Iron Yard Coming To Central Arkansas

The Iron Yard, a coding school with a national reputation, is opening shop in Central Arkansas.

The Ark Challenge, Gravity Ventures and Innovate Arkansas are supporting the Little Rock launch.

The Iron Yard originated in Greenville, South Carolina, and specializes in advanced education in software application development, web design, coding and engineering. They partner with accelerators and co-working spaces to assist with people and their ideas.

In many cities, The Iron Yard helps train entry-level coders and helps them find employment with startups or existing tech companies in the area.

Jordan Carlisle, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programming at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, said local growth in Central Arkansas caught the program’s attention, and he expects its presence to help the state’s startup and existing tech scene to leapfrog its offerings.

“The Iron Yard program is nationally known as a top code school and Little Rock’s startup, small business, and enterprise level companies are thirsty for more technical talent. Although, I think the key piece is their approach to culture, which could inspire a sustainable community of technology builders,” Carlisle tells Talk Business & Politics.

“I found out about it because Austin, Texas launched an Iron Yard and a friend reached out to congratulate us, Little Rock, as being listed as a future site,” Carlisle said. “I really geek out about this stuff, so I contacted them and they confirmed they do have intentions to launch in Little Rock, but they are keeping any further information private for the time being. You can check out their website for further details about the programs in other cities.”

According to the site, potential course offerings include front-end engineering, rails engineering, mobile engineering, and kids classes. For more information, contact [email protected].