Homepage and fellowship page on 2026-10-08 say '2026-27 Fellowship Applications Now Open'; deadlines are not listed. source
The Marcy Lab School is a free, one-year, hybrid software engineering fellowship in Brooklyn built as an alternative to college for young adults from low-income backgrounds, with a data analytics track alongside. It suits New Yorkers who can commit to a full-time year without a stipend and want a JavaScript and Node stack plus a strong employer network. Ask admissions for the eligibility rules and the cohort behind the $103,500 median figure before you apply.
The facts
| Category | Returnships and apprenticeships, Software engineering, Data engineering and analytics |
|---|---|
| Website | marcylabschool.org |
| Based | Brooklyn, NY · founded 2019 |
| Format | hybrid |
| Programs | Software Engineering Fellowship (12 months), Data Analytics Fellowship |
| Length | 52 weeks ('12 months long, with classes running from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM'; in-person Tuesday to Thursday at Industry City, virtual Monday and Friday, plus 10 to 20 hours of homework a week.) verified |
| Tuition | $0 'The Marcy Lab School Software Engineering Fellowship is free for all Fellows.' No stipend is mentioned on the site. verified |
| Financing | free Free, philanthropy-funded; a 2022 WorkShift article confirms 'Students pay nothing to attend the school'. No ISA, no stipend stated. |
| Admission | competitive Application open for 2026-27; eligibility criteria (age, degree, income) sit behind collapsed FAQ answers and were not readable in this pass. The school positions itself as an alternative to a four-year college for students from low-income backgrounds. |
| Stack | JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Node.js, SQL, React, DevOps basics, AI-assisted development |
| Hiring partners (claimed) | WW International, Asana, Cockroach Labs, Squarespace, Bloomberg, Spotify, The New York Times, JPMorgan, Salesforce claimed |
Outcomes
Median salary: $103,500 median compensation 60 days post-graduation (mission page); fellowship page states an aim of at least $70,000. reported source
Interview-prep depth
2 / 5
Fellowship page lists Computer Science Foundations, back-end APIs and DevOps basics, and references interview prep via mentorship; no system design module or hour counts.
Job support: structured. Interview prep and mock interviews are referenced within mentorship; employer partners listed on the hire page. No hours 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
The $103,500 median compensation figure appears on the mission page without a cohort year, sample size or response rate; a September 2022 WorkShift article cited a $106K average for a graduating class of 30. The fellowship is a full-time year with no stipend mentioned, so plan for living costs in New York. Founded around 2019 by Reuben Ogbonna and Maya Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio; the founding year is inferred from the 2022 article ('three years' of operation).
Sources (8)
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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