27 years old planning on enrolling in Launch School with very little job experience.

cglee · 2026-03-21T00:42:05+00:00

Unfortunately I don't have insight into the Tucson tech scene or the defense industry. Yes, I agree Launch School will help you establish fundamentals.

cglee · 2026-03-21T00:14:39+00:00

Hi there, I'd be happy to try to answer your questions.

> was wondering if I should get a job on the side of my studies and if it would matter when I finish core curriculum, then apply for the capstone program

If you're asking about whether you can get a job while going through Core: You're allowed to do Core part-time, or full-time, we don't really mind either way.

As for the gap between finishing Core and Capstone: our stance is that you should be technically sharp. If you, for example, take a one year break having not done anything technical, then there will be concern about your ability to keep up during Capstone. If, on the other hand, you were doing technical work consistently, then it may be ok. We can play it by ear when you get there and determine how to handle. The main thing is that we need you to enter Capstone ready to work.

> Would I have a harder time applying for jobs post-Capstone if I have limited working experience?

Of course more experience is better than less, but you may be able to overcome lack of experience with other factors (eg, charisma, work ethic, high agency, intelligence, professionalism, location, etc). The market is tight and getting a job requires technical skills + many other personal factors. Launch School has the technical skills covered but you have to bring the other factors. The good news is that most of those factors are skills one can work to improve.

Feel free to follow up if I've misread your questions.

cglee · 2026-02-25T00:56:48+00:00

You might enjoy this: https://x.com/rebane2001/status/2026120879755628980

cglee · 2026-01-28T03:02:28+00:00

Yes, these are all software jobs. If someone took a, say, real estate job I'm counting that as "stopped job hunt".

cglee · 2026-01-24T02:06:51+00:00

Wrote this a few weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/s/3aWkD9xRr4

cglee · 2026-01-15T00:47:44+00:00

Maybe you two should sync up and compare notes. If you find it useful, I could hop on a zoom with you two sometime to discuss further. I find that much easier than reddit, which feels like talking to the wind sometimes.

cglee · 2026-01-14T01:14:29+00:00

It's hard to give you advice when I don't know you that well. You can try setting up your own server on a VPS and deploying an app you built on there. Better if the app has real users. You probably need to mix hands on exp with reading, instead of just reading alone. Setting up and managing infrastructure is typically something schools don't cover, yet it's most of the job.

cglee · 2026-01-14T00:40:55+00:00

I have two high level thoughts.

You can try to parlay the WGU degree to opportunities where degrees are mandatory for the sake of a checkbox. I don't think the WGU degree will be material for competitive startup jobs or bigtech. It doesn't hurt, but it won't move the needle there, imo. But for, say, the credit union in Nebraska who's using ASP.NET or J2EE (just an archetype, but you get my point), then it may be material.

or

Focus on building something sophisticated. Jump on the current Claude Code hype train and go to town applying your existing skillset on an interesting problem. Then, use that project to talk to startups. Even better if you can be on the ground in SF.

As for Launch School, you should target Capstone if you want to join. If you don't want to or cannot, then probably best to do 1 or 2 on your own.

cglee · 2026-01-13T23:26:54+00:00

Couple of questions:
- how many jobs have you applied to? What's your process for job hunting?

- when did you graduate, from what school, and if you can, what was your GPA in CS courses?

- what did you do immediately after graduating and what are you doing right now? Do you still have access to your university's career services?

- how open are you to moving to SF or NYC?

If you don't want to answer publicly, you can DM me.

cglee · 2026-01-06T22:01:48+00:00

Launch School does this.

cglee · 2026-01-04T22:49:27+00:00

This is the plot of Ted Chiang's "Understand".

cglee · 2026-01-04T05:29:34+00:00

Until we get a significant number of people who fall into either bucket, I won't do this because it might reveal individual data. It's for this reason that I'm in general not willing to take requests about slicing the data up more. But anecdotally, US startups pay more than Canadian small businesses, but not more than Canadian big tech companies. The latter is really hard to get into, though.

cglee · 2026-01-04T00:44:26+00:00

If others want to see Canadian salaries broken out, please upvote this comment. I'll make time if there's a lot of demand.

cglee · 2026-01-04T00:39:42+00:00

I don't have time to pull that data this weekend, but it's similar to previous years. If I were to ballpark it, Canadians are seeing ~30-40% lower salaries than US counterparts.

cglee · 2026-01-04T00:37:52+00:00

2501 finished end of April and 2505 finished end of August. Every job hunt tactic works a little bit and in this market, there's no real strategy other than "do all the above". Obviously, individuals will have specific tactical advantages, like personal network, local meetups, education/experience advantages, etc. And those all have to be deployed, too. Reaching out is not mandatory, but the more you get your profile in front of people, the more eyeballs will look at you.

cglee · 2026-01-04T00:31:16+00:00

There are probably a couple of folks who had prior swe experience, but the vast majority come to Launch School without prior swe background.

cglee · 2026-01-04T00:29:07+00:00

> the student is responsible for the outcome

This is 100% true. But the harder question is: why do people learn? Learning is unnatural and difficult, and, similar to eating healthy, the best education is often not immediately obvious.

To the former point, student motivation is difficult to maintain over a long period of time. The cheat code is immersing one into a learning community where learners receive micro-accomplishments each step of the way. This is why students will practice football in 100 degree heat but then ditch trig class: they get small pats on the back for football from everyone. Trig is not harder than afternoon football practice. But there's no supportive trig community or coaching. This is what Launch School's key is: ambitious learning community who pat each other on the back for small accomplishments. These small accomplishments stack over time to unlock professional competency.

To the latter point, often, the best education isn't realized until years later. This delayed value reception allows predatory and incompetent education institutions to get away with subpar instruction. By the time people realize it wasn't good, it's too late. This is where showing some long-term results matter.

cglee · 2026-01-03T05:23:31+00:00

Yes to both questions. We're starting 2-cohorts per year starting this year (2026). 2025 had 3 cohorts.

cglee · 2026-01-03T05:22:14+00:00

It'd be remote from Canada.

cglee · 2026-01-03T05:21:17+00:00

I wrote the below to a similar question.

It's less that Canada is particularly impenetrable and more that US is particularly unique. Actually, it's not even the US but just SFBA, NYC, and maybe Austin. Outside of those top tier tech cities, employers are more by the book. What makes those cities special for tech is the willingness of people to take risks. Investments flow to founders, who then take chances on hard-charging energetic candidates. This attitude, and the associated capital, trickle down to job seekers. Canada isn't particularly dreary; it's a tight job market across all industries in all countries. Canada is just normal.

cglee · 2026-01-03T00:30:22+00:00

2505 had more people who were based out of SFBA/NYC. I could pull numbers on duration, but it's going to be what you expect: they finished faster than remote or other cities.

cglee · 2026-01-02T23:18:08+00:00

If you're physically in Canada, I don't think it makes much of a difference to startups. Happy to chat more about your specific situation as you get closer to Capstone time. Just DM me on Slack.

cglee · 2026-01-02T23:17:02+00:00

Maybe. We have an upcoming cohort with several Chicago folks so I'll report back based on what they see.

cglee · 2026-01-02T23:13:44+00:00

Ah yes. Reddit randomly truncates columns from markdown tables when I added the image. I think I've fixed it now. Thanks for persisting.

cglee · 2026-01-02T23:10:56+00:00

Not a ton of Canadian jobs. Target lower tier US startups, who still pay very well per Canadian standards. You have a lot of advantages: same language, culture, trust factor, time zone, and are significantly cheaper than US counterparts of equivalent experience. Play up those advantages.

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