I passed the HackerRank test and got accepted into the LaunchCode apprenticeship-to-work placement program. I have yet to be placed. If you look at the success stories on their blog they seem to give priority in placing people with computer science degrees from other countries, which is a misrepresentation. I did not attend their bootcamp, rather I took a few programming classes as part of a non-computer science degree.

February 5, 2018

This is a good intro course to Computer Science, web development and programming in general. Do this if you have the time and motivation, but don’t do it for the job placement. After I finished the course, the person “helping” me to get a job or internship eventually stopped replying my inquiries and status update requests on that job. I wouldn’t recommend this course in general.

April 2, 2018

I was a Massage Therapist. I found an editors list of the top 10 coding bootcamps from around the country. I did some online work for the number one rated, but ultimately chose LaunchCode, ninth rated, because it is completely free to students and it was local to me (Saint Louis.)

LC101, the introduction class, was HARD and you get out of it what you put in. If you don’t study enough and keep up you will get dropped, only about 70% of my class graduated.

Graduating doesn’t mean job placement, you have to take the skills you have learned and prove you can code projects to completion on your own. They recently added Liftoff (8 weeks), to help with that process, I am taking it and in week 3.

Additionally, once you apply and get into the Apprenticeship Program, you have to be able to prove to companies that your project and your communication skills are good enough to do whatever job they need you to do in the real world. I am the over-achieving type, I coded a project to completion while between Units 2 and 3 and applied to the apprenticeship program with it. Because there are so many people who got into the apprenticeship program before me that they are trying to place, it took them about 7 weeks to get back to me with my first: would you like us to send your resume to company X? email. Then it is up to company X if they want to interview you.

I, apparently, impressed my first company interviewer, but wasn’t offered a job. My second interviewer did offer me a job, and my third interviewer (within days of the second) seems to want to meet with other candidates. Additionally, I graduated on a Thursday, and I started to TA the following LC101 class the next Monday, at the time of writing this, that class is 3 of 20 weeks into their program. Yesterday, I decided to accept the offer from the second interview, I spent part of today doing the onboarding.

In general, the community and atmosphere at LaunchCode is amazing and they are super supportive and helpful, they have an online chatroom that is always busy answering questions, offering support, or just trying to make you laugh: Today in the chatroom: person 1: what if the cheese was shredded? person 2: then the answer would be grate!

The student to TA ratio is about 11 to 1, but the class size is generally somewhere in the 250-350 range, meaning that: if your TA or members of your TA group can’t answer the question, bounce it off one of the other 23 or more TA’s or post it in general chat seen by all. Someone gets back to you fast.

August 3, 2018

I’d considered getting into computer programming for a number of years, but couldn’t afford to go back to college for another degree that may or may not lead to a job, and I had a hard time staying focused when trying free, self-guided programs online. One of my partner’s former co-workers went through LaunchCode’s learning program and was ultimately placed in an apprenticeship, and recommended it highly to her when she mentioned that I’d been interested in programming. Initially I was pretty skeptical. How can a program offer free, no-strings-attached education to hundreds of students a year and be any good?

I realized later that the only way to do that is if your learning program is actually EXTREMELY good. My LaunchCode experience was filled with excited students, talented teachers, and supportive staff. They taught me everything I needed to know to become a web developer, provided resume and job interview support, and introduced me to a community of learners and developers who could serve as support in my job search. I and several of my friends (as well as many of the people I’ve met through LaunchCode) have gotten new careers in technology as a result of LaunchCode’s entirely free programs.

The thing I’ve realized most through my interactions with LaunchCode is that they’re not some for-profit bootcamp or recruiting firm who is just looking to make some quick money or only help the best of the best. Everyone I’ve met who works at LaunchCode is working there because they really care about the organization’s mission and are determined to help anyone and everyone who is willing to put in the effort get their first programming job.

LaunchCode absolutely changed the lives of me and some of the most important people to me, and I cannot possibly recommend them enough.

August 3, 2018

I started LaunchCode in the summer of 2017, I was working a dead end food service job at the time and looking for a way out. LaunchCode’s LC101 course is one of the best I’ve seen, it’s in person, interactive, and most of all it is FREE! That being said I had to work hard in order to succeed and land a job. Everyone at LaunchCode is supportive and wants to succeed but it’s up to you to put in the effort.
I went from knowing only a little bit of HTML to a fully functioning application in Java in just a few months.
Since graduating LaunchCode I have worked for two companies as a software developer and doubled my salary. I am forever grateful for the free education and support that LaunchCode has provided me.

August 16, 2018

I have been a hobbyist programmer since I was in high school. I don’t have a college degree. I do have a lot of on-the-job programming experience. I read about LaunchCode in the newspaper in 2017. It sounded too good to be true, but I applied for their free LC101 learning course anyways. After taking the admissions test, I never received a response. I emailed them and someone replied telling me a I was overqualified and that I should apply instead for the apprenticeship program. I was too busy at work and did not apply for another 6 months at least.
I eventually applied for the apprenticeship program and completed the HackerRank test, which was poorly written and a terrible litmus test of programming ability/knowledge. Since then I had 4x 5-minute video chat interactions with someone about my resume and my coding project. After these, the communication has been almost non-existent. I have received only a single interview for the apprenticeship in a 5 to 6-month period of time, and the program coordinator stopped responding to my emails, so I have no idea whether the company was interested in hiring me. I have no other point of contact for these people (no office telephone number).
I would describe this as a huge waste of anyone’s life. They misrepresent their successes. I even wasted time doing a second programming project as per their request because they didn’t understand what mine was about. I do not recommend LaunchCode to anyone. If you don’t have a degree like me, they won’t do anything for you; if you already have a BS degree, you won’t need them anyways.

September 24, 2018

Nice to know that you can get away with anything and everything, including publicly posting profanity in their supposedly (RESPECTED?!? LOL) professional Slack team channel and publicly cheating in that same channel by constantly ignoring LC’s rules and posting graded assignments code, if you are some white chick, but others (especially “foreigners”) can be subject to “disciplinary” action that looks more like a witch hunt, for accidentally posting a private message in the wrong spot. Ironically, it seems that it was that same exact (WHINY) person who always gets that special treatment who complained about that message (or rather her personal interpretation of it) that was definitely taken out of context and accused me of some imaginary harassment when no name was even mentioned in that message.
So shocked to see that those rumors about LaunchCode’s discriminatory actions are much more than just rumors after being victim of this unfair witch hunt. White chick VS. Muslim “foreigner” in redneck country, aka St. Louis…?!? It’s just OUTRAGEOUSLY RIDICULOUS !!!
Also, they openly promote sexism by excluding male students from many events and programs. They even have a program for women ONLY.

As already mentioned on here before, their so-called “course” (LC101) is laughable at best. No wonder when you see how incompetent their so-called “education” team is. Seriously, what can you expect from their so-called “Education Program Manager”, aka Sally, when she publicly confesses that she’s too afraid to do a task as simple as changing variable names on Windows?!? lol And no, that’s no joke. Clearly, that’s what happens when your priority is not how qualified a person is, but rather whether they’re a white female or not… I really wouldn’t be surprised if that Angela, who can’t even manage to do something as simple as installing a Windows software, is hired as their Senior Software Engineer. Because, like I already said, It’s just OUTRAGEOUSLY RIDICULOUS !!!

Bottom line is… Don’t be fooled by their shiny motto or their misleading non-profit status. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby! And those greedy opportunists will do anything to make some profit$$$.

October 14, 2019