The Launch School journey, told from inside the curriculum.
Launch School Podcast mixes Student Spotlight interviews about confidence, assessments and peer-led study with open sessions where Chris walks attendees through Capstone and curriculum changes. What ties them together is the path from the core curriculum to a software engineering job.
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Launch School Podcast is about becoming a software engineer through Launch School, told by people in the middle of it. Its episodes take two broad shapes. The first is the one-on-one interview. On air, the season is described as focused mainly on Capstone graduates talking about their jobs and current students talking about the core curriculum. In the Student Spotlight episodes, current students tell their own stories. Sherece, interviewed by Brandy, joins only hours after sitting a three-hour assessment. She calls the program a roller coaster of discomfort and says getting through it has made her more confident as a person, not only as a student. Patrick, another current student, describes the Spot sessions he runs as a fellow student rather than a teacher. People arrive with a single line of code they have stared at for hours, or with a big conceptual question about recursion or object-oriented programming. Both are Spot and Smooth Start leads, so these episodes cover learning the material and helping others learn it. The second shape is the open session. Attendees post in the chat where they are in the world and where they are in the curriculum, and Chris walks through what is changing. 'Capstone 2026 Updates: Adapting to a Changing Market' is direct about the reason: job hunts are taking longer, so programming now runs during the job hunt. The wait before a next cohort is framed as time for prep work. One session recalls that before COVID, Capstone required students to relocate to New York City or San Francisco for the job search, and it calls the current move back toward relocation 'the unhappening of the remote'. 'Major Curriculum Updates with Chris' treats interview anxiety as normal and interviewing as a skill to practise, which is why interview practice sits inside the curriculum. That session closes with an open offer to message anyone nervous about JS230 or about which assessment to take. The conversation with Daniel Nalesnik, founder of HackChinese and a Core graduate who finished without Capstone, widens the frame. It looks at why simply hiring developers rarely works when the person hiring does not understand programming, and it compares building software to writing, where the thinking happens during the work. The Student Spotlights suit a listener who wants the texture of daily study. The Capstone sessions suit someone planning the final stretch. The tone stays encouraging without pretending the work is easy, and one session signs off by urging students to enjoy the process now instead of waiting to be happy once it is over.
Made for: Suits a listener who is working through a mastery-based coding curriculum, or considering one, and wants to hear how students handle assessments and self-doubt and what Capstone looks like as job hunts stretch out.
What sets it apart: Instead of general career advice, it stays inside one school's own structure, down to Spot sessions, Smooth Start, assessments and Capstone cohort rules. Current students also get room to talk openly about discomfort and doubt.
A podcast about coding, education, and mastery. We'll interview current Launch School students, employers in the tech sector, and industry veterans to talk about how to succeed on a journey to mastery and becoming a professional software engineer. Conversations will revolve around learning, programming, expertise, study habits and many other topics related to mastery based learning.
A Starbucks engineer reaches the edge of a ticket; your first-job nerves get company.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at how relocation, taxes, and living costs complicate the Capstone salary story.
Launch School's Capstone salary discussion keeps its focus on the practical side of the tech job hunt: where graduates take roles, how relocation changes the meaning of a headline salary, and how remote work has shaped the program's setup.
A grounded look at why Capstone is slowing its cadence while putting more support behind a harder job search.
Capstone's 2026 shift lands as a practical answer to a tighter hiring market. The program is moving from three cohorts a year to two, with bigger groups meeting less often and more support concentrated around each one.
A candid look at why Launch School treats performance as a skill students can practice.
Launch School's curriculum changes land as a focused conversation about what training should prepare students to do when expectations are real. Brandy, a TA involved behind the scenes, helps frame three major shifts, including the growing role of LSBot.
A student spotlight on staying with discomfort until software engineering begins to feel possible.
A current student's progress through Launch School's Core curriculum becomes a grounded look at confidence earned through repeated discomfort.
A candid look at turning Launch School skills into HackChinese and a working business.
