Launch School Podcast Launch School

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 decision to leave fine arts and transition into software development was challenging. She gives a very candid and level-headed perspective on the ups and downs of the core curriculum, Capstone, and the job hunt.


During the rest of the episode, Missy shares what it's like to work for New Relic, a massive company with over 500 engineers. She's part of a small team of 6 working on internal tools for the company, where she spends a lot of time debugging and relying on the fundamentals that she built at Launch School. She also gives insight into how she fits into the company as a Launch School grad and what her day to day is like.


We hope you enjoy the episode!

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 dedicated student. He discusses reshaping his study habits, confidence, and dedication not just to succeed, but to become a leader in the community with a trusted network of support around him.


He also gives insight into overcoming a 'Not Yet' on his first coding challenge interview, even though he was technically prepared. He cites the support that he received from peers as a critical component of his ability to persevere. Nick is a great example of someone who came in uncertain, with low confidence, and became a pillar in the Launch School community as a SPOT lead, a Smooth Start lead, and over two-thirds of the way through the core curriculum. He's an excellent example of the transformation that can happen at Launch School.


We hope you'll have a listen!

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-in approach to mastery-based learning.


Working at a corporate giant like Starbucks, Felicia is in an ever-changing environment where she's constantly required to learn new tools. She shares how drawing from mental models and foundations that she built at Launch School helps her continue to learn and thrive in her company. This episode gives great insight into how having a lifelong learning mentality can lead to opportunities, resulting in not just high-paying jobs, but a gratifying and healthy career too. Whether you're a few days into the core curriculum, or about to start your job hunt, you're likely to learn something from Felicia.


We hope you enjoy the conversation!

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 receiving a 'Not Yet' on an assessment. Every student has a different approach when they don't pass an assessment, but most approaches don't involve telling everyone in the community how and why it happened, in hopes of helping others. We wanted to hear from her!


They discuss her 'Not Yet' and what changes she made to her study habits. Katelyn also discusses her approach to having an online presence, and how she's taken as many opportunities as possible to work on her soft skills in conjunction with the technical skills she's learning from the coursework.


This is a great episode for gaining insight into what you can expect from your first few courses at Launch School, and the learning curve that many students face as they find their footing.

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. When he was ready for a change, he found Launch School and spent over three years going through core and Capstone. He shares his experience participating in Capstone from Pakistan, where he had a nocturnal schedule to work with his team. He also gives perspective on doing a job hunt in Europe.


For much of the interview, they discuss the state of the machine learning field. Alex is working as an ML Engineer at ZenML, on an open-source code base. They touch on what it's like working in a relatively new field and how Alex has incorporated into his team.


We hope you enjoy the conversation!

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 assessments was a necessary step in the evolution of his teaching platform.


The story of Launch School gives a lot of insight into why things are the way they are now, but there were still questions to be answered. Chris spends the last hour of the episode answering questions that we see again and again, whether it's from current students, potential students, or those who've chosen a different path for their education journey.


This episode highlights how intentional every piece of Launch School is. It's an educational system built with an engineering mindset. We hope you come away with a better understanding of Launch School, and as always, we're happy to answer your questions or hear your ideas.


1:19 - The History of Launch School
22:43 - Why do students have to participate in interview assessments?
28:40 - Why is there a limit on the number of ‘Not Yet’s a student can get?
36:11 - Why is the standard or required grade to pass an assessment so high?
43:45 - Why can’t students test out of the core curriculum if they already have experience?
55:15 - How do you decide what content and the level of difficulty of the core curriculum?
58:51 - Why doesn’t the Launch School curriculum have a portfolio?
1:02:59 - Why are the community guidelines so strict?
1:08:15 - Why isn’t there any support to help core grads get jobs?