Launch School Podcast

About the show

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.

Launch School Podcast on social media

Episodes

  • Major Curriculum Updates with Chris

    April 26th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  1 hr 1 min
    ai, chatbot, education, software

    In this webinar, Chris discusses the recent updates to the Launch School curriculum, including new LSBot features, revamping assessments in response to the evolution of AI, and and updating a course with the most up-to-date best practices.

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    S5E16: Student Spotlight - Battling Self-Doubt, A Student Transformation with Sherece

    June 10th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  36 mins 52 secs
    coding, community, confidence, education, launch school, mastery, programming, self-doubt, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Brandi talks with Sherece about one of the biggest hurdles many face at Launch School, finding the courage to start the core curriculum amidst self-doubt. They also talk about the personal transformation that she, and many students, experience at Launch School.

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    S5E15: Daniel Nalesnik - Founder of HackChinese and Core Graduate

    May 27th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  1 hr 21 mins
    career transition, coding, education, engineer, engineering, entrepreneur, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Chris interviews Daniel Nalesnik, the founder of Hack Chinese and core graduate. Daniel used the fundamentals learned in core to go on a build his own business.

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    S5E14: Student Spotlight - The Ups and Downs of the Core Curriculum with Patrick

    May 13th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  58 mins 57 secs
    coding, community, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Brandi chats with current student Patrick about his journey through the core curriculum and the challenges that have come with it.

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    S5E13: Setting Students up for Success - Smooth Start Program with Karis

    April 29th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  56 mins 27 secs
    coding, community, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Karis shares the history of Smooth Start. Why the program was introduced, how it's changed based on student feedback, and what's to come.

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    S5E12: Missy Lovegren - From Fine Arts to Software Engineering

    April 15th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  1 hr 20 mins
    capstone, career transition, coding, education, engineer, engineering, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    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.

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    S5E11: Student Spotlight - From Coasting to Excelling, a Student Transformation with Nick

    April 1st, 2024  |  Season 5  |  41 mins 37 secs
    coding, community, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Nick Perry, a current student, SPOT lead, Smooth Start lead, and an active member of the Launch School community.

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    S5E10: Felicia Bacon - A Lifelong Learner Thriving at Starbucks

    March 18th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  1 hr 26 mins
    capstone, coding, education, engineer, engineering, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Chris has a conversation with Felicia Bacon, a Capstone grad and Software Engineer at Starbucks.

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    S5E9: Student Spotlight - Climbing the Learning Curve as a New Student, with Katelyn

    March 4th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  40 mins 40 secs
    coding, community, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Brandi interviews Katelyn, a current student finding her footing in the first few courses of the core curriculum.

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    S5E8: Alex Strick van Linschoten - Open Source Machine Learning, based in Europe

    February 19th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  55 mins 33 secs
    capstone, coding, education, engineer, engineering, europe, launch school, machine learning, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Chris interviews Alex, a Capstone grad who became interested in machine learning and came to Launch School after over 15 years of history research in Afghanistan. He's now a machine learning engineer at ZenML.

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    S5E7: Launch School Explained with Chris Lee

    February 5th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  1 hr 23 mins
    capstone, coding, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    In this episode, Chris begins by telling the story of his journey into teaching software and how it led to Launch School in its current form. He then answers the most frequently asked questions from both current and potential students.

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    S5E6: Julia Martin - The Journey from JS101 to Databricks

    January 22nd, 2024  |  Season 5  |  52 mins 24 secs
    capstone, coding, data, databricks, education, engineer, engineering, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    Chris interviews Julia Martin, a Capstone graduate and software engineer working at Databricks. She shares her journey from quitting her job to study at Launch School full-time, to her day-to-day now at a large tech company.

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    S5E5: Student Spotlight - Imposter Syndrome and Recovering From a 'Not Yet', with Trisha

    January 8th, 2024  |  Season 5  |  35 mins 28 secs
    coding, community, education, imposter syndrome, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    Brandi interviews Trisha about receiving a 'Not Yet' on the first assessment in Launch School and how she changed her habits after.

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    S5E4: Jon Kulton - From Software Engineering to SRE

    December 25th, 2023  |  Season 5  |  57 mins 59 secs
    capstone, coding, data, education, engineer, engineering, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    Chris interviews Jon Kulton in this episode. Jon completed Capstone at the end of 2019 and landed his first role during the beginning of the COVID pandemic. He has since transitioned to working for Datadog, a public company that provides monitoring and security services for cloud applications.

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    S5E3: Student Resources - The SPOT & GatherTown

    December 11th, 2023  |  Season 5  |  54 mins 30 secs
    coding, community, education, launch school, mastery, programming, software engineering, tech

    Chris has a conversation with JD and Daniel about The SPOT community and GatherTown, two resources available to Launch School students.

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    S5E2: Student Spotlight - ADHD and Parenthood with Benjamin

    November 27th, 2023  |  Season 5  |  37 mins 34 secs
    adhd, coding, education, engineer, engineering, launch school, mastery, neurodivergent, parenting, programming, software engineering, tech

    In episode two, Brandi interviews Benjamin Walker, a current student juggling parenthood and ADHD after stepping away from a career in education.