Man! i never know where to begin with these blog post… its so hard to write when I have a million thoughts in mi brain that all want to be ejected onto this one post alone. I apologize if at any time it gets hard to follow.

It is so hard when someone asks me “What is The Iron Yard?”. I could give the simple, easy answer… its a code school. But even that would generate blank stares from some. But really, what I want to say is this:

“It is a place that tests every ounce of will you have, it is a place that you don’t enter into unless you have the dedication and the drive and the passion. It is something that is not for the weak at heart. It is a place that completely destroys your current way of thinking and replaces it with an entirely different mindset. It is a place that teaches you the syntax, teaches you to think like an engineer and teaches you how to persevere among many other things.”

This place is freaking awesome! We come into it as person A and we leave as person B. It is not just somewhere that produces software engineers or coders or front end engineering guys/gals, or ruby developers, or iOS developers. But a place that produces awesome people. I will be a completely different person when I leave here. A different person for the better. It is not just teaching me to be a developer/programmer/engineer but to be a better person. I will approach life in such a different manner then I did when I walked through those doors on the first day. It is brilliant! My way of thinking has completely changed and we are still 2 months from graduation. I understand what it means to have drive, to do everything I can to find answers on my own (not that I don’t have badass instructors to show me those answers, but hey, you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach him to fish and feed him for life).

It may sound incredibly strange but I seriously feel privileged to be able to attend a school like this, to be taught/mentored by the people I currently am, and to form the relationships that I currently am. I have said it in past posts but I am part of a group of some incredibly intelligent and cool people. I’m lucky. I wrote a rails app this week that is essentially a giant rolodex for all Iron Yard students (so cleverly(sarcasm) dubbed “The Iron Book”). Because I really want to keep in touch and follow each and every one of my fellow schoolmates after we all leave here, cause I expect that they will all do crazy awesome things that will do better for the world.

Also, did I mention how pumped I am every day to wake up and get to class. It is such an incredible feeling loving the challenges you’re faced with, being stoked to wake up early to do something you love, and to do it along side people that are generally fucking good/cool/awesome/smart/creative individuals. I chose this life, I chose to give up everything to do this, to risk so many things (just like many many of my fellow schoolmates did). But you know what, you got to be willing to risk it all if you plan on making it anywhere worth while in life. I wouldn’t trade any of these challenges or hard times, or complicated/mind boggling classes for anything. This is the Iron Yard!!!!

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”