Launch Academy

I attended Launch Academy to switch from a non-technical field with the goal of getting a job as a developer.  Ultimately I was able to do this, but during the course I felt underprepared.  I had only taken a basic course in HTML and CSS prior to attending, and found myself struggling to keep up with the fast pace of learning.  It really takes about 6 months at least to feel comfortable with the basic concepts needed for an entry level role.  I failed one exam because of a simple typo, and after that I made sure to review my exam answers with a fine toothed comb.  Looking back, I wish that I had taken one of the many free/cheap online courses in javascropt/ruby/python, as that would have made it easier to keep pace with the class. 

I am glad that I attended Launch, as it did prepare me well for my current role as a jr full stack developer, which I got about 2 months after completing Launch.  I made some great friends at Launch and I still go back to the course material from time to time as a reference at work. 

The Good

The curriculum at Launch Academy is really spot on. To start, you will spend 8 weeks in your own time, online, learning the basics. They will cover things like the command line, loops, arrays, hashes, syntax, JavaScript, es6, Git and a little bit of testing. They say they do this so you are ready to go once you make it to the campus portion and it certainly works.

As for the on-campus curriculum, it’s pretty solid – I only wish we had learned more but in order for that to have truly of happened the entire program would have to be maybe 2 weeks longer – which is something they should seriously consider. You have 6 weeks of learning, each week a new topic. In my cohort it was, IIRC – React, Advanced OOP, Databases, Rails, HTTP and General Front End. The front-end week was kind of useless since they just skimmed over a crap load of material about design and typography and the like. Those topics are so dense, to give them such a superficial treatment was pointless. The time that week would have been better served expanding on existing material. 

This is followed by 2 weeks of group projects, which was an amazing eye-opening experience and then 2 more weeks of solo projects, which is very stressful but you will overcome. Again, the curriculum is on point and I learned WAY more than I thought I would. It moves fast and feels overwhelming for the majority of the program but that will soon feel natural and you will sink into a rhythm and get into the zone by the end of the first week.

The Bad

The entire staff is committed to evangelizing the gospel of social justice. Now, I’m all for equality and I’d like to think I’m very open minded and tolerant but I didn’t pay $15,500 to be lectured about how, because I am a man, I need to censor myself around women. I also did not pay $15,500 to be lectured about how awful Donald Trump is. I am not a political person, I do not care. Leave politics and social justice out of the classroom and teach me how to code. The staff we’re routinely injecting politics into the cohort for no reason. It came off as cringe worthy at times and always forced. Like I said, this is a coding bootcamp, not capitol hill.

On two separate occasions, they sat us all down and gave a lecture on ‘Mansplaining’, I actually didn’t even know what this was when they brought it up, I had never heard of it before. They said that someone made a rude and insensitive comment, but they would neither repeat what was said nor would they be speaking with the individual in question. They actually ended up saying that, if what we can’t tell you was said, is said again then you will be expelled. What? None of us even know what they were referring to, not even remotely. This caused a lot of self-censorship and bewilderment. They ended it by telling all the men in attendance to be cautious of how they talk, because, and I quote “Men have a tendency to talk down to women and assume they know more by virtue of being a man”. Nice. Where I come from, assuming bias based on external and immutable features of a human is what is commonly referred to as bigotry. Not to these people, it’s called social justice.

Secondly, while having a spirited debate on the Launch Academy Slack channel about the issue of women in the STEM field, D.T. – the Vice President of Engineering @ Launch Academy, decided to interject and remind everyone that everything they say is being monitored. Here are some excerpts of what he said, verbatim:

“Do you really want to say things that are open for mis-interpretation that could present a "public" perception that makes you sound callous to the gender/diversity hot button tech issue of the day?”

“It's a fact that there are more white men in this community than any other group, and as such i particularly appeal to those of us who fall into that category to try hard to keep our tone and conversation in line with the Launch Academy cultural norms and guidelines that all of us benefit from.”

Of course, indiscriminately lecturing all men is not something that is explicitly prohibited in the Launch Academy Code of Conduct paper we all signed – because, you know…diversity.

