Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Exercism VS Lambda School

Compare Exercism VS Lambda School and see what are their differences

Exercism logo Exercism

Download and solve practice problems in over 30 different languages.

Lambda School logo Lambda School

A full Computer Science education - free until you get a job
  • Exercism Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-28
  • Lambda School Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-08

Lambda School

$ Details
-
Release Date
2017 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
Austen Allred
Employees
100 - 249

Exercism features and specs

  • Free Access
    Exercism provides free access to a wide range of coding exercises and learning resources, making it accessible to everyone regardless of their financial situation.
  • Mentorship
    Offers personalized mentorship from experienced developers who can provide feedback and guidance on your code submissions.
  • Wide Variety of Languages
    Supports numerous programming languages, which allows users to learn and practice coding in multiple languages.
  • Structured Learning Tracks
    Organizes exercises into structured tracks, guiding learners through progressively challenging problems in a logical order.
  • Community Support
    Has an active community forum where users can discuss problems, share insights, and ask for help.
  • Open Source Contributions
    Encourages contributions to the platform itself, offering an opportunity for users to give back and improve the resources available to others.
  • Focus on Clean Code
    Emphasizes writing clean, well-documented code, which is beneficial for developing best practices.

Possible disadvantages of Exercism

  • Variable Mentorship Quality
    The quality of mentorship can vary, as it depends on the availability and expertise of volunteer mentors.
  • Learning Curve
    There can be a steep learning curve for beginners who may find some exercises too challenging without sufficient initial guidance.
  • Limited Interactivity
    Exercises are primarily text-based without interactive or visual learning aids, which might be less engaging for some users.
  • Dependence on Volunteers
    The platform relies heavily on volunteer mentors, which can lead to delays in getting feedback and may affect the consistency of support.
  • Interface Complexity
    Some users find the interface and workflow somewhat complex and unintuitive, particularly for those new to the platform.
  • No Real-Time Collaboration
    Lacks real-time collaboration features, meaning users cannot code together or get instant feedback.
  • Focus on Individual Learning
    The platform predominantly focuses on individual learning rather than collaborative projects, which can be a downside for those looking to develop team-working skills.

Lambda School features and specs

  • Income Share Agreement
    Lambda School offers an Income Share Agreement (ISA), allowing students to defer tuition payments until they secure a job making at least $50,000 per year. This reduces upfront financial risk for students.
  • Remote Learning
    The program is entirely online, providing flexibility for students to learn from anywhere in the world.
  • Comprehensive Curriculum
    Lambda School offers a comprehensive curriculum that covers a wide range of in-demand tech skills, including web development, data science, and machine learning.
  • Career Services
    The school provides extensive career services, including job placement support, resume reviews, and interview preparation to help students secure employment after graduation.
  • No Upfront Cost
    Students can enroll without any upfront cost, making the program accessible to those who may not have the financial means to pay for a traditional coding boot camp.

Possible disadvantages of Lambda School

  • High Deferred Cost
    Although there are no upfront costs, the total cost of the ISA can be high, potentially up to $30,000, which is more expensive than some other coding boot camps.
  • Intensive Time Commitment
    The program is very intensive and requires full-time dedication, which can be challenging for individuals who need to balance other responsibilities such as work or family.
  • Variable Job Market
    Job placement success can vary significantly. While many students do find jobs, some may struggle, particularly in a competitive job market.
  • Risk of Debt
    If a student does not secure a high-paying job immediately, the deferred tuition can become a financial burden, particularly if the student is unable to make the minimum required salary.
  • Limited Financial Assistance
    Since the program relies heavily on ISAs, there may be limited options for students seeking traditional financial assistance or loans.

Analysis of Exercism

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Exercism is considered good for learning and improving programming skills.

Why this product is good

  • Exercism offers free access to a wide variety of exercises in over 50 different programming languages, catering to both beginners and experienced programmers.
  • The platform provides a unique mentorship model where volunteers review submitted solutions, offering personalized feedback and guidance.
  • The exercises are well-structured, facilitating both practice and mastery of language-specific concepts and problem-solving skills.
  • Exercism encourages learning through doing, promoting an active learning environment which can be more effective compared to passive learning styles.
  • The platform allows for self-paced learning, enabling users to progress at their own speed and revisit topics as needed.

Recommended for

  • Beginner programmers seeking practical coding exercises to reinforce their learning.
  • Intermediate and advanced developers looking to hone their skills or learn new programming languages.
  • Individuals who appreciate personalized feedback and mentorship to improve their coding practices.
  • Students and educators searching for supplementary resources to support coursework or syllabus requirements.
  • Professionals aiming to practice coding interview problems and enhance their problem-solving abilities.