Launch School Podcast traces Daniel's path from completing Core without capstone in late 2017 to building HackChinese and running it as his own product and business.
Specialists walking through software's tradeoffs, one system at a time.
Founders and engineers on AI coding agents like Claude Code, and supply chain security.
The engineering decisions behind code, agents, and control.
Python tools, practical trade-offs, and the occasional programming joke.
Matt Stratton interviews DevOps practitioners on security, platform engineering, and trusting AI-written code.
Chris says Launch School’s 2024 Capstone salary data matters because many of the placement outcomes happened in 2025, after OSI and other initiatives extended the job hunt.
Launch School's Chris says Capstone will drop from three cohorts a year to two, keep the 16-week course length, and hold the price steady while moving to spring and fall starts.
Brandy and Chris use a live Launch School Q&A to walk through LSBot, written assessments, and the JS230 split.
Launch School Podcast's student spotlight with Charisse starts from a free HTML class she found in a Reddit thread, a long stretch in the service industry, and a current place in the core curriculum after a 229 written assessment.
["Launch School Podcast S5E15 centers on Daniel Nailisnik, the founder of HackChinese.com, and how he turned a niche Chinese-learning frustration into a subscription SaaS.", "He traces the path from a University of Massachusetts computer science degree and a Boston mainframe job to a 2008 night Chinese class, then to Beijing University and Fudan University after quitting in 2009.", "Daniel says spaced repetition tools still forced 25 to 30 minutes of setup before studying, which is why he kept wanting a product focused only on Chinese character recognition.", "The conversation also covers his Hong Kong corporate job, his push for China-related opportunities, and why Launch School's long curriculum and assessments made him comfortable building Hack Chinese himself after core in late 2017."]
Patrick Moran tells the Launch School Podcast how a 2020 furlough, Stanford’s Code in Place class, and a friend’s description of Launch School led him to enroll in July 2021.
Karis explains that Launch School created Smooth Start to introduce new students to its community, peer study groups, Slack, Gather, and experienced students before isolation becomes intimidating.
Missy Lovgren describes moving from a 2017 studio-art degree at UTD and several short-term jobs to Launch School in 2021.
Nick Perry describes switching careers toward software engineering after a friend contrasted IT's easier entry with software engineering's higher ceiling and work-life balance.
Felicia Bacon describes moving from architecture studies through three and a half years at Launch School to her first software engineering job at Starbucks.
Launch School Podcast host Brandy interviews current JavaScript-track student Caitlin about her first four months in Launch School and her transition from project and construction management.
Alex Strickman-Linskoten describes moving from 15 years of historical research and fieldwork in Afghanistan to software engineering through Launch School.
Launch School Podcast's S5E7 features Brandy questioning Chris Lee about the experiments and trade-offs behind Launch School's curriculum and assessments.
Julia Martin describes moving from a business degree and analyst jobs into software engineering after discovering SQL, teaching herself Python, quitting a disliked job, and completing Launch School and Capstone.
Trisha, an oncology nurse working part-time to full-time shifts, explains why pandemic-era burnout and a desire to use a different part of her brain led her to Launch School.
John Colton describes moving from UX design into software engineering after three years of working alongside developers and becoming interested in performance and implementation decisions.
Launch School Podcast’s S5E3 features JD Fortune and Daniel Carter, co-moderators of The Spot, explaining how the student-run community supports study, practice, overlearning, and teaching.
Benjamin Walker, a former Chicago high-school mathematics teacher and parent of a two-year-old daughter, explains why he became a part-time Launch School student while his partner continues working in software.
Jeannie Pinkert describes moving from ancient Greek poetry and eight-to-ten years in a Venice Beach fashion business to software engineering.
Karis and Chris examine Launch School’s redesigned capstone salaries page and explain why job-placement percentages need both numerators and denominators.
Launch School Podcast host Karis assembles student and staff reflections on their biggest takeaways from 2022, alongside Chris's account of Launch School moving beyond a "bus factor one." Leah Davis says studying with others improved retention in JS210, while Andrew Moore says he became a full-time software engineer at BrowserStack earning two and a half times his previous lifetime maximum.
