Preparing for Lambda School
December 15, 2019
I’m planning on starting Lambda School this coming January.
Lambda School is an online, immersive, software engineering job-training program backed by Y Combinator and GV (formerly Google Ventures) among others. It’s a nine-month, full-time program that centers around fullstack JavaScript development with React, Redux, and Node, in addition to teaching Python, Java, computer science fundamentals, and career development skills.
One of the distinguishing features of Lambda School is that it does not require any upfront payment from students. Most students choose to sign an income share agreement (ISA) in exchange for receiving the training Lambda School provides. Doing things this way aligns the incentives of Lambda School with those of their students, so that Lambda School only succeeds if their students do. Students who do not make at least \$50,000/year in an industry-specific role do not pay anything under the ISA, which removes a significant financial barrier in order for students to access necessary job training.
I’ve been studying data structures and algorithms to prepare myself for the computer science portion of the program, as well as practicing with Node to get better with server-side JavaScript. These resources have been pretty helpful:
- CS Playground
- Grokking Algorithms
- JS Algorithms & Data Structures Masterclass
- The Complete Node.js Developer Course
- VisuAlgo
I’m looking forward to applying the skills I’ve developed — learning by doing full-time with Lambda School’s comprehensive Training Kit and building useful products with a team of fellow students through their Labs program. It’s an exciting opportunity to learn, with a lot of potential for career growth.