The Iron Yard in Review

It’s a bit surreal knowing that tomorrow will be my last day as an Iron Yard student and soon I’ll be a proud Iron Yard graduate. Tomorrow is demo day and I’m sad that this period of my life is over. I’ve made friends that will last a lifetime, I’ve worked incredibly hard, I’ve learned a lot and I’ve enjoyed every grueling day.

I thought I’d recap my experience here:

Overall Experience: 9/10

Let’s see how Demo Day goes and then we can bump it up 🙂

Community Experience: 8/10

It would be a 10/10, except that I foolishly skipped meetup’s and more community events. 

Teaching/Class Structure/Lab(s): 7.5/10

I’m to blame for the low score here. I let myself get overwhelmed and didn’t ask for help in time and I payed the price. I also didn’t trust/lean on my instructor enough. I was too arrogant for my own good. 

Ratings like that are a silly way to evaluate an experience like The Iron Yard.

Weekly, we do Highs & Low’s in the huddle so maybe a better way to evaluate my time there is to talk High’s, Low’s, Highlights and Takeaway’s.

1. Highs
   1. Rediscovering how to actually learn.
   2. Being okay with being ‘done’ with my final project.
   3. Adam, Jeremy, Ben, Wheatie, Ryan, Alan, Bryce, Tyler, Julie, Luke, Will, Kurt & Josh.
   4. Having a developer friend call me to troubleshoot a project with him.
2. Low’s
   1. 3 a.m. wake-ups
   2. Not asking for help when I really needed it. I knew better and I let my stubbornness win out.
   3. Almost walking away from TIY before Final Projects.
3. Highlight’s
   1. The Ping-Pong Room
   2. Hot Chicken
   3. Iron Pints
   4. Sante Fe Taco Company for dinner on our First Day
4. Takeaway’s
   1. Keep Learning
   2. Stay in Community.
   3. The Iron Yard Experience is not a 12 week event you attend, but a community that you belong to.
   4. Better Ping-Pong skills and a deeper love of Hot Chicken.

Thanks for the Memories, Iron Yard-Nashville. This will not be the end of our time together.

Allons-y!