We kicked off Codesmith in 2015 based on a simple idea: you shouldn't need to go to an elite grad school to be a leader in tech.
To genuinely meet the needs and challenges faced by people and society, those shaping technology—the problem solvers and architects of solutions—must mirror the experience of the communities for which they are creating.
Since inception, we’ve built a community that doesn’t just teach code, but develops leadership with the capacity to overcome adversity, navigate complexity, and transform problems into solutions.
Our residents get ‘under-the-hood’ of code, learning mental models that they apply to every problem. They learn how to distill and communicate technical information while practicing a growth mindset across everything they do.
We are immensely proud of our alums’ impact in the world. Since 2015, over 3000 of our residents have built careers solving problems at the leading edge of technology.
Codesmith grads are recognized for their ability to approach problem-solving with empathy and the ability to zoom out to see the bigger picture.
Serge Vartanov, Principal Software Engineer at Tinder (where they’ve hired “half a dozen” Codesmith grads and mostly in senior roles) says he’s not surprised that “Codesmith grads end up at Meta, Google, Amazon, and Netflix.”
“Those companies deal with high-scale traffic requiring engineers that have that depth of understanding… and teaching that under-the-hood knowledge is the purpose of Codesmith’s curriculum.”
Leaders in the field are those who understand technology is about people. They have lived the users’ experiences and work to solve the problems that improve people’s lives. They are here for the long term and will become more important as tech grows ever more central to our world.
Graduate opportunities are still outsized, because of our unique pedagogy, technology and, above all, the incredible community. While those opportunities are not only graduates’ first roles, their latest first-role outcomes still see grads successfully building exceptional careers (in a more tumultuous 2022-23). The results have been submitted to CIRR for imminent release.
But it’s a new reality to have a tech downturn at all (it’s unprecedented since 2008 and 2001). To ensure that we sustain our community and the impact our alums are having in their careers in the long term we focus in on:
- Our core programs: which will be the Part-Time Remote and Full-Time Remote.
- Upcoming west & east coast programs will be consolidated into one full-time program: which won’t affect any current cohorts (including March 4 WCRI 64 cohort).
- Adding coworking spaces in our main hubs in SF and NYC, and integrating NYC onsite into the main Full-Time Remote programs: applications for onsite have never been at the same level as the remote programs since the pandemic and so we can hopefully get the best of both worlds - a community that's able to convene in-person (as we do with the 50+ alumni in-person events around the world a year) while still reaching people everywhere.
This allows us to focus on those things that make Codesmith special: a classic pedagogy, contemporary and frontier tech, and a curated supportive community. All of which generate outsized opportunity and impact.
There’s more to come on these fronts, but here are some of our latest plans and projects:
Timeless Pedagogy
Our values and pedagogy remain the same - under-the-hood understanding, Socratic learning, and capacities over skills - we will double down on that:
- Residents will work in smaller groups for projects, hack hours, and lectures. This will give exposure to broader ideas and learning within the larger program cohort and with additional postgraduate lectures from academic leadership.
- We’ll also be increasing mentorship, with every resident assigned a ‘Don’ - a mentor to support them throughout their journey.
- Aligned directly to our mission of opening up a career in tech, no matter one’s background, we’ll be adding an additional program in partnership with organizations in NYC.
Frontier Tech
Even if it’s about learning how to problem-solve & communicate (etc) - you may as well learn that with the most high-value and high-impact technology today, which is in a permanent state of iteration. Some of our changes on that front include:
- TypeScript integration: incorporating TypeScript into our curriculum. It’s a light but powerful layer on top of Javascript.
- Integrate Next.js: not because it’s better per se, or replacing React, but because it’s powerful to know the trade-offs between different UI approaches and make smart engineering decisions.
- AI tools & Approaches: integrating AI copilots and testing tools into engineering workflows. This must be done effectively to ensure growth as a problem-solving engineer.
- ML Engineering & Ops: building with LLMs and GPT APIs. Every grad is going to be working with these tools for the next scale of software engineering.
- New curriculum focused on System Design, Data Structures, and Algorithms alongside workshops to further job search strategies.
Curated Community
Our job is to establish the space for our community to emerge, which then grows beyond us. We then grow from it and have a duty to support it. Some ways we’re doing this:
- New alumni joining the faculty: bridging our east and west tracks together allows us to bring back leading alumni in their field. Codesmith alums who are engineers in the field will return to deliver the curriculum, allowing our residents to learn from those on the leading edge of tech.
- New partnerships with coworking spaces in San Francisco and New York: providing space for residents and alumni and the 50+ events we run each year.
- Deepening connections with hiring partners and bringing alumni leaders back as mentors: helping bridge the gap between education and employment.
Reach out to the team at hello@codesmith.io, or to Shanda, Annie, Demi, Eric, Will, or @codesmithteam on CSX Slack.