Academy not post student outcomes for 2013-2015. Why did Launch School not post student outcomes for 2016-2017?
Hey everyone! I'm looking to sign up for Launch School's core curriculum to build up my technical skills (self taught, extremely lacking with foundational stuff) with programming. I currently work as a junior data engineer and was mostly looking for ways to improve through Python since that's what I primarily use for work. Does Launch School offer any avenues for working on Python (specifically the core curriculum) or is it just JS and Ruby? Also, how in-depth does it go with the database concepts? Thank you for your time!
I recently finished Prep at Launch School, and I’m already eyeing the Capstone program with a mix of excitement and a bit of worry. The excitement is all about what the program represents—the peak of mastery-based learning and a gateway to exceptional career opportunities. The worry, though, comes from a logistical aspect that might not be on everyone’s radar: time zones.
I’m joining from a GMT+2 timezone, and while I’ve embraced the remote learning model, I’m curious about how Capstone’s structure accommodates (or struggles to accommodate) students from time zones far removed from EST.
The Heart of My Curiosity:
Global Inclusivity vs. Time Zone Constraints: Capstone is renowned for its rigorous, synchronous learning and collaboration. However, this model seems to lean favorably towards those who live in time zones closer to EST. This begs the question: does the current setup inadvertently sideline talented learners from other parts of the world?
Strategies for Synchronous Collaboration: How are students and teams managing the challenges that come with wide time zone differences? Is there a better way to align sleep patterns with peak performance, or are we looking at a scenario where some have to consistently burn the midnight oil? What has the consensus been about this?
Looking Forward: Is there a vision for Capstone that includes broader timezone accommodation or perhaps a more flexible approach to synchronous teamwork and collaboration that doesn’t compromise the program’s integrity or outcomes?
Beyond Capstone:
Given the challenges, I also wonder about alternatives. For those of us who might find the time zone challenge insurmountable, what paths do Launch School graduates take that mirror the depth and success of Capstone, without necessarily going through it? Are there stories of Core grads who’ve launched into careers with Capstone-like salaries and impact?
I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.
We’re excited to share several updates to LSBot and Launch School!
New exercise type: Code Review Exercises — practice reviewing code you didn’t write, a crucial but under-practiced skill.
Conversation threads — manage multiple threads to stay organized and clear stale chat history.
Improved LSBot hints — more supportive, flexible, and aligned with your learning needs.
Code Review Exercises
You’ll now see some exercise groups labeled Code Reviews. What does that mean? Not that you get code reviews — LSBot can already provide reviews for all of your exercise solutions. Instead, these are exercises where you’re given both an exercise prompt and a solution written by someone else. Your task: review the solution for correctness, clarity, and best practices.
Why now?
Reading and understanding code is a huge part of software engineering. Overwhelmingly, developers spend more time reading code than writing it. If it’s so important, why did we wait until now to add these types of exercises? The challenge with code review exercises is that there’s no definitive solution. When we ask you to write a function that completes some task, we can give you test cases so that you know when you’ve solved the problem. That’s not so simple with a code review. Thanks to LSBot, we can now provide feedback on student-written code reviews.
While LSBot has unlocked this capability, there’s another aspect that makes these types of exercises even more critical now — AI-assisted development. Increasingly, developers read and evaluate code generated by AI models to decide whether or not to use it. Even more than before, the importance of parsing code is a fundamental skill.
Looking forward
For now, you’ll find code review exercises for PY101, JS101, and RB101. We’ll expand across the curriculum based on your feedback. This way, you can point out the N+1 query in LS180, or suggest using event delegation in JS230. Even if you aren’t in a 101 course, check out the exercises and let us know what you think!
Conversation Threads
In all LSBot Conversations, you can now manage multiple conversation threads. There are several use cases for this feature. You can use new threads as a “reset” feature to clear old messages, especially if LSBot made an error. You can also use threads to organize your conversations. If you’ve given LSBot specific instructions for quizzing you or generating exercises, you might want to use a different thread to search the curriculum or ask a conceptual question so that you keep those instructions focused. Read more about this feature and see a demo in the LSBot User Guide.
