Ruby-007 at Flatiron School is now in the books and what an amazing journey it’s been! For this last Flatiron theme post, I wanted to do a really quick recap of the happenings on week 12 and wrap it up with final thoughts.

Week 12 Happenings

  1. Science Fair - The “Science Fair” is what we, at Flatiron School, refer to as the career fair where all of the graduating students setup shop in a designated area and show off projects they have worked on through the semester. Employers come in, talk to us, we mingle, and hopefully that turns into a coffee meeting, then an interview, then a job. I was super relaxed about it beforehand, but about an hour in, I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of people coming up and talking to me about my Co-Code project. The fair also took place in a large open room so I felt like I was having to yell to communicate with someone 3 feet away from me. All-in-all it was a really great experience and learned a lot by talking to people from the industry.
  2. Graduation - Yes we have graduation at Flatiron! Friday, our last day, we had a half day in which we could invite friends/family to attend our graduation. It mostly involved taking pictures, being merry, a speech by Avi (which was a great speech per typical Avi style), and enjoying our last time being together in the same space. It was definitely a bittersweet moment, but very happy to see everyone get to the finish line as a team. I can’t wait to see where everyone ends up after the job search is over. Perhaps a Ruby-007 reunion?

Final Thoughts

At the beginning of 2015, I quit a well paying job, sold almost all my belongings, and moved to a brand new city; the city. I guess you could say that I went all in on my decision to attend the Flatiron School. I definitely did my due diligence of researching different bootcamps, but still with a lot of fear and uncertainty, I cut a check to start my three month journey.

It’s funny how tough the decision seemed to be at the time, but now I can see a clear sign cluing me in on the principles of the different programs. It’s all in the name! When I see the likes of Dev Bootcamp, AppAcademy, Hack Reactor, and General Assembly, I can tell that their programs are code-centric. That is to say that building apps, learning development, and churning out developers are probably higher on their priority than the student experience, involvement with the tech community, presenting technical topics, etc. But what about Flatiron School? Well, this one isn’t as obvious. In fact, the name gives you no insight to what the hell the school is about. What I do know is that the school is a namesake of the Flatiron Building in New York City. And if you’re willing to name the school after an iconic building that exists in a single city in the entire world, that demonstrates the school’s commitment to the idea of community, whether it be to the New York community through a no-cost fellowship to NYC residents or to the development community by hosting meetups.

Anyways, fast-forward three months to today and I can tell you that the climb is not easy. There’s been anger, frustration, and some tears shed. Of course there’s been way more laughter, camaraderie, and gifs involved. But if it were easy, then every single person would sign up. Through the support of the awesome instructors and fellow students, we all made it through the 12 weeks together. If I could travel back in time, I would give three-month-ago-self a high-five for making one the greatest life-changing decisions. Joining the Flatiron family and NY developer community has been a true blessing and I can’t wait to see what’s in store. Proud to be a //Flatiron Alum!

Until next time, happy coding!