On 2026-10-08 the page reads 'No longer accepting applications for the April 2026 cohort. Please check back in mid 2026 for hiring information for the next cohort'; no new window had been posted. source
REACH hires a small cohort of non-traditional candidates as full-time, salaried LinkedIn engineers and brings them to a standard engineer level over one to five years. It suits people who already ship code (bootcamp, self-taught, associate degree) and can clear a take-home plus two interviews. Check the page for the next application window; the April 2026 cohort closed and nothing newer was posted at the time of this check.
The facts
| Category | Returnships and apprenticeships, Software engineering, AI and machine learning |
|---|---|
| Website | careers.linkedin.com/reach |
| Based | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Programs | AI/Machine Learning Engineer, Backend Engineer, Other roles by cohort (Data Science, Technical Program Manager, Cyber Security) |
| Length | 52 weeks ('Minimum one year, maximum five years'; length depends on individual performance and skill development.) verified |
| Tuition | $0 Apprentices are full-time LinkedIn employees with health/medical benefits, 20% time for self-development and educational reimbursement. Salary not published. verified |
| Financing | free, employer Paid full-time employment from day one; compensation packages 'offered' but amounts not disclosed. Must be authorized to work in the US without visa sponsorship. |
| Admission | competitive Essay application (1 to 2 months of review), take-home project, two virtual interviews (technical and soft skills), then offer; 3 to 4 months end to end. About 10 to 15 apprentices per cycle. Built for career changers, bootcamp graduates, self-taught developers and people without degrees. |
| Hiring partners (claimed) | LinkedIn claimed |
Outcomes
This program does not publish job-placement or salary outcomes. Treat any number you hear from admissions as unverifiable.
Interview-prep depth
The syllabus is not public in enough detail to score. Apprentices are already employed; support is mentorship, 20% self-development time and education reimbursement. Conversion rate to standard engineer roles is not published.
Job support: light. Apprentices are already employed; support is mentorship, 20% self-development time and education reimbursement. Conversion rate to standard engineer roles is not published.
Whatever the program covers, the interview itself is free to prepare for here: coding patterns, system design, practice prompts, company guides.
What a careful reader should know
Cohorts are small (10 to 15 people) and the roles offered change each cycle, so the track you want may not exist in a given year. The one-to-five-year length means promotion to a standard engineer title is not on a fixed timeline. Work location (hybrid or on-site) is not stated on the page.
Sources (1)
This directory takes no lead fees or placement payments from any program. Where a program runs an affiliate scheme we say so on its page and mark the link. Facts carry a badge: verified means we read it on a primary source on the date shown, reported means a third party said it, unknown means nobody we trust has published it.
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