| Industry | Technology education |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 in Los Angeles, United States |
| Founder |
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Area served | |
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Codesmith is a New York-based technology school specializing in software engineering, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Codesmith was founded by Will Sentance and Alex Zai in 2015. [1] [2] [3]
Codesmith's curriculum was inspired by the Socratic method employed at Oxford University and features both conceptual learning and practice-based methods such as pair programming. [2] [3] [4] Codesmith also offers training in computer science, JavaScript, and mobile development. [5] [6] Codesmith's curriculum also includes React and Node.js coding. [6] Codesmith also offers a Minorities in Tech Mentorship Group for underprivileged groups. [7]
The company was initially based in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa Vista. [2] [5]
In 2016, Codesmith started offering on-site programs in New York and Los Angeles, alongside remote programs for both campuses. [2] [3] [8]
Codesmith's offerings include its part-time and full-time software engineering immersive programs. [9] [10] In addition, Codesmith provides free public resources, including workshops and lectures, which prospective students often use to prepare for the application and technical interview process. [1] [9]
In 2025, Codesmith was the subject of an in-depth investigative article titled "The Story of Codesmith: How a Competitor Crippled a $23.5M Bootcamp By Becoming a Reddit Moderator" [11] by content marketer Lars Lofgren. The piece argues that an individual associated with a rival bootcamp obtained moderator privileges on a key subreddit, and then used that position to influence narratives about Codesmith. According to the article, those Reddit-originating claims were further amplified by Google’s AI-generated summaries and surfaced in responses from large language models. The investigation attracted substantial attention across tech communities and quickly rose to the top of discussion on Hacker News. [12] .
In a separate Hacker News comment, the moderator referenced in the article denied the allegations, arguing instead that Codesmith’s decline was driven by the broader collapse of the coding bootcamp market and Codesmith’s execution issues. He also stated that his company was not a competitor, citing statements he attributed to Codesmith’s CEO, and said he had been transparently commenting on Codesmith for years while engaging in discussions directly with Codesmith during that period. [13]