The Iron Yard

TIY Raleigh pushed me to learn faster than independent study, with more depth of knowledge and with more confidence to approach potential employers. 

I enrolled in mobile engineering at TIY Raleigh and found it worth every penny. Three months after graduation I had accepted a major pay increase from my previous job, was working for an incredible startup, spending my time on projects I actually care about around people I enjoy. I can't thank TIY Raleigh enough for providing the pieces to allow this to happen. 

As others have said - you get out what you put in. If you commit to this do it full-time and with no reservations. Your persistance will pay off.

When I applied to the Iron Yard, I had already been in a web-related job for about eight years. It wasn't really going anywhere, so I figured I was the perfect candidate. I chose the UI Design course to improve my design skills, as I had already built sites with a graphic designer before.

It would be disingenuous to say I got nothing from the course. Learning the design cycle for websites and practicing it repeatedly was an invaluable experience. Unfortunately, the short time frame demanded that we had to produce rushed builds of sites and had little time to review and improve upon them. I greatly respect our instructor, but it was clear that he had more he wanted to cover than he had time to invest.

In retrospect, I should have gone with the concurrent Front End Engineering course. While the UI Design course was taught well, I was already familiar with much of the material. I think learning frameworks like Node and Backbone would have opened up a broader spectrum of jobs to me. The collaborative project between the two classes was an excellent experience that continues to impress those who see it.

I pursued several job opportunities via the Slack channel provided to Iron Yard graduates, but none of them went anywhere. As someone who has never been comfortable selling themselves, I'm not sure if there is anything that the Iron Yard could have done differently that would have helped me. The staff was very supportive, and I can't fault them for a dirth of job openings in my area. 

It's been nearly a year since I completed the Iron Yard, and I am still looking for a position. While I don't consider it a wasted opportunity, I don't think it was worth the cost. At least not for someone with any familiarity with web development.

Before I took a leap of faith with The Iron Yard's immersive twelve week Front-End Engineering course I had spent two years studying at a local community college. My first year I studied web design and I grew to feel this course didn't cover enough development, so I switch over to software programming. This ended up not being what I was looking for either as the further you got in the curriculum the more online the courses got, the more sparingly courses were actually offered, and in all honestly it felt like the instructors cared less as well. 

Now, jumping into my experience with The Iron Yard the tone is completely flipped! You don't need to worry about hit or miss instructors because everyone, not just the instructors, are ready and willing to help whenever you need them. They're willing to spend as much time with you as you need, which you just cannot get anywhere else! I also feel confident and proud to say I learned a lot more during my twelve weeks at The Iron Yard than my two years at college. Working with Front-End languages eight plus hours every day really allows you to engrave the knowledge deep into your core and allow you to not only feel comfortable with the languages, but confident in your abilities as well.

The curriculum comparison between college and The Iron Yard I feel is one of the most important differences. With the community college I went to responsive websites were considered an advanced topic and high-demand frameworks like Angular or React are never covered. At The Iron Yard you start with responsiveness within the first week or two and I personally am leaving feeling confident with both Angular and React. My team and I are actually building our final project using Angular, and I'm building my personal portfolio utilizing React. 

I never reached a point during my time in college where I felt job ready, and here I am two days away from finishing my final week at The Iron Yard and I'm anxious and ready to start applying for jobs. Most importantly I know exactly which jobs I'm a perfect fit for! 

If I could go back and do it all again I would've started with The Iron Yard and never looked back. Ultimately, I'm just happy I ended up finding them!

I highly recommend the backend engineering course at the iron yard for anybody looking to get into backend web development.  I am a graduate of the backend course, and now have a job as a web developer. I can say without a doubt that the course was an amazing investment for myself.  It's incredible how much knowledge I learned from the 3 months at the school, and I amazed myself knowing that I could build applications I never thought I would be able to at the end.