One more example – A fellow classmate of mine was accused of sexual harassment by a female classmate, and without actually investigating the accusation, Launch Academy took it at face value and actually threatened to expel him. They told him that he was sexually harassing another student but refused to give evidence of it ever happening, the date, time or place in question it occurred or the name of the accuser. They wouldn’t even state exactly what it was that he did, just a nebulous “You committed sexual harassment”. They never followed up with this female accuser to press her for details, they simply assumed that she was telling the truth.

This and many other countless examples really irritated me. They treat people like they are fragile, broken creatures’, incapable of accepting the fact that someone has a differing view from themselves. To remedy this, they preemptively tell people to not talk about certain topics and inject BS politics into a program that is designed to teach me and everyone else how-to CODE. One of the staff members actually gave a presentation on how to “cope” with the fact that Hillary Clinton did not win the election. This is absolute garbage. Nobody cares. I want to build websites, not listen to your nonsense. I am here to jumpstart a new career. I risked A LOT to make this move in my life and to have Launch Academy staff show such little regard for the sacrifices I made to be there is very disconcerting.

The disruption and distraction caused by their nonsensical moral high-ground showmanship really put a damper on the latter part of the cohort – a sentiment expressed by well over half of the cohort to myself, personally. It made it difficult to focus on the already difficult course material because everyone was chatting in hushed tones about what we all thought these veiled threats of expulsion were in response to. We never really found out…

Conclusion

Here is the full gist of what I took from my experience. If you want to learn how to code, Launch Academy will in fact teach you to code – even if you are a complete novice. However, you should expect incessant lecturing about how horrible men are and how virtuous a litany of ‘protected’ classes are. Expect lots of political evangelism and expect to be told to conform to their way of thinking or shut up and leave. If given the opportunity to do it all over, I am fairly certain I would go the route of a Bootcamp, but I am not so sure, if I knew what I know now, I would choose Launch Academy.

After teaching programming skills to elementary students and taking one programming course myself I took the leap into Web Development full time. Launch was the best decision I ever made.

With the 8 weeks pre-learning and the 10 week on campus immersion, I feel that is the best curriculum to set one up for success. Launch has prepared me not only for a demanding job at a startup but for being in a totally new job field. Career Services at Launch is nothing but spectacular in preparing you to prep, network and interview.

LA was one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever been a part of having the chance to collaborate with passionate and driven people. Coming straight out of college with no professional job experience, I wanted to make the transition into programming as soon as possible. Like other bootcamps, LA isn’t for you if you are not willing to put in the work.

Searching for job can always be daunting, but you won’t be alone. Though the job search was stressful and difficult for me, LA’s career support helped me overcome my fear of not finding a job. Even after graduation, they continuously pushed me towards the perfect position and encouraged me to keep strengthening my portfolio and networking within Boston’s emerging tech community. LA is always rooting for your success! 

Know that LA’s onsite curriculum will be fast-paced and challenging, and the job search afterwards will be tougher for some more than others; however, LA’s career services will be by your side. Use the resources available to you at Launch, whether it’s their career services, the experience engineers, or even your fellow Launchers. Just keep asking questions and address any concerns you may have and don’t be afraid to ask for help, and continue to code!

Overall, if you’re willing to put in the effort and sacrifice, LA is the place you want to go to make that big step towards your career change.

I am a former Launcher who decided to attend the bootcamp with minimal experience in coding. Overall I would say I had a great experience at Launch Academy. My goal was to expedite the process of learning to code and transition into a new career, and Launch helped me do both of those things. The curriculum covers a lot of information and the group and individual projects gives students the chance to test out their new skills. 

This is not a bootcamp for people who aren't self-motivated or expect Launch to just hand them a job after graduating (although I think the same thing is true of any bootcamp). You get out of it what you put into it. But if you're willing to work hard for the few short months you're in the program the instructors and career services will do everything they can to support you. 

I definitely think I made the right choice by attending Launch Academy and would certainly recommend it to anyone I know thinking of attending a bootcamp.