Exercism videos

Learn with Exercism.io

More videos:

  • Review - JavaScript Exercise | Learn JavaScript with Exercism | #0 Setup
  • Review - exercism.io 01 hello-world

Lambda School videos

Lambda School Coding Bootcamp Worth The Money or SCAM

More videos:

  • Review - Lambda School: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
  • Review - Was Lambda School Worth It? His Life has TOTALLY changed | #grindreel #lambdaschool

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Exercism and Lambda School)
Online Learning
93 93%
7% 7
Education
77 77%
23% 23
Online Education
95 95%
5% 5
Online Courses
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Exercism and Lambda School

Exercism Reviews

LeetCode Alternatives: Top platforms for coding practice
What are LeetCode and LeetCode alternatives good for?LeetCode๐Ÿ’กInterested in leveling up your career? Apply to the Formation Fellowship today!ApplyHackerRankCodeSignalAlgoExpertCodewarsGeeksforGeeksEdabitExercismTopCoderShould you use LeetCode for advanced interview prep?Get holistic interview prep with Formation
Source: formation.dev
8 Best LeetCode Alternatives and Similar Platforms
Exercism is the alternative to LeetCode learning platform, with over 4000 activities in up to 52 popular programming languages. It is very different from other comparable programming websites in that it emphasizes solo practice and also mentor-based learning. The greatest part about this software is to have an active developer community that assists novices all around the...
The 10 Most Popular Coding Challenge Websites [Updated for 2021]
Exercism is a coding challenge website that offers 3100+ challenges spanning 52 different programming languages. After picking a language that you'd like to master, you tackle the coding challenges right on your machine (Exercism has their own command line interface that you can download from GitHub).
Top 25 websites for coding challenge and competition [Updated for 2021]
Best qualities: Exercism starts off with language tracks that allow users to choose their preferred languages. Moreover, there are human mentors who will check your code and help you improve as you progress. This makes the platform perfect for total beginners who want to deepen their understanding of a new programming language.

Lambda School Reviews

We have no reviews of Lambda School yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Exercism seems to be a lot more popular than Lambda School. While we know about 318 links to Exercism, we've tracked only 19 mentions of Lambda School. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Exercism mentions (318)

  • AI made me lazy. I didnโ€™t notice until it was too late.
    Exercism.org structured deliberate practice, no AI required. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Free Python Resources
    Providing free coding exercises and mentorship, Exercism helps developers practice and improve their programming skills step by step. Their Python Track offers a series of exercises that guide learners from beginner to more advanced levels. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Collaboration Circles for Developers (2026)
    Exercism is a code practice + mentoring platform in 74 languages. Why it can work: although it is not exclusively focused on groups of five, its mentoring and peer review model allows forming mini-circles where participants give each other mutual feedback. Limitation: it is not originally intended as a "venting circle" (My favorite), but more technical-practical. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Cracking Blackjack with Go: A Step-by-Step Guide to Your First Move
    Keep practicing, keep coding, and most importantlyโ€”have fun with it! If you enjoyed this exercise, explore more challenges on exercism to continue building your Go skills. As always, you can find the complete code in my GitHub repo: https://github.com/RubenOAlvarado/algorithms. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Ask HN: What book should my CS1 students read?
    (concepts/topics) : The New Turing Omnibus, 66 Excursions in Computer Science[1] Code Complete [2] Debugging The 9 Indispensable Rules of Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems [3] Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software [4] -- backround stories on how 'computer' things came to be -------- [1] : https://www.amazon.com/New-Turing-Omnibus-Sixty-Six-Excursions/dp/0805071660... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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Lambda School mentions (19)

  • Switching careers
    Https://lambdaschool.com/ - a remote-first bootcamp that has a unique way of paying. No upfront cost, but they take a % of your salary when you get a job for the first two years until you pay their full cost. Worth reading up on some of the criticism of them before signing up, though. Source: over 4 years ago
  • LF a Certification Program
    Https://lambdaschool.com/ (these guys offer a free intro, might be good to test out and see if their style is to your liking.). Source: over 4 years ago
  • Advice for a nurse that wants to become a programmer
    While you don't need a boot camp, I highly recommend Lambda School (https://lambdaschool.com). They charge nothing upfront and you only pay them back (17% up to $30k) when you get a high paying job. They have great partnerships with employers and help place students so that's the biggest reason I recommend them. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Been really poor, homeless, now Iโ€™m in college and have managed to save up 3000. I want to turn this money into more money. What would you do?
    Have you considered https://lambdaschool.com/? You don't pay for tuition upfront, and they place you with a paid internship after, and if you get a job you start paying a small part of your salary to them for two years. Source: almost 5 years ago
  • Late 20โ€™s, no education, some savings, should I work full time and save a bit more or start school?
    Would you consider going through a school with an Income Share Agreement where you pay no tuition up front but pay it as part of your well paying job later? Eg https://lambdaschool.com. Source: almost 5 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Exercism and Lambda School, you can also consider the following products

Codecademy - Learn the technical skills you need for the job you want. As leaders in online education and learning to code, weโ€™ve taught over 45 million people using a tested curriculum and an interactive learning environment.

TripleTen - TripleTen: online part-time coding bootcamps.

edX - Best Courses. Top Institutions. Learn anytime, anywhere.

Hack Club - Free and open source high school coding clubs ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿ’ฅ

Treehouse - Treehouse is an award-winning online platform that teaches people how to code.

Holberton School - High-quality software engineering education for the many