Singularly Excellent ≠ Perfect

As much as I love Launch School and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn software engineering (specifically, full-stack web application development), the fact that LS has become so masterful is due, in part, to learning from mistakes better than other would-be competitors have. Here is what I can say by way of constructive criticism at this point, as a recent Core Curriculum graduate. This will be unapologetically colored by my exact circumstances and personality, in case that needs to be said.

First off, during my time as a student, by far the biggest (and the only significant) complaint I had was that the process of getting my coding environment set up was a loathsome mess. I can easily imagine that someone with less endurance, patience, and desire to succeed than I happened to possess at that time would have given up on the whole adventure of learning to code. LS did make it abundantly clear that it is out of scope for them to handle any issues with this. All the same, I wish I had been instructed to avoid using a Windows system at all, including WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). So many things in the LS curriculum didn’t work for me there and I ended up using AWS Cloud9 for them, and switching back and forth has been a pain (learning multiple coding environment commands, etc.). My suggestion to Launch School: strongly advise students to avoid using a Windows system to code (including WSL). Dual boot (Windows/Linux), Mac, or Linux machines, and AWS Cloud9 all seem to be solid options (judging by the lack of nightmare stories). I would also suggest that LS beef up the support for getting on AWS Cloud9, which I spent many hours trying to figure out, including with another LS student.

To be as concrete as possible, this is what I would like Launch School to say: “If you only have access to a Windows machine and are not confident that you can avoid all of the time-intensive difficulties that may arise in using it with no help from us (Launch School) whatsoever, then follow these instructions *at this link* to get set up on Cloud9. We will fully support that process as much as we do any of our other content.”

Now as a recent Core Curriculum graduate, other issues have become clear. To see them in the right light, however, I need to give a bit of context.

Throughout my time at Launch School, I had anticipated doing the Capstone Program. I did not allow for other potentials in my (lack of) planning. Many things happened: moved from the USA to Germany, had a second child, my wife’s father became seriously ill and then died. This last altered our financial situation such that upon finishing Core I needed to look for work immediately, without taking time to create an impressive “Capstone-esque” portfolio project.

So, as a bare Core grad, what do I have to show? Not much, unfortunately. My Github has a slew of private repos, one or more for each LS course, but nothing on there is properly packaged. I would need to dig through what I did in the past two years and extract the most project-like things I could find, dust them off, provide them with the standard Github accouterments, and make them public. But if I’m going to take the time to do that, why wouldn’t I just make a proper project? Do employers really want to see what I could do much earlier, instead of what I can do now?

I don’t think I’m the only person that has had major interruptions outside of their control change their educational plans at LS. On the other hand, I have a friend who got a great starting position after only the first three courses(!). I could have easily been much more prepared to transition into the job hunt at any point with a few changes to my study habits. My suggestion to Launch School: have some way of ensuring that students are using Github properly from the very first mini-project. Potential employers should be able to look at everything a student has made with a feeling of calm assurance that whatever this person does is done cleanly and well, with clear and sufficient documentation, even if the task itself is quite basic. For anything that could reasonably be held on a public repo that potential employers could look at, the student should be required to have it on Github, with LS staff looking for it there, and including Github conventions in the grading process.

Why hasn’t Launch School been doing this? My theory: because the predominant source of feedback for the importance of any (potential) aspect of the curriculum is the experience Capstone graduates have in the job hunt. That, by definition, excludes the experiences of what I would assume to be the majority of Launch School students who eventually get software engineering jobs: those who will never participate in Capstone. The estimable Chris Lee regularly celebrates the success of LS students who get jobs in software engineering without completing Capstone, or even Core like my aforementioned friend. He does not seem at all bent on forcing a round peg through a square hole. In fact, he is, by all appearances, doing what he can to ensure the best possible outcome for every Launch School student. I offer a couple questions: How can LS do a better job of soliciting the feedback of non-Capstone folks who are currently, or have previously, looked for a job after studying at Launch School? How can LS promote transparency about the experiences of such people, at least to current students?

Lastly, it seems common (standard?) practice for LS grads to count some of their time as students as “work experience.” After hearing quite a few LS grads talk about why this is done, I still cannot follow suit in good conscience. This leaves me as a new grad with nothing public on my Github and “no experience.” What other LS grads are doing here seems to me to be a “little white lie” aimed at disabusing hiring teams of their prejudice against new grads. It seems to me, however, to do the exact opposite. Instead of contradicting the notion that new grads lack ability because they have no experience doing paid work, this practice supports it, as if to say “of course if I was merely a graduate of Launch School that wouldn’t mean much, but look over here…”. I readily concede that if the objective is to maximize the earning power of a given cohort of Capstone grads, that this is all but certainly the right course. If other objectives are taken into account, it may very well not be. Objectives such as maximizing the perceived value of becoming a Core Curriculum graduate. (On the other hand, the fact that I can point to the results page on the LS site presumably does help me, and if the numbers shown there weren’t the best, it would help me less.)

I very much hope that my thoughts here will be read without indignation or shame. Launch School exemplifies crisp, clear, no-frills criticism of its students. I hope this article is not too far from that, but going the other way.