Find a real problem. Build the app that solves it.

The opposite, and this cohort is built on that answer. The tools changed, so understanding them matters more, not less. Your child learns to command AI coding tools rather than lean on them, and to tell good output from garbage. Anyone can ask a model for an app. Knowing what to ask for, spotting what came back wrong, and getting it in front of real people is the part that is still scarce, and it is the part we teach.

No. We start from the fundamentals and build up from there. What matters more is that they are willing to talk to strangers about a problem and keep going when the first version does not work.

High schoolers, roughly ages 14 to 18. One group, eight students, no splitting by grade. It suits a student who wants to make something real more than they want another class.

Anywhere in the US. The cohort runs live online, so there is nothing to drive to and no state requirement. Sessions are held on Eastern time, so check that the times work for you: from the West Coast the Tuesday build session starts mid-morning. Families using a Step Up For Students scholarship do need to be in Florida, since that is a Florida program, but nobody else does.

Yes, and that is how we would rather you start. Register for a free live intro session, Tue Sep 8, 1:00pm ET or Sat Sep 12, 11:00am ET. Free 60-minute parent-and-teen introduction, including a 20-minute live app build. Adam walks you through exactly what the ten weeks look like and answers whatever you want to ask. Nothing is due and there is no card to enter. If you would rather ask in writing first, email us instead.

Homeschool, hybrid and flexible-schedule families, mostly. The daytime slot is deliberate rather than left over: it is when the students we built this for are actually free. If the times do not work for your family, tell us anyway, because a second group at another time is decided by who asks for it.

Live online, twice a week. The build session is tuesdays 1:00 to 2:30pm ET, ninety minutes, where new material is taught. The working lab is thursdays 1:00 to 2:00pm ET, sixty minutes, to unblock and ship. Ten weeks, Sep 29 to Dec 10 2026, with thanksgiving week off, ending with Pitch Night.

Software, and only software: a web app, a game, or an AI tool, all running in the browser. Physical products, general services and reselling are all out, and that is not a technicality. The ten weeks are built around shipping code and putting it in front of users, and a business that does not have software at its centre cannot follow that arc. If your child's idea turns out to be one of those, we help them find the software-shaped problem sitting next to it.

A laptop they can use for each session, a webcam, a microphone, and a connection stable enough for video. Headphones help. We send the minimum specs at enrollment and we set up all the software with your family the week before, so session one is spent building, not installing.

Every session is recorded and released to enrolled students, so your child catches up on their own time. There is also a written recap and the textbook chapter for that session. Recordings go to enrolled families only. They are never sold, published, or offered as a product.

Every session runs in a private room that only enrolled students can enter, and nobody is admitted before Adam is already in it, so no student is ever waiting in a room on their own. Cameras stay on for students, so we always know who is present, and Adam is on camera the whole time. Sessions are recorded, students are told at the start of every session that the recording is running, and recordings go only to enrolled families. There is no direct message channel between Adam and your child, and no social channel of any kind. All communication outside the session runs through you, never directly with your child. You are welcome to sit in on any session, every session. At enrollment we collect your emergency contacts and the adults who may speak for your student.

Yes, a printed one, and it is included. We wrote it for this class: twenty chapters, one per session, so a student who misses a week can catch up from the book instead of falling behind. One edition, written for high school. Your child keeps their copy.

The one you choose. By default we publish under a first name and last initial. You can ask for first name only, a display name your child picks, or no name at all. We never attach a photo of your child, their school, their age, or where they live. If you want the project renamed or taken down later, email us and it is done, no reason needed.

Your child does. We only ask permission to show it as an example of student work, and you can withdraw that at any time.

The founding rate is $695 for the full ten weeks, which works out to $27.80 per live hour. It goes to $895 after this cohort. Tuition is due in full once you enroll. Using a Step Up scholarship? You pay the same way, then file for reimbursement. See the scholarship question below.

Yes. unQbd is an approved Step Up For Students service provider, eligible under PEP, FES-UA, FES-EO and FTC.

One thing to know up front, because two different rules get mixed up here. The first is about when money moves: Step Up pays a provider only after instruction has been delivered, so scholarship funds cannot cover an up-front tuition payment. You pay us, then file for reimbursement.

The second is about paperwork, not money: you can submit the reimbursement request as early as four months before the sessions are taught, which covers this cohort end to end. Filing early does not release funds early; it only means the request is already in when the sessions run.

We send you an itemized invoice with the provider details Step Up asks for. Confirm with Step Up that your student's account covers this before you pay. Only Step Up For Students can confirm what an account covers.

Attend the first three sessions. Tell us before session four begins. We issue a full refund. If Step Up For Students reimbursed you, their rules require the refunded amount to go back to your student's scholarship account rather than to you.

Adam Seebeck. A former software-company president who taught software development at the college level, wrote 17 programming books, and founded unQbd. He teaches every session himself.