This guide walks you through the application and the Piscine, step by step.
The journey into 42 Vienna begins with a free and simple application, based entirely on your potential and motivation—no prior coding experience or degree required.
After you register, you’ll take two logic-based games online. These are designed to assess how you think—your problem-solving skills and pattern recognition—rather than what you already know.
If you pass the logic games, you’ll be invited to an introduction meeting (online or on campus). In this meeting, 42 Vienna’s team will explain how the program works in detail and give you the opportunity to ask questions.
After registering on our platform, you’ll play two logic-based games designed to test your problem-solving and pattern-recognition skills.
🕒 Duration: ~2 hours
🖥️ Location: Online
🎯 Goal: Show us how you think — not what you know.
You’ll be invited to a 1-hour session with our team — either online or at the campus. We’ll present the 42 Vienna model in detail and answer all your questions.
🕒 Duration: 1 hour (online) or 3 hours (on campus – incl playing the logic games)
📍 Location: Online or on campus in Vienna
If you pass the logic games and attend the intro meeting, you’ll be eligible to join the Piscine: a 4-week immersive bootcamp on campus.
📆 Duration: 4 weeks
📍 Location: Campus in Vienna
The official start of the 42 curriculum, a few weeks after passing the Piscine!
The start date depends on the Piscine you pass: you cannot postpone it.
You don’t have to know how to code to apply to the Piscine. Whatever your starting level is, the idea is to test the candidates’ involvement capacity. Rather than offering a straight computer initiation, the Piscine lets you start the curriculum with intensive training in C, the first language you have to use during the training course. For one month, the Piscine at 42 gives you an opportunity to experience the teaching methods of the school: peer-to-peer learning, group work, peer-evaluation and project pedagogy.
The Piscine isn’t about being the best. It’s about showing curiosity, collaboration, and determination. There’s no ranking, no pressure — just a shared challenge.
We carefully review every candidate’s progress and teamwork. Those who thrive are invited to join the 42 Vienna curriculum and community.
To register for a Piscine, you must first attend the a meeting on-campus or online. Piscine results are sent latest 2 weeks after its completion. It is not possible to request a transfer to another campus at this stage: successfully completing 42 Vienna’s Piscine means being able to join 42 Vienna.
Candidates can try their luck in 2 Piscines maximum, on all 42 and partner campuses combined, throughout their lifetime. There must be a minimum of 300 days between these two Piscines.
JAN Piscine
From 26 Jan 2026 to 20 Feb 2026
MAR Piscine
From 2 Mar 2026 to 27 Mar 2026
If you successfully pass in one of these Piscines, you will join 42 Vienna on
20 Apr 2026
