Those that know me, know what a life-changing year 2014 was for me. I quit my job, moved to a studio apartment in Gulfport, FL (with my 24-year-old cat) in order to attend The Iron Yard, a 12-week immersive coding boot camp. This was not a decision that was made lightly, it was, in fact, a decision that was born of over a year’s worth of research into schools, locations and what languages I wanted to learn.
Let me be clear, these web development boot camps are no joke. A lot of information is crammed into your brain in a very short amount of time. It’s the weirdest time warp, it’s “only” 12 weeks, but in some ways it seems like it was a year. You spend so much time with fellow students and teachers, you feel like you’ve known them forever. Everybody is pushed out of their comfort zone. You’ll spend anywhere from 70-100 hours a week on class lectures, homework, and projects. That doesn’t even count the fact that you’re dreaming in code and thinking about it all the time. I’m so proud to have made it through and equally amazed at how much I learned.
So here we are at the beginning of a new year and I’m armed with new skills and an insatiable desire to learn even more. I’m a new person, I think differently, I do thinks differently. I know for a fact that I can do anything I set out to accomplish. Martial arts had already taught me this on many levels, and this challenge took me even further. Everything feels new and I’m open and eager to take on new opportunities. I feel light and surprisingly stress-free (this is the post-graduation me talking) and I want to take advantage of all of these things. What better time than the start of a new year, a 365-day clean slate.
One thing that was really stressed at The Iron Yard was blogging. I’ve had a blog for years, but either didn’t feel I had important things to say or that I didn’t have time. I hope to change that this year. I can’t promise that I’ll blog every day or even every week. but I definitely want to create time to do this and expand my topics so that I always have something to write about. If nothing else, it’s a record of my life and everything currently in it, which might lead someone else to step out of their comfort zone or do something challenging or different.
So I hope you will come with me on this journey to do all things new.
kill it. this is your year.