About last week

it’s jennilyn
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

There was a man in our lab area I’d never seen before. Must be a guest speaker from a local company, or perhaps someone just curious about @TheIronYard.

We were clustered in the lab joking around, talking about our evenings, and admiring the React students’ video game projects when Faith, our campus director, announced a group pow-wow with both cohorts. Yeah, this guy must be here to talk with us about working in the development industry. But something was off.

Once we all settled down, Faith, with a catch in her voice, announced The Iron Yard’s decision to stop business operations effective in November. That man was the CEO and he was here to answer questions around the announcement. We were shocked, angry, confused, sad, betrayed.

A slide from Day One

That choked-up feeling came over me after the meeting as I hugged Faith and realized this is our family and this is our home. This slide from our Day One orientation came back to mind and it just broke my heart. (Thank God an angel from the corporate office made cupcakes so we could all have an #EatYourFeelings moment while decompressing.)

You may have seen some disparaging things about TIY and bootcamp programs in general online. (Surprise, surprise, there’s negativity on the internet.😏)

But that’s not been my experience. Never have I been part of something so weird and special. Our instructors are some of the most patient people I’ve met. They make me excited about programming even when it’s not exciting in the moment. Our support staff would literally climb walls for you if it meant success over failure. And my fellow students are some of the most driven folks you’ll find.

While The Ending Of It All is sad, I am thankful to be here. To be here now, in the second-to-last Greenville cohort. And I know this brand is not our family — the people are.

There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.— C.S. Lewis

With love to all my fellow Iron Yarders 🖤
~Jennilyn

it’s jennilyn

Written by

Proud to be a #WomanInTech. Software developer, lifelong learner, runner, reader, cake-eater. Live bravely.

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