As for the staff there, they are a really amazing group of people and they will make you feel like family.  Gabe shepard is an amazing campus director who genuinely cares about the alumni and wants to make sure that this Iron Yard campus is the best that it can be.  Mike and Jeff are really both amazing guys, who are very experienced developers.  I took a class with Jeff who is the current backend instructor, and he is one of the best teachers I have ever had.  He has extensive experienve as a software engineer, so he has the programming resume to back up what he is teaching.  It is apparent that he has an inate teaching gift to go along with his programming expertise, and those two are the perfect storm for an amazing instructor. I attribute a great deal of my success to him.

If you are reading this, and are interested in joining the school, I would like to make it clear that it would be in your best interest to DO THE PREWORK before you join the class.  That would be my biggest piece of advice, because it will be tough to play catch up the entire time because you did not take the time to learn the basics beforehand.  Other than that, it is expected to be a hard endeavour, but it will be more than worth it.

Background. Before TIY I was a manager at a restaurant working countless hours to pay the bills, as well as trying to balance my school work. I had a passion for technology as well as an interest in programming but no one to guide me in which direction I should take. The only amount of experience I had was what I learned at school and a couple of lessons I did on online sources. 

Before Course. Before I go on, yes the course will be hard but both the director and instructors are very upfront with this and make sure that you are well aware that this course will be a nonstop sprint to the finish. However, the instuctors will send you prework before the class begins and resources to help prepare you for what is to come when the course begins. I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to go over the prework and practice because that will make all the difference when it is time to start.

During the course. At first the course seems to be overwhelming and doubt comes into mind if this is something I could pull off. However, nothing worth the time ever comes easy and with the help of my classmates, as well as the high-energy and spirit the campus has, the course began to be much more bearable. Many of the graduates go into TIY as well and are more than happy to help you when you need it or motivate you to keep pushing. Both the instructors and director are open to talk about anything that may be bothering you whether it is related to TIY or not, which helps you realize that they do care about you and want you to succeed. 

Overall. If you are like myself, working a job that you find yourself not enjoying and want to start a new career, then call TIY. They teach you enough code to help you get an entry-level job and also help teach you to think like a developer which is a skill that is very valuable and hard to achieve. This course is not something you can pass or succeed in if you are not willing to put the time and effort into. The instructors and director will do everything they can to help you but you must be willing to give 110% back as well. TIY has helped me get prepared for a new and exciting career, and even after graduation you are still welcome anytime back at campus. If you are serious about changing your career for the better, give them a call.

Brace yourself for an emotional ride. From feeling disappointment & frustration of not understanding. To excitement and joy from the support of your classmate, and instructor.

I honestly didn't know what to expect and had no prior experience of coding. I was grateful for my classroom peers, who were amazingly helpful. I was part of the 1st cohort and it was also the instructor first class. It was a learning experience for him also. Going back and sitting in at the current cohort and learning from the current instructor, I would say the Iron Yard(Tampa), stepped up their game from a 7 to 9/10. With all that said. IY is a great code school, with awesome staffs and currently amazing instructors. If I could I would do another term there.

It can be so incredibly difficult to summarize my experience as a student at TIY Tampa as every hour was so influential that unless I could download those 12 weeks directly into your brain, there would be no other way to thoroughly and adequately relay just how amazing, valuable, and effective my tenure there had been. I will, however, do my best.

The Instructors: Gavin Stark and Jason Perry
These two make a fantastic team. Their methods of teaching are dynamic enough to appeal to a variety of learning styles. They teach you the WHY of programming, not just how, and guide you to make the conclusions instead of just handing you the answers. Supportive, encouraging, compassionate, they truly care about each student and not only their success but where they're struggling as well. They get so genuinely excited to see you learning and succeeding and that makes the entire experience that much more valuable.

The Campus Director: Toni Warren
Toni... what can I say about Toni except that she is one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. This woman just plain rocks. Her endless toiling for your benefit will never end, even after graduation. If she wasn't pounding down the doors of every tech business in the area she was organizing meet-ups, contacting potential employers to come on campus (warm interviews FTW), setting up meetings to touch base with students, staging outings to visit tech businesses, guiding on portfolio presence, she does it all and she does it well.

