Putting graduates front and center

Couldn't recommend this place enough for anyone looking to get into the world of coding/tech. All the teachers are wonderful people that are attentive and thorough with explaining crucial concepts of coding, and they're always there if you need things explained more, or just need some advice on something you're working on! I was also lucky to have a cohort filled with other awesome and inspiring students that were constantly lifting each other up. Now that it's over I feel like I am equipped with the proper tools to take my coding journey to the next level and turn it into a career.

I couldn't recommend Launch Academy enough! This program really can get you where you want to go if you put in the work, and the team there are so compassionate, caring, and genuinely invested in your success. It is a difficult program, but well worth the investment. They have great connections, an amazing list of hiring partners, a robust alumni network, and will teach you both the hard and the soft skills of being a software engineer. I went in with really no technical background, and I got a job offer within a week of finishing the program :)

I went in to Launch Academy a little hesitant. I didn't think a short 18 weeks would give me enough time to learn what I needed to land a web developer role. Turns out I was pretty wrong. The first few months of ignition totally helped me get over those fears. I learned at a very rapid pace, and I quickly understood that Launch Academy's style of teaching is very similar to how an actual developer job would be. I learned the basics of ruby, javascript, HTML, CSS, and principles of object oriented programming in the first 8 weeks. Those initial weeks really fostered a strong foundation for what I would need to know for the much more intense on campus portion. It is worth noting that ignition is tough, but some people were able to hold down part time jobs as they completed that experience. Ignition is also a great experience for total beginners, and it will provide a super strong foundation for what you'll need to know for the on campus experience. The on campus experience is much, much tougher than ignition and quite different. I would say the on campus portion was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. If you are considering Launch Academy, just know that the amount of work is no joke - you may even wish to consider somewhere else if you aren't going to dedicate at least 60-70 hours of work per week for 10 weeks straight. With that said, the instructors were almost always available to assist in our learning experience even when they technically weren't on the clock. And my cohort was a fantastic group of people, so I really, really enjoyed going in to the space every single day. I didn't miss a single day. When on campus, you'll learn a lot more practical skills, like moreso the relationships between the things you learned in ignition and various frameworks that people use to make working with those languages more streamlined. You'll also learn how databases work, specifically how information is stored in and access from them, and how they communicate with a Rails backend and React front end. You'll of course learn React.js, Ruby on Rails, and how you can build a full stack application by the final two weeks of your cohort. If all of this sounds promising and realistic to you, I say go for it! Attending Launch Academy has been one of the greatest descisions I've ever made and would do it 1000 times over. Just a few weeks after graduation, I am happy to have landed a role at a small company in Boston with good pay, good benefits, and a similar code stack to what I learned at Launch. I couldn't have done it without the amazing team at Launch Academy and my fellow launchers!

I looked at other boot camps and felt that Launch Academy had the most human-friendly approach. They have created a boot camp that teaches the technical and problem-solving skills needed in a high-demand industry, yet have pinpointed the importance of collaboration, teamwork, and taking care of yourself with concerns of mental and physical health. As someone who came from a non-technical background, it felt daunting to come into a completely new world with completely new people. The staff at Launch Academy welcomed all of us with open arms and embraced us as individuals, while tailoring guidance to ensure that we are successful. Some of us needed more time than others, more support than others, and the staff took no hesitation to ensure that we understood the material.

I write this for you, the prospective tech bootcamp shopper, from my cushy reclining chair behind the desk of my sparkly new junior developer job. I can genuinely say that if I didn't sign up for Launch Academy, then I would not be sitting here writing this review, off-task from the awesome tech work that I was trained to do so very well at Launch Academy.Before I touch on 3 reasons why Launch Academy is as awesome as it is, I'll say that for a while I tried to get into tech, and it was difficult to do on my own! All in all, I needed structure and support that my 2-D MacBook Pro screen wasn't giving me. In doing some reading, I read from some (only those that haven't done a bootcamp, mind you) that bootcamps aren't worth it because they are too expensive and you can do all the learning with online resources. Yes, it costs and yes you can theoretically learn everythiing you'd need online, but if you want a junior developer role in the next 6-8 months, doing a bootcamp will push you in ways that you could NEVERRRRR do on your own. It gives you ALL the material you need to go from beginner to junior developer and the inspiration, motivation, technical/social/emotional and all the above support you can't get from staring at a computer screen by yourself or even at a meetup a few times a week. That, I would say, is the most important part of choosing a bootcamp - the quality, passion and drive of the people around you. That's why Launch stands out to me.

Launch Academy changed my life. It is what you look for in a boot camp. The instructors are super helpful, career services is great and helps you out even after you graduate, and the launch alumni is always trying to help one another. Before going to Launch I didn't have a clear path for myself. I had a full time job but I wanted a career that was more rewarding and something that I could feel proud to be a part of. If you are setting your sights on becoming a software developer, I would highly recommend this course. Keep in mind this is no walk in the park. You must be 100% committed to the task at hand to truly succeed. If you are driven and passionate and ready to take the leap to jumpstart your career in the world of software development then Launch is for you.

All the instructors at Launch Academy were fantastic! They were always incredibly helpful and never got frustrated no matter how much help we needed. The curriculum is well written and very modern. The career services department works very hard to make sure you get job placement after you graduate. I believe that the Ignition program they implement before coming on campus greatly sets them apart from other camps and will assist all newcomers in being able to digest such a large amount of information. A wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone looking at a bootcamp!

Before the COVID-19 pandemic I was an Improv Comedian. I had been looking to develop another career at some point, but after all the theaters shut down I was left on unemployment without a clear direction. Launch Academy was recommended to me by a friend from my theater and it ended up being the best decision I've ever made. Launch took me from working nights, to a brand new career in the technology industry. It has a challenging but fair curriculum. It also does an excellent job of staying relevant between Cohorts as technologies evolve, and the the culture of the program is as good as the course-work. I've never considered myself a 'math' person but with this program gave me the courage to code. I'm the first person in my family to have the title 'engineer' in my job description and it's all thanks to the people at Launch.

I had a fantastic experience at Launch Academy in Boston. The instructors were really knowledgeable and the curriculum was both organized and presented well. Launch works hard to keep their curriculum current, so we learned some really 'hot off the presses' technology that will be incredibly useful at our future jobs. Launch encouraged pair programming, collaboration, and test-driven development, all skills that are extremely desirable. In the last two weeks of the program, each Launcher independently created a full website as a capstone project. We then presented these projects to a group of local companies who are interested in hiring a junior developer. I received two job offers within a week of graduation, and feel fully equipped to jump into my new career.