Karis and Chris explain that Launch School’s free Programming Essentials workshops support prep-course learners with live instruction, quiz questions, study habits, and foundational mental models.
Karis and Chris examine Launch School graduate Jake’s GatherTown talk about changing study methods and transforming from a historically average student into an A-level performer.
Chris reports that 58 US Launch School capstone graduates received a $125,000 average salary, a $122,000 median, and 74% remote accepted offers in 2021.
Karis and Chris cover Felicia’s interviews with Chris and Carolina, a Launch School Women’s Group panel featuring Mozilla and Gatsby leaders, Rodney’s Gatsby.js presentation, listener questions, and a catch-up with Mandy.
Launch School Podcast Season 4 begins with Chris Lee and Karis Tobias introducing a more frequent talk-show format for community updates, listener questions, and Launch School events.
Mandy, Callie, and Chris reflect on Season 3 of the Launchable Podcast, highlighting Bites episodes, student voices, Women Who Code, Thanksgiving, and Barbara Oakley.
Launch School Podcast S3E9 introduces Pete Hanson, a Launch School curriculum writer and teaching assistant who has learned around 70 programming languages.
Launch School Podcast’s “Bytes — Gratitude” features Vanna and Mandy interviewing Launch School students about people and structures that supported their studies.
Launch School Podcast S3E7, “Bytes — Life Stages,” interviews Tyler, Chelsea, and Bob Rhodes about learning software engineering at different ages and career stages.
Launch School Podcast S3E6: Getting to Know Srdjan features Callie interviewing Launch School TA Surjan about professional poker, programming, and teaching.
Mandy, a Launch School student and Women Who Code co-host, interviews Elizabeth, Dana, Bernadette, Rachel, Stephanie, Gwen Huang, Shay, Lena, and Carolina about the group's origins and impact.
John and Adam Isom explain why John chose Launch School over a University of Utah scholarship in July 2019, while Adam left a WGU computer science program after a difficult three-week Python project.
Launch School Podcast reunites Ben, Gabe, and Arthur after they completed Core and Capstone together and entered software engineering careers.
Launch School Podcast interviews Barbara Oakley about moving from Russian translation and a failed start as an Army signal officer to engineering through remedial algebra.
Launch School Podcast’s S2E11 is a Q&A with Chris about mastery-based learning, Capstone admissions, assessments, the deferred payment program, and software-career outcomes.
Liz, Jesse, and Katerina describe how Launch School’s peer-led Social Network grew from informal meetups into a study-habits conference.
Launch School Podcast S2E9 records a webinar panel about the Deferred Payment Program and student journeys through Core and Capstone.
Lina Lauman, Rodney Matambo, and Christian Larwood describe SPOT, a peer-led Launch School study group whose name means Study, Practice, Overlearn, and Teach.
Launch School Podcast host Chris Lee interviews Sonny Beattie, a Capstone graduate who moved from a $14-an-hour rehabilitation technician job into software engineering at DigitalOcean.
Launch School Podcast S2E6 follows Michael Mintel from electrical engineering and power-industry work to Launch School, Capstone, and a Facebook role connected to Oculus.
Nick Calabi describes moving from theological studies and humanities degrees into a six-figure remote software engineering role at TimescaleDB in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Launch School Podcast's S2E4 features Arthur Kaufman, Ben Zalinski, and Gabe De Almeida describing how a self-selected study group supports mastery-based learning.
Sasha Prodan describes a three-year path from starting Launch School in January 2016 to completing Capstone in January 2019 and becoming a backend engineer in San Francisco.
Julius Zerwick describes moving from a physics degree and health-informatics client-management role into software engineering at DigitalOcean, where he earns $137,000 annually.
Launch School Podcast S2E1 follows Tanner Allard, who left a college wellness medicine program, completed Launch School, and entered software engineering without a degree.