Engineering (.NET)
nine weeksonlinesix to nine hours a weekin Englishfree
You build each one from an empty repository, and the fifth goes on a live address. You walk through each one on a live call - the last with an engineer from Relativity.
People join this academy from one of three places.
01
Courses show you how to write it. Checking whether that is how it is done at work is harder with nobody to ask. Here somebody sits down with you over your code after every project and asks why it is written that way.
02
You have coursework projects, and job ads ask for experience. Here you build five applications against an HTTP contract the tests check, and walk through each one on a call, the way an interview asks you to.
03
On an older .NET, in low-code or in another language, often with nobody who reads your code. Here you build five applications in .NET 8 and explain your decisions to somebody who asks.
Review queue. Two firms share one queue of documents to review, and neither sees the other's.
line 3 of 5 · the project 3 call
What happens when somebody reaches for a batch another person holds?
You learn to decide what an application does when two people want the same thing.
You say what your application does, why you chose it, and what one option you did not choose would have cost.
Each one comes from how legal teams work in Relativity's software. You build it from an empty repo.
nine weeks, one project open at a time
The team sees who is on a case, and adds a person from the same page.
Every time a drive or a phone changes hands, somebody writes down who gave it, who took it and when.
Two firms share one queue of documents to review, and neither sees the other's.
Court filings and hearing dates arrive from an outside service. When it is down, the page says when they last came in.
When a case starts, people are asked to keep their files. The tool shows who has agreed and reminds the rest.
runs on a live address
the same five steps, in this order
step 1 of 5
It opens with one to three readings and an exercise on work we wrote.
step 2 of 5
You hand in the finished work. If you change something after that, you hand in the new version, as many times as you need.
step 3 of 5
The cohort sees your work, and you see theirs.
step 4 of 5
If it needs it, you come back with a new version and say what changed in it and why.
step 5 of 5
Screen shared, at an hour you announce. Somebody who already defended this project takes it, usually a person from your cohort. While nobody has, we take it. On project 5 an engineer from Relativity takes it together with a classmate.
Not yet goes back to the same person for another round, as many times as it takes.
Three questions people ask somebody entering the profession, and what you answer them with.
they askShow me something you built.
Five .NET applications in five repositories on your GitHub, each started from an empty repo. Project 5 runs on a live address you send them.
they askCan you walk me through your code?
You did it five times, screen shared, to somebody who asked questions.
they askHas anyone from the industry seen your work?
An engineer from Relativity ran your project 5 defence, together with a classmate.
A certificate with your name, for five defended projects.
Relativity makes RelativityOne, software that law firms, companies and government agencies use to sort and search the documents of a legal case. People from Relativity are the mentors.
Founded in 2001. The academy programme started in 2020 and has been called Relevate since 2025.
where they are
Headquarters at 231 S. LaSalle, Chicago - 100,000 sq ft.
what they put their name on
built with
Great Place to Work Certified 2025-2026 · Chicago Tribune Top Workplaces 2025 · Diamenty Forbesa 2023 (Poland)
1,500+
people worldwide
~650
of them in Chicagoland
300k+
users of RelativityOne
~40
countries; users include 198 of the Am Law 200
Why Relativity runs this
It came from people at Relativity who showed up. Three and a half minutes on how the programme started and what it is for.
Sean Neilsen · Manager of Talent Pathways programming, Relativity
Plays here - nothing starts on its own.
Dominika Sikorska
mentor
Corey Ward
Senior Software Engineer
Tomasz Cekalo
Travis Boatman
Marcos Farias
What the nine weeks take, and the one thing we ask for.
B2
English, every day.
Every call, every review and every defence is in English. You do not need to be fluent - you will be using it every day, and that is how it gets better.
6-9 h
A week, across nine weeks.
Three evenings, rather than one long weekend a month.
+1 round
When a call ends in 'not yet'.
You hear what to change, you change it, and you show it again to the person who asked for it, as many times as it takes.
one more thing
A bad day costs nobody a place. What we ask for is respect - for the people whose work you read, and for the people reading yours.
one mail per cohort · unsubscribe in every mail
No. You fill in one screen with your name and your email, and you are in the cohort on the same click.
Yes. You need to be 18 or older. Nobody asks for a degree or a CV.
No. Project 1 gives you every command it takes to stand the application up, git included.
Yes. Claude Code is one of the tools the projects name. On the call you walk one request through your code, so it has to be code you can explain.
No. Somebody who has already passed the project takes your call, usually a person from your cohort, and while nobody has, we take it. On project 5 an engineer from Relativity takes it, together with a classmate.
English: the reading, the calls and the reviews. If English is not your first language, you need B2 when you speak.
Yes. A certificate with your name, for five defended projects - not for reaching the end.
Nobody can promise that, and we do not. You leave with five applications on your GitHub, the last one on a live address, and five calls behind you.
No, from the first project to the fifth. There is no paid second stage. You sign no contract, and you can leave at any time. nerds.family runs the academy, and Relativity, a company from Chicago, pays for it because it wants to meet people by their work.
