An arduous and rewarding journey. Robert’s blog
Robert is currently a Back-End Engineering student in our Ruby on Rails course on the Tampa Bay campus and has been chronicling his experience on his blog.
We love his quick, journal-like entries that capture snapshots of what a ‘week in the life’ looks like for him and how he reflects on what he has learned. Read more of his thoughts below, in his own words.
The Iron Yard’s tagline is “Life‘s too short for the wrong career” rings true for many of us embarking on this arduous and rewarding journey that is the Front end/Back end engineering twelve week coding bootcamp.
Only in week three at the Tampa Bay campus and is truly remarkable how much material has been covered and the layers of foundation that we are already building upon. The front end cohort has built a fully functional game on a webpage and backend cohort is already reading and writing to and from a database.
The need for practice and iterating over the class lectures has been become obvious and paramount. The sense that my work isn’t quality yet is omnipresent and at times depressing; however we are truly blessed with terrific staff. The backend Ruby on Rails cohort has not just an instructor with extensive industry experience and expert level subject matter knowledge, but also with one that truly cares. Gavin Stark is truly amazing. He is tough, fair and his expectations are high, but always balanced with the patience of Job, a willingness to listen and to thoroughly explain. His work ethic and encouragement to please ask questions has kept most of us above water, still in the deep end, but floating and breathing. He has made a few ‘Aha’ moments possible and hopefully many more will follow.
Our small class is bonding in surprising and inspiring ways. It is true that misery loves company, but surprisingly also does joy. The Iron Yard’s alumni and staff often speak of the rollercoaster, the emotional highs and the lows that are inherent in the pressure full environment that pushes most of us to our limits. What is not often relayed is that this environment flushes out some of the best traits we can hope for in others including empathy, collaboration, camaraderie and friendship. Most importantly, The Iron Yard’s system of marrying a high pressure environment to top notch supporting staff and huge amounts of material works, how at times remains a mystery, but undoubtedly it does.
Follow along with Robert’s journey here.
