The Iron Yard

If you're finding it hard to work and learn coding on your own, Iron Yard maybe the right place for you. The more prepared your are for the bootcamp, the better it is for you (so try to learn as much before enrolling). UNLESS you're a good and fast learner, DO NOT waste your time coming to TIY with no previous knowledge of coding imho.  

Although I had previous knowledge of Javascript, the instructors at TIY instilled an overall sense of "thinking like a programmer". It's one thing to know the syntax, its another thing to know how it works under the hood. 

Found a job a month and half after graduating and it's been exciting ever since.

The Iron Yard (Dallas) gave me the tools I need to begin my career. The class was intensive both in the classroom and out. I learned how to code but also learned about what it actually means to be a professional in my field. In addition to homework and classtime, networking is encourage. This networking is something I truely value. TIY understands the importance of networking helps to foster new relationships. If you're looking to transition into the tech industry TIY is the place to start. 

The TIY program was exactly what I was looking for to jump start my new career. It was a difficult course that pushed me to grow quickly with my understanding of programming principles. The instructor Eric Sowell was fantastic. His guidance helped me to learn so much in such a short time. 

I finished the front end class in February, and in 3 months I had an offer for a web developer role. The hard work, and sacrifices were well worth the investment. I'd highly recommend this program to any prospective developers in training. 

I took the Front-End Engineering immersive course (full-time for 12 weeks) at the Charlotte, NC campus which focused on JavaScript, API’s and AngularJS.  I was incredibly impressed by the staff and the program.  I’m glad that I decided to take the course, as it was the first and most influential step in my career change.

TL;DR The instructors were outstanding.  I walked away with a solid understanding of web development that I could not have gotten from an online course.  I also have a new network of friends and fellow coders in my area.

As most students have said, the workload is difficult, and you will only get out of the class what you put in.  I researched the curriculum of several bootcamp options before I signed up.  Other code schools promise that they will make you full-stack in the same amount of time. I am skeptical of those programs, as there is too much ground to cover to come close to full-stack in that time frame, especially for new coders.  The Iron Yard’s curriculum seemed much more realistic and honest.  TIY covers the same core topics as other programs, but has a more linear progression that allows you to delve deeper into central concepts rather than only scraping the surface of many.

Our daily schedule usually consisted of a lecture in the morning and homework in the afternoon, allowing time for one-on-one help or group reviews.  Luke, the front-end instructor at Charlotte, is a great lecturer, and truly knowledgeable in programming.  Between their computer science education and programming experience, both instructors are overqualified to teach code to beginners, but they love it, and can answer your simplest to most in-depth questions.

Finding a job after completing the program was just as much work as the course.  In terms of career support, the staff was very responsive when I reached out to them about job prospects.  The Charlotte campus is one of The Iron Yard’s newest locations, but is quickly building a network of connections in the coding community, and it was helpful to have that available to me.

I dabbled with code a bit before I got into TIY. With family life and all, it was really difficult to make time to devote myself to coding. Also it was frustrating when I encountered difficulties while styduing coding without anyone to turn to for help . At times I dreaded getting back to it out of frustration, but the pleasure I got from solving a little piece of code encouraged me to enhance my skills with the 12 week immersive course. Luckily, I had great support from my family and friends, not to mention my new friends from TIY and its wonderful staff and instructors.  I was able to finish the course while I was well into pregnancy with my 2nd child. I call him a hidden Rubyist. 

It was a challenging 12 weeks, but after struggling on my own for so long before coming to TIY, I couldn't be thankful enough for the extremly devoted instructors who went out of their way to help. I still turn to them even after 3 months after the graduation if I have problems that are difficult to solve!

Just to remind you, 12 weeks does not turn you into a coding wizard (or may be it will) but it will give you a great start and solid standing ground to continue to grow as a coder/ programmer. I really enjoyed every single moment at TIY and if you are serious about coding, you will be in the right hands. Listen to the instructors and the staff. They really have your best interest at heart.

I am writing this while I am working remotely as a Jr Ruby on Rails dev contractor with my 1 month old baby sleeping next to me. 

If you're the type of person who walks into an Apple store expecting to order a bacon cheeseburger - then this isn't for you.  The expectations are set up front, the pre-course work is available ahead of the cohorts, and all of the reviews about the various courses being "a challenge" are spot on. It's  3 months of all-day coding, and the challenges you'll face are no different than those in the workplace so it's a very thorough litmus test for what you'll experience in your day-to-day role afterwards.