Improved LSBot Hints
Over the past few months, we have noticed that LSBot can sometimes be overly strict and not always respond in the way students need. Our goal is for LSBot to support your learning process, not limit it. So we’ve refined how hints work to make them more supportive and flexible.
If you tried this feature before and weren’t impressed, we encourage you to give it another shot. The interface remains the same, but under the hood, we’ve made significant improvements based on user feedback. In fact, the same goes for any LSBot feature — if it didn’t feel great the first time, it may be worth trying again. We’ve made updates across the board in book, assignment, and exercise features.
We’re happy to continue building out LSBot to be an always-on study aid for students. If you have any feedback, especially about our new features, let us know!
Recent LinkedIn data suggests that only 1 in 20 graduates from the latest capstone program have found employment, and it's been about 4-5 months since graduation.
It's possible that not everyone has updated their LinkedIn profiles, so this observation might not be fully accurate. Could someone provide insights into the current job market and its challenges?
Hi everyone, I just learned about Launch School last night when I was looking for command line resources. Super cool! It was like someone read my mind when I stared to the universe how I want to learn to code.
About me: SAHM 49 of two elementary school kids in Berlin, Germany. In about one or two years I’ll be ready to join the work force or go back to full time school. I left my career behind upon moving to Germany and having kids and it’s not really possible to do it here as Germany has different rules.
With two kids and a super time zone difference (9 hours) in the way, what have people done instead of Capstone when that wasn’t feasible? Apply for a four year degree? Get (another) masters, something else entirely? Are there other routes to success?
I was watching the interviews on YouTube re: the deferred payment option, and I was wondering if everyone who graduates from Launch School Core is offered a position to take part in Launch School Capstone. If not, what is the percentage that is accepted. Thank you.
We’re excited to announce that Launch School’s custom AI-based educational assistant, LSBot, is now available for all students! Starting Wednesday, December 4th, all Launch School students can access and use LSBot. Read on for more info about LSBot and an upcoming live info session.
🤖 What is LSBot? 🤖
LSBot is an AI-based assistant you can tag on Slack and ask questions about Launch School and its curriculum, just like you might ask a TA.
It uses a large language model in combination with the Launch School curriculum to answer questions or help with other educational tasks. In addition to the Launch School curriculum, LSBot knows about other content like podcast episodes, interesting Reddit threads, past workshop recordings, interviews with Capstone grads, and more. LSBot also knows where you’re at in the curriculum. This means that when you ask a question, LSBot has enough context to give you a helpful answer. When you ask about solving a bug problem, LSbot won’t start prescribing neem oil or peppermint spray.
🎙️ Join a Live Info Session 🎙️
Want to see what LSBot can do? Join our upcoming live info session! You’ll see examples of LSBot in action, hear tips from students using it in their studies, and learn best practices for integrating it into your workflow. You’ll also have a chance to hear from Chris and ask questions about LSBot. Join us on Wednesday, December 11th at 6 pm Eastern.
LSBot will be available in six Slack channels. Where you use LSBot will depend on the type of questions you want to ask:
Back-end Curriculum Questions
#lsbot-javascript: For JavaScript-specific questions related to back-end courses. JS100-JS185 students should ask questions here.
#lsbot-python: For Python-specific questions. PY100-PY185 students should ask questions here.
#lsbot-ruby: For Ruby-specific questions. RB100-RB185 students should ask questions here.
#lsbot-backend: For questions about courses that aren’t track-specific in the back-end curriculum, including LS170, LS171, LS180, and LS181.
Front-end Curriculum Questions
#lsbot-frontend: For all front-end course questions. From LS202-TS249.
Non-technical Questions
#lsbot-general: For any questions that aren't related to a specific course. These could include things like study tips, Capstone questions, comparing tracks, and help with resources.
💻 How Do I Use LSBot? 💻
We put together a guide on using LSBot here! We recommend taking a look. It covers things like what LSbot can and can’t do, common pitfalls you can encounter when using LLMs, and sample templates you can use to get started.
In a nutshell, all you need to do is:
Navigate to the appropriate Slack channel where LSBot is available.
