Launch School Capstone 2022 Salaries (so far)

It’s been some time since our last update on Launch School salaries, and while the official 2022 salaries won’t be published on our official salaries page until August, I thought it pertinent to provide a sneak peek into our current observations of the job market for those transitioning careers, based on the early outcomes from our Capstone program.

Background

Over the years, we’ve been diligently collating and reporting our Capstone program salaries. Our reports are structured based on cohort-years, implying that salary data corresponds to the Capstone graduates of the respective year. Notably, the cohort-year doesn’t always align with the year of the job offer.

To illustrate, the Fall 2022 cohort — abbreviated to cohort 2208 (YYMM) — kick-started their job hunt in January 2023. Yet, we categorize these job offers received in 2023 as part of the 2022 salaries in our Capstone report. This might seem a tad confusing, hence, in this article, I’ve attempted to incorporate “Job Hunt start date” for clarity as I’ve noticed that’s what our audience is generally curious about.

Pre-Downturn Salary: Cohorts 2201 and 2205

The 2201 cohort commenced their job hunt in May 2022 and the 2205 cohort started their job hunt in August 2022. Thanks to our Capstone participants’ knack for quickly securing job offers, most of the folks from these two cohorts evaded the severe impact of the tech downturn in late 2022. Before we move forward, let’s look at the salary numbers from these two cohorts to establish a “pre-downturn” benchmark.

Cohort 2201 US-based Results (n=23)

• Job Hunt started in May, 2022
• Base salary median: $125,000
• Base salary mean: $124,250
• Duration to accepted offer (mean): 8.8 weeks
• Remote: 87%

Cohort 2205 US-based Results (n=21)

• Job hunt started end of August, 2022
• Base salary median: $130,000
• Base salary mean: $129,612
• Duration to accepted offer (mean): 8.9 weeks
• Remote: 86%

These numbers fall in line with historical Launch School Capstone salary trends, so nothing too unusual so far. Impressively, 100% of enrollees from these two cohorts accepted jobs, providing a nice baseline for comparision.

The Downturn: Cohort 2208

The Fall 2022 cohort (or cohort 2208) initiated their job hunt in January 2023, arguably in the midst of the most challenging tech market in two decades. Although we were aware of the need to recalibrate expectations, the extent of this recalibration was a mystery. As predicted, salaries dipped, and job-hunting durations increased, but the resilience of the results in such a dire job market pleasantly surprised me. The 2208 cohort’s average salary stood at $103,559 (US base salaries only), down ~20% from cohort 2205. Meanwhile, the time taken to secure an accepted offer increased by 18% to 10.5 weeks. Since a few participants from this cohort are still job hunting and a few others have temporarily paused their job hunt, the final results will be adjusted accordingly. s

Cohort 2208 US-based Results so far (n=23)

• Job hunt started January, 2023
• Base salary median: $104,000
• Base salary mean: $103,559
• Duration to accepted offer (mean): 10.5 weeks
• Remote: 78%

Since our reporting relies on 180-day job hunt duration, we’re nearing the data cutoff for this cohort. As a result, the finalized 2022 figures will be ready in August.

Happy Days Are Here Again? Cohort 2301

Here’s where the narrative takes an intriguing turn. Cohort 2301, who embarked on their job hunt just under two months ago (end of April 2023), has achieved remarkable outcomes in that short time. Out of 23 participants, 7 have already accepted offers, with an average salary of $131,857. That’s a 27% increase over cohort 2208’s average! Though it’s early days, these figures even exceed the pre-downturn average of cohort 2205. Compared to cohort 2208, which only had one offer exceeding $130k, the average salary for cohort 2301 is above that. Though the sample size here is small, this trend is worth keeping an eye on.

Cohort 2301 US-based Results so far (n=7)

• Job hunt started end of April, 2023
• Base salary median: $135,000
• Base salary mean: $131,857
• Duration to accepted offer (mean): 6.5 weeks (this will obviously go up)
• Remote: 100%

Annual Salary Trends

At Launch School, we’re fortunate to have steadily grown over the years, fostering a culture centered on studiousness and rigor. Consequently, our salary figures over the past years have shown a consistent increase in tandem with enrollment. Despite the downturn, the elevated salaries from cohorts 2201 and 2205 managed to sustain the late 2022 downturn, aligning year 2022 results with previous years. As cohort 2208 is still progressing, this report will receive an update in a couple of months.

Below is a snapshot of the US-based Capstone salaries over the years:

• 2018: 17 graduates, $125,000 median
• 2019: 14 graduates, $115,000 median
• 2020: 24 graduates, $120,000 median
• 2021: 59 graduates, $121,000 median
• 2022 (ongoing; official report in August): 67 graduates (and counting), $122,000 median

See the official Launch School salaries page for historical data.

Update: Canadian + UK Salaries

Due to popular request, I ran the numbers on all Canadian and UK Capstone participants in 2022 so far. We had 13 Capstone participants from Canada and UK:

• Base salary median: $89,440 USD
• Base salary mean: $86,007 USD
• Duration to accepted offer (mean): 8.5 weeks
• Remote: 62%

Note the salary numbers are in USD.