My New Opportunity @TheIronYard

Some of you may know that my two and a half month sabbatical came to an end at the beginning of last week.  I am very excited to announce that I am the campus director for the new The Iron Yard Indianapolis, IN campus.  Before you start worrying that is is going to be an "info-blog" about The Iron Yard, I promise that it won't be...or at least it won't be 100% an info-blog.

For those that aren't familiar with The Iron Yard, it is an immersive coding and developer academy whose aim is to help address the shortage of technology talent and the current broken education system.  By partnering directly with employers within each market, The Iron Yard can drive innovation, develop startup accelerators and co-working spaces in areas that need them most.

OK, so my elevator speech is now over.  So, why was I so passionate about joining this outside-the-box, forward-thinking, edupreneurial organization?  It quite literally represents everything that I have built a passion for throughout my career in the last 10 years:

• The Iron Yard hopes to solve major global talent gaps by partnering with a variety of communities and building long-term relationships within those markets

• The Iron Yard partners directly with community employers to not only hire our graduates, but help evaluate and update curriculum, serve as an advisory board for each local campus, engage with our students as mentors, and provide real-world and real-time feedback as to whether our students are demonstrating the appropriate hard and soft skills

• An immersive experience is one that is much more practical for those going through a career transition, and for those where a four-year traditional experience is not the best fit

• Addressing the labor gap is on the top of every state's agenda in order to attract and retain talent and develop a sense of community.

I truly expect The Iron Yard to have a huge impact not only on #Indianapolis, but the state of Indiana, the U.S. and eventually internationally as well.  The traditional education model is simply not as effective, or affective, as it was 20+ years ago when I went to college.  Here is an opportunity to be on the front end of positive change that can have a tangible impact on the world we live in.  How could I not be excited about something as transformational as this opportunity.  Needless to say, my journey may not have been a direct path, but I am very happy that my path ended at The Iron Yard.