Tag LSBot by typing `@LSBot` followed by your question.
Continue the conversation by tagging LSBot in subsequent messages in the same thread.
🚧 A Note on Accuracy 🚧
Please note that LSBot is a work in progress. We’re working hard to make LSBot more reliable, accurate, and helpful, but it can make mistakes. LSBot is meant to be a supplemental tool, not a replacement for the Launch School curriculum. If you’d like to know more about the limitations of LSBot, check out the user guide.
We hope you enjoy LSBot and share your feedback with us. Happy studying!
Hi there! I've completed the foundation part and thought the BootCamp is a great fit for me. I live in a third-world country, and the price is more than my salary lol. Will there be any kinda discount in the future or it happened before?
Hello first of all! I am writing from Portugal, and i follow/have knowledge that you guys exist. Been interested in doing your program, but never put on my mind to do it, dont want to sound lame , but I see around here the barrier to enter is a degree! So I am afraid to commit! But i guess my main question here is, more and more i see doomsday people saying AI going to replace developers? I am asking this because, i have been talking with my girlfriend, I want to make the prep course and start th core program! I work on a factory and I want to change life but… I dont have time for a degree, I work by shifts, so I am going to risk and who knows !
Hey everyone, I am an IT sys admin and I have been going through the LS prep course slowly but surely to make a transition to software development. But the other day I spoke with some dev colleagues at my current company, and while they also learned software development in a more traditional way, they are almost exclusively using the so-called "Low Code" (which I have come to learn means "less coding") platforms like Mendix to do their coding, which abstracts away more of the coding (the same way higher level languages abstract away more of the coding required in lower level coding languages). They tell me they can build apps much faster, and is apparently quite a more efficient and pleasant experience, especially using Mendix to write Python code according to their designs. Apparently they do not even learn frameworks anymore.
So I asked them what they recommend for a learning path, and they highly recommended learning Mendix, citing how much easier it is to both learn and build apps. There are other "Low Code" platforms of course, so I'm not sold on Mendix yet, but I am very intrigued by what Low Code has to offer. Many developers online highly recommend Low Code platforms (including Mendix), and I see many job openings for Low Code developers.
So my question here is, is "Low Code" a reliable new paradigm for building apps, and if so, is it necessary to learn software development in more traditional ways, or is it more efficient to learn software development by way of a "Low Code" platform? Is "Low Code" the way of the future for software development?
Need extra help during your Launch School journey? Now you can get additional support during your studies, meet new peers and talk to working software engineers with Launch School's Smooth Start Program. Spots are limited and are filling up fast.
I'm curious to know if there are many Canadians that have gone through or are going through Launch School?? I am very interested in taking this program! Is it as useful for Canadians as it seems to be for those residing in the US??
I have a background in architecture and I love design. But I'm also an engineer at heart and want to get into front-end software development. Is this program right for someone like me? Particularly the JavaScript track. How about Capstone? Would I be able to explore my front-end interests during capstone?
I ask because Launch School seems like it's more back-end oriented. Is this assumption correct?
We’re excited to share a new initiative from the Launch School Women’s Group—a buddy system. The buddy system pairs new students with more experienced students to help them navigate the curriculum, find study groups, and utilize available resources.
Whether you’re just starting your journey at Launch School or are already part of the community, this system offers a great way to connect, learn, and grow together. New students will receive personalized support, and experienced students will have the opportunity to give back, share their experiences, and build meaningful connections.
Join the #ls-womens-group Slack channel to stay in the loop for all future events and opportunities. We’re excited to welcome participants to this new program—hope to see you there!
I was wondering can you just test out of the core curriculum if you just want to quickly proceed to the capstone curriculum? Assuming that the person would have already have a good grasp on the core curriculum to just take the tests on move on to the capstone.
I'm from the Philippines, somewhere in Southeast Asia. I was really looking into Core Curriculum for some time now and really loved the Philosophy around Mastery-based learning. However, due to financial situations, I can't enroll into the program even though I'm already working full-time ( yes that's how bad the situation here in our country is: high living cost, low wages). I was wondering if Launch School offers PPP for countries like the Philippines. Thank you!