That being said, this particular cohort and location was phenomenal. From the school admin to the local developers that frequented the space and evening meetups, it was a fantastic experience overall that I'm reaping the benefits of to this day.  I can't say enough about how helpful the instructors were in making me feel comfortable and at home with what I knew. The sped-up pace of learning can be difficult to manage at times, but the instructors were awesome at being understanding and balancing the space of guiding/allowing me to learn vs. just telling me how to complete a block of code. 

Like anything worth doing, it's challenging but extremely rewarding.. just make sure you love code. 

Pros: 
Friendly atmosphere
Knowledgable and Helpful instructors
Great support group
Beautiful open space
Nice location

Cons: 
Cost (though well worth it)
Tough Job Market (not much they can do about that though)

I had an amazing experience at the Iron Yard of Tampa - St. Pete. I met an incredible medley of diverse people, many of whom I'm still very close with almost 3 months later. I know that some of them will remain lifelong friends. This is in stark contrast to what my thoughts were going into the program; I wanted to make friends but I mainly wanted to learn and code, and didn't want to spend too much time on leisure.

As far as the learning went, I felt very motivated and supported. I think a lot of people come into this program expecting to have someone shoving code down their throat until they can make sense of it, but that's not exactly how it is. It's more like they put a pile of code in front of you, and its more-or-less up to you to figure out how to digest it. The Iron Yard will teach you how to be resourceful, but you still have to use those resources.

After I recieved my certificate I looked for jobs for about a month and a half and, despite getting some promising leads, I chose to accept a position as a Teacher's Assistant at the same campus I studied at and recently I've accepted a promotion to Associate Instructor! The fact that the school is so willing to invest in me, offering me a space and position that allows me to continue growing as a developer & educator, learn new languages, frameworks, techniques etc,  AND be paid for it is a testament to this campus' real passion for creating amazing developers. 

I'm not sure if I just lucked out with an awesome staff, but my experience at the Iron yard was amazing. I learned so much in so little time. By the third month, I had developed the crucial habits of setting up my dev environment, writing and debugging code, and deploying to repos, it just became muscle memory. I no longer get intimidated by new languages, libraries, or frameworks. I've learned the skills it takes to not only create awesome web apps, but to approach challenges in ways that allow me to excel so much faster. I can't say enough good things about my experience. Thank you TIY. 

I attended The Iron Yard in 2014 at the Orlando campus and I cannot say enough about the education that I was provided. We not only covered a large amount of Front End Engineering as the course was titled but also what I believe to be the most important part which was learning how to learn. Learning how to problem solve on more than just a software level and at least for me learning to love being faced with those challenges and finding a way to fix it. That was and still is the excitement for me in software, especially in the realm of javascript, there is always something new coming out claiming to be the best, fastest, most performant on all levels new tool, library, or framework and it keeps you on your toes. The Iron Yard prepared me with the most current(at the time) javascript tools, libraries, and frameworks but also this understanding of never being complacent and always being curious. 

During my time as a student our teaching assistant was a huge help in showing the topics at hat in a slightly different light than the instructor which also gave me a more well rounded understanding the subject matter. The environment that is created amongst the students, teaching assistant, and instructor is very like a team/family and that allows for a lot of growth. Working in a team environment allows for learning from people at varying levels and seeing problems from different angles than you may have thought to look at them in. 

I definitely owe The Iron Yard, my instructor, teaching assistant, and cohortmates(thats not a word, but oh well) a lot of credit for my success in software engineering up to this point in my career and into the future because I have been able to continue to adapt with the ever changing landscape of software through what I learned during my time in class at The Iron Yard Orlando. 

I had a great experience taking the Front End Engineering course at the Indianapolis location. This course dove deep into the world of front end development, to include HTML, CSS, Javascript, and React. We also touched on Node and Express to get some backend experience to help for a more rounded education. I found the instructors to be very knowledgeable and helpful. Their vast experience in the local tech scene helped understand how concepts apply to the real world. Of course, you get what you put into this course. Prep work is extremely important prior to starting along with diving into material further on your own. But For the most part, the coursework will have you working from the time you wake up until bed. Overall I enjoyed my time at the Iron Yard- the overall education and environment was just as I expected.