Launch School Podcast

In this episode, Chris shares insights from the most recent salary data for Capstone graduates who began Capstone in 2024. He highlights notable trends, including the return to office and the significant salary gap for roles based in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. We then open the floor to student questions, covering a range of topics such as what incoming students can expect when e...

Launch School has been investing in students and AI while adapting to the evolving software engineering landscape. In this episode, we sit down with Chris to discuss what Capstone students can expect in 2026. Tune in for a discussion on: Moving from three Capstone cohorts per year to two New open source initiatives and internship opportunities to help grads build experience Strategies and logistic...

In this session, we covered three big updates happening at Launch School. First, we introduced the new LSBot feature, which provides code reviews for exercies to help fill in support gaps. Chris touches on interesting questions surrounding both LSBot and AI in general, like if LSBot is intended to replace human TAs. Next, we talked about the shift away from written assessments. Instead, students w...

In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Sherece, a current student nearing the end of the core curriculum. They spend the first part of the conversation discussing how Sherece managed to overcome her extremely low confidence to not just progress through the core curriculum, but to even enroll amid self-doubt and fear of failure. Though she was an incredibly curious and eager-to-learn child...

In this episode, Chris interviews Daniel Nalesnik, the creator of Hack Chinese and a core curriculum graduate. Daniel used the fundamentals learned in the core program to build his own business. They spend the first part of the episode discussing Daniel's winding journey to Launch School in which he left a successful career behind. Daniel quit his job to pursue Launch School full-time, driven by a...

In this episode, Brandi chats with current student Patrick about his journey thus far through the core curriculum. They discuss what it's like coming from a background of feeling completely incompetent with a computer to gaining the confidence to lead SPOT sessions and encourage other students to do the same. Patrick also shares some of the more difficult hurdles he's faced. His initial plan and s...

Sign-ups for Smooth Start 5 are open now! Read more and Apply here In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Karis about Smooth Start. Karis is part of the Launch School staff and is largely responsible for creating Smooth Start, an introductory program to help students overcome common hurdles that are often faced at the early stages of Launch School. They discuss why Smooth Start was create...

In this episode, Chris interviews Missy Lovegren, a Capstone grad and software engineer at New Relic. Missy was a TA at Launch School and part of a 2022 Capstone cohort. They spend the first part of the episode discussing Missy's transition into software. She comes from a background in fine arts and went through several difficult, low paying, and, as she described, dead-end jobs. Even so, the deci...

In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Nick Perry, a current student and active member of the Launch School community. Nick shares his background and how he was never a 'good' student previously in high school and university. When he began Launch School, like many students, he wasn't sure if he could succeed and had to reevaluate his perception of his abilities both technically and as a d...

In this episode, Chris has a conversation with Felicia Bacon, a Capstone grad and Software Engineer at Starbucks. Felicia made a trajectory change after studying to be an architect for several years. Her core curriculum journey was one of perseverance, spanning three and a half years. She shares candidly about her experience receiving a 'not yet' on the first Launch School assessment and her all-i...

In this episode, Brandi interviews Katelyn, a current student finding her footing in the first few courses of the core curriculum. Katelyn is in a career transition, with a background in project and construction management, having majored in civil engineering in college. We reached out to Katelyn to see if she wanted to share her story after she wrote and shared an article about her experience rec...

In this episode, Chris interviews Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Capstone grad working in machine learning. They spend the first part of the interview discussing his background and Capstone experience, and later on discuss the field of machine learning. Alex had a full career before he transitioned into machine learning. He has a PhD in history and spent over 15 years doing research in Afghanistan....

In this episode, recorded at the end of 2023, Brandi asks Chris the most frequently asked questions that current and potential students have. Chris starts the episode with a recap of the story of Launch School, and how his journey into teaching software over 10 years ago led to the Launch School curriculum as we know it now. This story explains how the curriculum is chosen and why adding assessmen...

In this episode, Chris interviews Julia Martin, a Capstone graduate and software engineer working at Databricks. Julia shares her story about deciding to make a career transition from business to software. Her interest in software was piqued during her work as a business analyst, where working with SQL was part of her role. She spent some time considering various bootcamps before finding Launch Sc...

In this episode, Brandi interviews Trisha, a current student who is about two-thirds finished with the core curriculum. Trisha opens up about receiving a 'Not Yet', a non-passing grade, on her first assessment over a year ago. She talks about the aftermath of doubt and insecurity. Trisha's trajectory changed drastically when she immersed herself into the community, finding a supportive group of pe...

In this episode, Chris interviews Captsone Graduate Jon Kulton, a software engineer at Datadog. Before Launch School, Jon was a UX designer in a role that included some programming. Ultimately, Jon decided he wanted to transition into a more software-centric role. Jon was part of the 2019 fall cohort and began his job hunt at the start of Covid. Between being based in Ohio and the challenges that...

In this episode, Chris meets with JD and Daniel, two SPOT Admins and current students. They chat about what the SPOT is, who it's for, and how it can complement your Launch School studies, both technically, but also as a jumping-off point for joining the community. The SPOT, which stands for Study, Practice, Overlearn, Teach, is a student-led community within Launch School that facilitates virtual...

In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Benjamin Walker, a current student, nearing the end of the back-end portion of the curriculum. They discuss Benjamin's approach to balancing full-time parenthood and his journey as a neurodivergent student. Benjamin was a high school math teacher for 12 years. After becoming a father, he decided he was ready for a career change. He talks about how he...

In this episode, Chris interviews Ginni Pinckert, a software engineer at Sudowrite. Ginni is a recent capstone graduate, finishing in early 2023. She has a diverse background pre-Launch School, having studied classical languages, literature, and linguistics with a mild obsession with Greek mythology and Sci-Fi. She worked in the fashion industry for several years and then worked as a small busines...

A quick introduction to this season with a peek at what's to come.

In this episode Chris and Karis discuss the latest Capstone Salaries page update. Chris shares important data to look out for on the new salaries page, and provides advice when comparing other career-launching programs out there on the market. This discussion is to be used as a companion guide to the salaries page, and is especially helpful for those looking to have more clarity on Capstone. The e...

In this bytes episode Karis asks Chris and the Launch School community "What was some of their biggest takeaways this year at Launch School?" After the students and staff share their takeways, Karis closes with some Launch School announcements and upcoming events. to listen to the podcast click on the play button above the RSS and SHARE buttons Introduction Chris' Takeaways Bytes: Community's Bigg...

In this episode Chris and Karis conduct a Q&A session about Launch School's new Programming Essentials Workshops, what they are why new programmers would want to attend. Karis then catches up with Launch School Alumnus Kelvin, who shares his experiences as a UK Capstone student and what it's like working as a software engineer based in the UK. The episode comes to a close with some Launch Scho...

In this episode Chris and Karis discuss a recent inspirational talk given by Core graduate student Jake. Chris answers some additional Launch School-related questions including how ISAs work. Karis interviews Capstone graduate and Launch School Alumna Catherine, who shares what life has been like as a software engineer a year and a half on from her studies at Launch School. The episode ends with a...

In this episode Chris discusses the latest 2021 Capstone salaries, and provides some advice for students that have concerns about the recession. Karis catches up with younger students, Ethan and Tyler, and learns how their Launch School studies are already making an impact on their software engineering journey. Karis ends the episode with a few announcements about the latest events at Launch Schoo...