Today marks fifteen days into the front-end engineering program at the Iron Yard for the spring semester. In the fourteen days here I can say for sure that I have learned more in two weeks than I did in an entire year of studying at my university.  It's been trying, to say the least, but it's been worth it.  I love this stuff and it's only getting better as we're starting to swim into the deeper, darker waters of object oriented programming.  

With that said, I don't think that the Iron Yard's program is for everyone.  It's tough. I mean, it's nearly insane. However, I can definitely say that this guerrilla style of run and gun learning definitely has its advantages to the students that are ready to embrace a life of programming.  You just better be sure that this is what you want for yourself before you decide to enroll in this 12 week learning lifestyle. 

The benefits definitely outweigh the exhaustion.  Beyond learning incredible amounts of code in short periods of time, you also quickly build a sense of camaraderie with the other students that are in the trenches taking grenades with you.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of these people continue to play an important role in my life long after the Iron Yard program is over.

But I'm only fifteen days, or 18% through the program.  As far as I can tell, it's still an uphill battle for the next few weeks, but it's undoubtedly a war worth waging in my life.  

I'll keep writing to you from the front lines. 

December crept up on me and caught me by surprise.  In doing so I realized the year had slipped away and there was no hope to catch what I thought I had once had a handle on. Now it's whole other story and a new year all over again.

That's the feeling I always have as each one comes to a close and another one opens.  I meant to write this at the end of December reflecting on this past one, but now it's over two weeks into 2014. 

So what's the most important thing that happened in that block of 365 days? 


I got rid of or gave away most of my possessions because I don't want to own anything that I have no need for anymore. I want to get even better at this frugality of possessions this year.  In May, I eased myself out of a lot of the fat that I had accrued from living in the same house for over four years, but after six months I realized that I hadn't done enough. I still owned objects that I didn't understand. What do I mean? I mean, I couldn't come up with a good reason why I had allowed some of these things to make the first cut. So after another purge of possessions I am down to the minimal, and strangely enough I'm so much happier for it. (Seriously, I find it hard to convey the sense of freedom I gained from losing possessional weight in life). 


Today I'm coming at you from a whole other world all together.  I've temporarily moved to Greenville, South Carolina and will be found here nursing a headache for the next 3 to 4 months as I run through The Iron Yard's Front End Engineering program. It's been a crazy new year as I've moved into a pretty awesome apartment provided by the program.  The coolest and most enlightening part is that by getting rid of all of my shit last year I was able to painlessly pack up all of my stuff and move it in my car to my new digs in one trip, further reinforcing my purge.  I was able to be packed in 20 minutes. Got in my car. Drove away from my old apartment. Gone. No movers. No trailers. No second trips. No headache. Done. 

Minimalism rules.

Anyways, I'm going to dedicate myself to writing through this experience as I go forward over the next few months and I'll let you know how it goes in the more technical side of my life.