Launch School Podcast

Jun 10 2024 54 ep. 50 mins 129
Launch School Podcast artwork

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.

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

Jun 10 2024 36 mins  
In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Sherece, a current student nearing the end of the core curriculum. They spend the first part of the conversation discussing how Sherece managed to overcome her extremely low confidence to not just progress through the core curriculum, but to even enroll amid self-doubt and fear of failure. Though she was an incredibly curious and eag

S5E15: Daniel Nalesnik - Founder of HackChinese and Core Graduate

May 27 2024 81 mins  
In this episode, Chris interviews Daniel Nalesnik, the creator of Hack Chinese and a core curriculum graduate. Daniel used the fundamentals learned in the core program to build his own business. They spend the first part of the episode discussing Daniel's winding journey to Launch School in which he left a successful career behind. Daniel quit his job to pursue Launch School f

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

May 13 2024 58 mins  
In this episode, Brandi chats with current student Patrick about his journey thus far through the core curriculum. They discuss what it's like coming from a background of feeling completely incompetent with a computer to gaining the confidence to lead SPOT sessions and encourage other students to do the same. Patrick also shares some of the more difficult hurdles he's face

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

Apr 29 2024 56 mins  
Sign-ups for Smooth Start 5 are open now! Read more and Apply here In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Karis about Smooth Start. Karis is part of the Launch School staff and is largely responsible for creating Smooth Start, an introductory program to help students overcome common hurdles that are often faced at the early stages of Launch School. They discuss why Smoot

S5E12: Missy Lovegren - From Fine Arts to Software Engineering

Apr 15 2024 80 mins  
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. They spend the first part of the episode discussing Missy's transition into software. She comes from a background in fine arts and went through several difficult, low paying, and, as she described, dead-end jo

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

Apr 01 2024 41 mins  
In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Nick Perry, a current student and active member of the Launch School community. Nick shares his background and how he was never a 'good' student previously in high school and university. When he began Launch School, like many students, he wasn't sure if he could succeed and had to reevaluate his perception of his abilities

S5E10: Felicia Bacon - A Lifelong Learner Thriving at Starbucks

Mar 18 2024 86 mins  
In this episode, Chris has a conversation with Felicia Bacon, a Capstone grad and Software Engineer at Starbucks. Felicia made a trajectory change after studying to be an architect for several years. Her core curriculum journey was one of perseverance, spanning three and a half years. She shares candidly about her experience receiving a 'not yet' on the first Launch School

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

Mar 04 2024 40 mins  
In this episode, Brandi interviews Katelyn, a current student finding her footing in the first few courses of the core curriculum. Katelyn is in a career transition, with a background in project and construction management, having majored in civil engineering in college. We reached out to Katelyn to see if she wanted to share her story after she wrote and shared an article about h

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

Feb 19 2024 55 mins  
In this episode, Chris interviews Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Capstone grad working in machine learning. They spend the first part of the interview discussing his background and Capstone experience, and later on discuss the field of machine learning. Alex had a full career before he transitioned into machine learning. He has a PhD in history and spent over 15 years doing researc

S5E7: Launch School Explained with Chris Lee

Feb 05 2024 83 mins  
In this episode, recorded at the end of 2023, Brandi asks Chris the most frequently asked questions that current and potential students have. Chris starts the episode with a recap of the story of Launch School, and how his journey into teaching software over 10 years ago led to the Launch School curriculum as we know it now. This story explains how the curriculum is chosen and wh