The Curriculum: Ruby on Rails
The curriculum is designed to be progressive and each lesson feeds and expounds upon the last while planting seeds for the next. You learn the hard way first, to understand the inner workings, and you don't even realize it's happening. Next thing you know you are understanding advanced JavaScript... and that wasn't even a focus in the course. This course is designed not to make you the worlds gift to software engineering (b/c that'd be ridiculous in 12 weeks), but to get you all the tools to make you successful in the field. It provides all the necessary building blocks to get you hired and teaches you how to continue learning afterward.

My experience:
I spent 14 years in automotive and wanted out. 10 hour days with no breaks, 6 days a week, all to barely make $30k while being disrespected and having your skill disregarded; I am worth more than that. I missed my opportunity for college and at 34 I didn't have the time or money to spend 4+ years trying to get my life back on track. I took some time to research which bootcamp I wanted to attend, brushed up on as many free online coding courses as I could, and finally decided to dive in at TIY Tampa. They sounded like they knew what they were doing and I was inticed by their stance of teaching you to think like a programmer. It was intense, to say the least, and taxing on every level like you wouldn't believe. 12+ hours/day, 7 days/week, for 12 straight weeks, all the while feeling the intensity of the course, and this is what I left automotive to do?! I am more than happy I took the chance. It is money well spent and the value shows itself every day. I went to TIY for Ruby on Rails and now I'm a Java/SQL developer working with an awesome team at a fantastic company and I wouldn't change it for the world.

I would be more than happy to talk more in depth about my experience and help answer any questions/concerns you may have when deciding if this campus is right for you.

Michael Reed 
Software Engineer 
myMatrixx 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-reed-6b524b108 
Portfolio: www.michaelreed.me 
Email: myk27x@yahoo.com

Attending The Iron Yard in Tampa/St Pete was one of the best decisions that I have made in a while. It was a really good experience because I found an exciting new career and made some good friends along the way. The program came through with everything that they promised, and it lived up to most of my expectations. Five weeks after graduating, I was starting my first job as a software developer. 

The campus director and other campus staff are helpful, and they work hard to make sure that the needs of the students are being met. They also provide valuable job assistance. The instructors love to teach, and they are willing to spend extra hours with students who need more help outside of class time. Even after graduation, they make themselves available to alumni who have questions about new things they are learning on the job. 

The Front End Engineering curriculum focuses on JavaScript, which is a good language to know. There is perhaps a little too much time devoted to the React library and not enough devoted to JavaScript fundamentals, but a lot of good hands on programming experience is provided. Advanced CSS topics are also covered towards the end of the course.  

Overall, I would strongly recommend The Iron Yard if you are interested in changing into an exciting new career in Tampa Bay. 

I went through the Ruby on Rails course track at the Tampa/St. Pete location and loved it. There have been some instructor changes and swaps since I went through, but all for the sake of improvement. I was the second cohort to go through and they contionue to improve on the process with each itteration. While the pitch is that they can teach anyone to code, in my opinion this career field is not for everyone. You will likely experienece extreme bouts of frustration and overwhelmness, but eventually it can pay off. You have to be willing to put in A LOT of hardwork! Lecture is from 9-12 and then lab time while the instructor is around until about 5. However I was usually there untill at least 10 at night every day. 12 weeks is not enough time to make you a great programmer and teach you everything. It will give you a solid foundation from which to build your career though. You'll learn as you go there is an endless amount of resources and technology stacks to learn, but the key is to focus a just a few and develop your skills against them before trying to learn everything. Be willing to fail and have a strong desire to be a problem solver. It wasn't until about a year into my job before I finially felt like I belonged in this career and I wasn't just an imposter. Try some tutorials on codeschool, thoughtbot, or other google sources. Also checkout itunes university through the app store. There are a ton of free college computer science course with lecture videos. Just watching some of those and going through tuturials before attending TIY will help a lot. You will most likely have no idea what they are talking about or what you are doing, but it will help get you familiar with terms you'll be hearing. 

