Launch Academy

Status: Incoming Spring Cohort Student 2015
I applied for Launch Academy in September of 2014; interviewed with Omid and decided to pursue further commitment.
Omid was excellent in communicating with me pre and post-​interview. During the interview, I came prepared with many questions regarding the environment of the bootcamp and I was thoroughly impressed with his responses. Post interview, whenever I had questions based on payments or how I should better prepare myself, Omid was right there to answer promptly and sufficiently.
I had no problems throughout the payment process even after asking to switch payment plans (upfront or monthly).
In regards to pre-​work material and challenges, everything was given in due time. Launch really seems to be getting a great system down that provides more than enough resources to succeed in preparation for our 10 week bootcamp. It definitely helps to learn some programming language (specifically Ruby) before just to gain familiarity and to keep sharpening your skills every day (EVERY DAY! or almost. =P).
That being said, I’m excited for this opportunity, it’s an amazing blessing to be able to attend a bootcamp like Launch Academy, who now boasts a 5:1 student-​mentor ratio.

My experience with LA has been fantastic so far! The enrollment process was incredibly smooth and feedback on assignments is quick and detailed. The amount of starting materials we’ve been given access to is abundant and invaluable for learning Ruby. I’ve never taken any comp classes before and have had a seamless transition between the assignments and due dates.
The current cohort, teachers and alumni are all easily accessible through a group chat site and any issues I’ve had were responded to promptly. The general atmosphere is incredibly chill and everyone I’ve met with is super laid back. Everything about the program has been a super fun experience so far.

Hi Folks,
I originally posted a response to the guy complaining about the interview process as I enjoyed the initial interview but have to post a two-​starer here as I found the staff very poor communicators about money. I had to ask several times about how to pay, put off work for several months in order to attend, and spent a lot of time fundraising because the staff were unclear about how their payments plans worked.
Feel free to message me for more info but I’ve decided to use One Month Rails and the free tutorials out there until I finish graduate school because the experience with these guys left me unsure about whether or not I would even get a decent education with them. I think they’re a little immature in general and irresponsible financially. A lot of these bootcamps have a «large group awareness training» vibe to them, the enthusiasm behind which I was perhaps blind enough to enjoy, until I realized that they are incapable of providing a product or service in a way that would be helpful to me.
I also had to bring up a lawsuit to get the deposit back — and call and email several times. Not a fun process. They made the ludicrous assertion that they don’t refund deposits because of «all the resources» that they provide before the course starts, or something to that effect, but I still don’t have access to the resources they promised other than a Dropbox file with books I would find for free that arguably aren’t even the best materials on the subjects they suggest students study before the course starts. They also said I was getting access to «people,» but the co-​founder was going to be unable to address my issue for at least three days and the other available people were the folks who didn’t understand how to communicate effectively to begin with.
I had to remind them that I am an adult with a career and a life and that their admissions process was hindering my ability to get on with either. Their response to me was that the «family» there probably wouldn’t be a good fit and that they were «revoking their acceptance» — I had to point out that if that’s how they treat their family, they certainly don’t deserve to call themselves one.
It’s also a pretty bad sign when businesses that can’t be up front about money start calling themselves a family to make up for their lack of professionalism and inability to provide the structure and resources they promise you. Creeptastic, and certainly kinda like getting mugged by a guy who smiles at you afterwards.
Happy searching — best with making the most of your career.
KP

My wife recently applied at this place. We had the worse experience possible. When you apply through their website you get scheduled for an interview. However, we never received any email about the interview. We just guessed that it would be on Skype and it turned out to right. For a place training programmers this is really shocking product design. After the interview we were told that they will let us know in 24 hours. We never received any feedback even after asking several times. This is the most unprofessional place I have come across. Feels like it is a front for cheating people. Stay away!