I Took a Field Trip Today

Today we had a field trip at The Iron Yard. It has been many, many years since I have been on a field trip, so I was looking forward to it.

As part of our program, we are taken to a real live company that uses the software that were are learning (ruby, ruby on rails, git, html, css, etc…). And the one that we saw was Poetic Systems. This company seemed awesome and helped me understand how the homework and labs are adding up to real life stuff that I will be a part of.

Today was a beautiful perfect day for a game changing life event. At least that is what it is for me. Seeing a whole picture helps me put each piece in perspective, and motivates me to keep working, even though it has been hard. And…I love the founder! This guy is awesome, I can listen to him tell stories all day.

I like that there are smart people working together in a space where you are encouraged to collaborate.

You would think that this would be the case at most corporations, but unfortunately, this has not been my experience. And one of the main reasons why I decided to go down this path of becoming a developer was cause I wanted to be able to solve problems, and not just talk about ways to solve problems. That is what a day full of meetings is, people talking about solving a problem, and then scheduling a meeting to follow up with that. That was my former life. And I knew better than that, so I wanted to make a change.

I so enjoyed being in a place where people are open to talking to you, that is so valuable. Plus, I loved the environment that they set up. It was functional, without all the clutter, and the motivational posters of teamwork on the wall. It felt like a place where people are actually doing the things that they write on a mission statement. I was grateful for the experience cause it showed me how much there is to learn, but I think more importantly, what kind of change I can effect in the world if I contribute something of value.

It would be cool to work there in the future, and learn from the others on the team. And even though I don’t have a “job” lined up for when I finish this program, I am not really all that worried about that. I am more interested in learning how to contribute something valuable to a team–and our field trip today helped fill in some of those pieces for me.

I have learned enough from my former life to know that it is more important to glean the lessons from experience, than to focus on an outcome. What I saw today was a version of how to be what I want to be, and to be great at it. That will stay with me, no matter what happens after the next 8 weeks.

Can you believe I only have 8 weeks left?

I feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to work on everything and be ready for tomorrow. But I am happier here learning and growing, than I have been in a long time. Plus, I get field trips…how cool is that?