How CodeSignal pivoted from tech hiring platform to mobile education powerhouse

CodeSignal’s journey into mobile learning culminates a decade-long vision that took an unexpected detour through the hiring technology space. Sloyan originally founded the company in 2015 with educational ambitions but quickly realized that without skills-based hiring practices, alternative education would fail to gain traction.

“I started the company with that dream and mission: I want to help more humans achieve their true potential, which naturally leads to better education,” Sloyan explained in an interview. “But roughly two years into the company’s history, I realized that without knowing companies would actually care about the skills you build through alternative education — rather than just asking ‘where did you go to college?’ or ‘what did you major in?’ — it wouldn’t work.”

The company spent the next six years building what became the leading technical assessment platform, processing millions of coding evaluations for over 3,000 companies. This hiring-focused period provided CodeSignal with crucial intelligence about which skills employers actually value — data that now informs Cosmo’s curriculum development.

“We know exactly what companies are looking for,” Sloyan said. “Without that, I feel like you’re shooting in the dark when you’re trying to prepare people for what is going to help them get that job, what is going to help them advance their career.”

Why AI tutors could finally solve the personalized learning problem

Cosmo differentiates itself through what CodeSignal calls “practice-first learning,” where users immediately engage with realistic workplace scenarios rather than consuming passive video content. The app’s AI tutor, also named Cosmo, guides learners through conversational exchanges that adapt to individual knowledge levels and learning pace.

The platform addresses what educational psychologists call “Bloom’s two sigma problem” — a 1984 study showing that one-on-one tutoring produces learning outcomes two standard deviations above traditional classroom instruction. For four decades, this remained theoretically interesting but practically impossible to scale.

“We know one-on-one personalization and tutoring really makes a difference in learning, but it can’t be done at scale. How do you get a tutor for every human?” Sloyan said. “In 2023, when I saw early versions of generative AI, I thought: this is the moment. This technology, especially if it keeps getting better, can be uniquely used to help humans learn the way learning was meant to happen.”

The app combines predetermined course content with real-time personalization. Each lesson follows a structured curriculum, but learners can interrupt with questions that prompt immediate AI-generated explanations before returning to the main content thread.

Generative AI skills training takes center stage as workforce scrambles to adapt

Nearly one-third of Cosmo’s launch content focuses on generative AI applications, reflecting what CodeSignal identifies as the most critical skills gap in today’s market. The app offers role-specific AI training paths for sales professionals, marketers, engineers, healthcare workers, and other specialties.

“The biggest emphasis is on generative AI skills, because that’s the biggest career skills gap right now for both students and working adults,” Sloyan explained. “Everything from how to understand and use GenAI, how to think about its limitations, how to be better at prompting, and how to understand the entire landscape.”

This focus addresses a broader workforce transformation driven by AI adoption. While some fear job displacement, Sloyan predicts increased demand for skilled workers who can effectively collaborate with AI systems.

“I don’t believe we’re going to reach a point where humans are no longer needed in the workforce. I think it’s going to be the opposite. We’re going to need more humans, because what an individual human can do in the age of AI is going to be so much bigger than what we could do before,” he said.

Mobile-first learning strategy targets both individual workers and corporate clients

CodeSignal positions Cosmo as fundamentally a consumer application that also serves enterprise customers — a reflection of how workplace learning actually occurs. The company already provides its GenAI Skills Academy to corporate clients, and Cosmo extends this training to mobile devices for on-the-go learning.

“Even though some of the largest educational companies, like Coursera and Udemy, are making the majority of their income, or at least half, from companies, at the end of the day, education is a consumer business,” Sloyan noted. “Who are you educating? You’re not educating a company — you’re educating individuals.”

The app launches free on iOS with premium subscriptions at $24.99 monthly or $149.99 annually, unlocking unlimited practice sessions and faster progression. Android availability follows on August 28.

Enterprise customers who already use CodeSignal’s learning platform will receive Cosmo access as part of their existing subscriptions, creating what the company describes as a “companion relationship” between desktop-based deep learning and mobile-based habit formation.

Cosmo faces crowded EdTech market with unique career-skills focus

Cosmo enters a crowded educational technology market but targets a largely underserved niche: comprehensive career skills training optimized for mobile consumption. While competitors like Codecademy focus on specific technical skills and Duolingo dominates language learning, Cosmo’s breadth across business and technical disciplines marks a more ambitious scope.

Early user feedback suggests strong market demand. Beta testers describe the app as “Duolingo for job skills” and praise its convenience for mobile learning. CodeSignal’s broader learning platform has attracted one million users in less than a year, with usage doubling every two months.

The app’s foundation in hiring intelligence provides a competitive advantage over traditional educational publishers. CodeSignal’s assessment data reveals which skills actually influence hiring decisions, ensuring curriculum relevance in a rapidly evolving job market.

Corporate training industry grapples with low engagement and poor ROI

Cosmo’s launch reflects broader shifts in how organizations approach workforce development. Traditional corporate training often suffers from poor engagement and retention, with utilization rates frequently in single digits despite significant investments.

“The number one problem enterprise learning products have is retention. Organizations buy, deploy, and their utilization is like single digits, and that’s horrible,” Sloyan said. “The way these products should be measured is how many more skilled humans are there in my organization, and how many more of them are skilled in the skills that I care about.”

The mobile-first approach acknowledges how working professionals actually consume educational content — in brief sessions during commutes, breaks, or other downtime rather than dedicated desktop learning blocks.

Skills revolution accelerates as AI transforms every industry

CodeSignal’s expansion into mobile learning comes as the company continues innovating across the skills assessment and development spectrum. Recent product launches include AI-Assisted Coding Assessments that evaluate how candidates collaborate with AI tools, and Interviewer Agents that automate technical interviews.

The company has also expanded its educational partnerships, including a collaboration with Amazon Web Services to provide free generative AI training to over 30,000 students globally through the AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance.

Sloyan frames these initiatives within a broader mission to help workers navigate technological disruption. As AI transforms virtually every industry, the ability to quickly acquire new skills becomes increasingly critical for career resilience.

“We’ve entered an era of accelerating technological change, which will bring a lot of disruption,” he said. “There’s a massive skills transformation needed, and right now, I wish more companies were doing more to help individuals find and grow those skills.”

Cosmo’s success may determine whether mobile-native, AI-powered learning can finally deliver on the long-promised potential of personalized education at scale. For CodeSignal, the launch marks a homecoming of sorts — after spending years teaching companies how to identify skilled workers, the company is now teaching workers how to become skilled in the first place. In an era where artificial intelligence threatens to displace human workers, CodeSignal is betting that the solution lies in using AI to make humans more capable than ever before.