From Novice to Pro in 12 Weeks

Iron Yard Orlando opened last September and quickly has become part of downtown Orlando’s vibrant, growing tech scene.  Last Friday (March 27), the newest batch of coding students from Iron Yard presented their final projects to the public. Each student either had to work in teams or individually to come up with an idea and to engineer the website needed to make that idea a reality. This “Demo Day” was their chance to showcase their final projects to the public, and seven presentations were featured.

During the demonstrations, each student spouted off a laundry list of computer languages that he or she had used while developing their apps to the point of commercial viability. Surprisingly, every one of the students was a novice just 12 weeks before when they enrolled at the Iron Yard.

Demo Day is a chance for Iron Yard students to showcase not only the coding they learned, but also the additional skills they were taught in order to continue to learn, work and ultimately  thrive in the tech industry. Many students talked about teamwork, problem solving, and how to change direction when an initial idea doesn’t work.

Iron Yard’s goal is to prepare its students for careers in the growing tech industry in Orlando and at its 11 other locations nationwide (including St. Petersburg). Friday’s Demo Day featured the second class of students who completed Iron Yard’s course in either front-end web development or back-end web architecture.

The background of the students varied from former teachers, to entrepreneurs — and others just looking for a career change. After Iron Yard, some will get jobs in the tech industry, some will start their own entrepreneurial ventures, and others will freelance with their newly acquired coding skills.

Located in the refurbished Church Street Exchange, this “Code School” is in very good company with other tech companies and startups — all designed to foster growth and entrepreneurship in Orlando’s super-charged tech scene.