The journey
Building a Foundation
I chose Launch School because it matches the way I've always learned best: by taking things apart, understanding how they work, and building back up from first principles. This page documents that journey—from my first Ruby program to the Core curriculum and, eventually, Capstone.
Why this way
Depth first, deadlines second
I spent years in infrastructure learning that shortcuts usually cost more later. Launch School rewards the same instinct: rigorous assessments, mastery over memorization, and a curriculum that expects you to understand ideas instead of simply recognizing the answers. The goal isn't just learning a language—it's learning how to think like an engineer.
Prep Work
Getting oriented and setting the groundwork before the graded curriculum begins.
- LS95Orientation
- RB100Programming & Back-end Prep
Core Curriculum
One track, in order — the backend built in Ruby first, then the frontend in JavaScript. You can't move on to the frontend until the backend is complete, and each course is gated by an assessment.
- RB101Programming Foundations with Ruby: Basics
- RB110Programming Foundations with Ruby: Intermediate
- RB120Object Oriented Programming
- RB130Ruby Foundations: More Topics
- LS170Networking Foundations
- RB175Networked Applications
- LS180Database Foundations
- RB185Database Applications
- LS202HTML and CSS
- JS210Fundamentals of JavaScript for Programmers
- LS215Computational Thinking and Problem Solving
- JS225Object Oriented JavaScript
- JS230DOM Manipulation & Browser Events
- JS235Asynchronous JavaScript & APIs
Capstone
An opportunity to work alongside a small engineering team on a production-quality project, applying software engineering principles, system design, and everything learned throughout Core. It's where my background in infrastructure and my growth as a software engineer come together.