This program is not for the faint of heart. It is extremelly challenging, it will keep you up many nights, it will occupy most of your time, and you will basicallly live and breathe code. HOWEVER, it will be the most rewarding and worthwhile experiences you will ever have in your life. 

From the people you meet, from the professors who guide you, and from the amazing director the campus has,  you will undoubtefully have the best support group to push you to become the best you can be in such a demanding situation. This program is unique in that it teaches you to think as a developer by being able to analyze what is in front of you, identify the problem, formulate a solution, and then apply the solution using the language and framework you enrolled for. The advantage of this approach is that it paves a more effective path for you to keep learning new frameworks and languages as you advance your career. 

Before applying, I had never touched a Mac laptop in my life - as in.. I didnt know where to find my documents, much less how to install chrome. I made the leap to attend The Iron Yard after being unhappy with my then-current career path in business. Even after obtaining an MBA, I just couldnt find an area in business I was passionate about. I can say with the most absolute certainty the best career decision I have ever made was taking this leap and trusting the program at TIY.

I recently graduated The Iron Yard's (TIY) Backend Engineering Ruby on Rails course in Tampa (really St Petersburg), FL.  Nothing but good things to say about it.

Gavin Stark is a wonderful instructor who pushes you to succeed, but is still there to help (even late in the day on Slack) because the material is a lot to absorb.  Classes consist of review, introducing new topics, practice, and a project.  Get used to daily hw projects, get used to studying & re-studying notes, but also get used to throwing your hands up & shouting "YES!" because the breakthroughs will come, and you will be learning.  I entered TIY after having self-studied for a couple months.  All I had learned was left in the dust after week 2 (exciting to learn that much)!!

Jason (front-end instructor) was very helpful with design tips & to check out your work, even though his hands were full with a class 3x as large as our backend class.  Toni, the campus director, was extremely helpful setting up connections, presentations from local businesses (who have hired from TIY), and a host of informative meetups - so much so that it didn't feel like there was enough time to do all the hw & attend.  An outstanding team.

When I decided to go to the Iron Yard I knew almost nothing about coding. I had tried to do a few tutorials on my own while I was finishing college and working full time, but that was not working. The Iron Yard claims to be able to teach someone who knows no computer languages how to code. I would say in my case they delivered. 

Of course it was hard. At times I was sure that I wasn't learning enough, and that there was no way I would be employable in my field after completing the program. But I stuck with it, and now I work as a developer, at a company that I like. 

I do think that the curriculum was somewhat softly defined, and this could have used improvement. I think the small class sizes, and instructors who seem to really care and understand what the students are going through helped to compensate for this. Any time I requested some one on one help during lab hours I received it. Sometimes that help was a demo of the solution to the problem I was dealing with, but sometimes it was instruction on how to research and figure it out myself. Ultimately the later often proved more valuable than the former in the "real world". I understand that the curriculum may be more consistent now. 

One word of caution I would issue to anyone looking at a coding boot camp: You are exposed to more information than you can assimilate and this is intentional. It can be discouraging because every day it can feel like you are forgetting more than what you are retaining. That is actually okay. Each day builds off of the next, and the thing you couldn't figure out or remember three weeks ago will suddenly seem not so complicated looking back. It is one thing to hear that and say 'okay, no problem'. It’s another to feel like you are failing daily. I emphasize feel. You won't actually be failing. 

It is not for everyone. Expect to be uncomfortable. I know I was. I also know that I rounded the corner, and even today, when I hit a wall on a problem in my job, I take a minute to acknowledge my frustration, and then I take a minute to remind myself that I know how to figure out problems, and I just haven't figured this one out yet. I think that is one of the most valuable things I learned at the Iron Yard.