It’s hard to believe that this is it. Last week marked the end of my twelve week journey through The Iron Yard. I’ve spent the last three weeks heads down working on my final project and feel like I can finally come up for some air.

I’m not very good at coming up with ideas for apps, so when it came time to do just that for our final projects I was worried. What could I possibly do to show off what I’ve learned and be able to pull it off in three weeks? Every idea that I came up with just felt unoriginal. Then when I felt like I had a decent idea our instructor told us that he’d like us to have three ideas to present to the class and then narrow it down to one with their input. Somehow I managed to come up with two more ideas that weren’t quite original but had my own spin on them to make them mine.

The idea that I ended up going with happened to be my first idea for an app that would show yard sales that are near your location. This project would allow me to dig a little deeper into maps, store information remotely, and allow for integration with other devices. Currently the app runs on the iPhone and iPad but I have some ideas for a future release to integrate with the Apple Watch and possibly the Apple TV. I came up with a laundry list of features in the beginning and it started to feel overwhelming, but I pushed through. While I did not get all of the features that I wanted into the first version I got enough to demonstrate all of the base features for our presentation day.

It’s amazing how I went from being nervous and terrified that I wouldn’t be able to complete my final project to doing my happy dance whenever a feature came together. Starting with just an idea and ending up with a working app on your phone is such an awesome feeling. That’s why I love this stuff.

Seeing my own project come to life was awesome but it was just part of it. Watching everybody in my class bring their own ideas to life was just as amazing. I truly had a great class and feel blessed to have been a part of this with them. I learned a lot from them and hope that I was able to give back just as much to help them out. I can’t wait to see where we all end up after this and what amazing things that we will be apart of.

In our last couple of days of class our instructor asked us to write something to our week one self. I have thought about a lot about this and wasn’t really sure what I’d say until now. My best advice that I could give to my week one self would be that it’s gonna be one heck of a ride but that finale is totally worth it. You’re going to get discouraged and frustrated and nothing anybody says can change that. However, when you feel discouraged or frustrated, those are the times to raise your hand because you are not in this alone. Also, the most enjoyment you will get from figuring something out will be during your most frustrating and discouraging moments. Let those moments fuel your curiosity and desire to grow and learn. This is just the beginning.

Now on to the next great adventure.