The Power of Community in Learning Ruby on Rails — Agency of Learning's Role in Shaping Developer Careers
01/25/24 • 37 min
In this episode of Ruby for All, Andrew and Julie welcome special guests, James Garcia, Eric Halverson, and Caleb Mitchell, all part of The Agency of Learning run by Dave Paola. Today, they share their unique journeys into software development, ranging from music to technical support backgrounds, and their involvement in The Agency of Learning. They discuss the value of the Ruby community, the joy of coding in Ruby, and the complexities of keeping up with Rails in a fast-paced tech environment. The conversation also touches on the importance of community in learning and how to get involved in the Ruby ecosystem, wrapping up with practical advice on handling race conditions in coding projects. Press download now to hear more!
[00:00:13] Julie wonders if Andrew launched his feature and he mentions a setback due to architectural challenges. Julie relates to his issues sharing she faced a race condition blocking a release.
[00:01:24] Julie mentions the Ruby for All Book Club and three guests joining them, who are a part of that club, where they are reading, The Well-Grounded Rubyist.
[00:02:02] Eric, Caleb, and James introduce themselves and talk about their backgrounds.
[00:05:36] What is The Agency of Learning? Eric shares his view and experience as an amazing ride, and James describes it as a “finishing school” for new programmers.
[00:09:17] Andrew inquires about the unique challenges faced by Caleb due to his music background. Caleb discusses the time management challenges of balancing music and programming.
[00:11:41] Julie’s interested to understand the guests’ experiences and challenges at The Agency of Learning. Caleb talks about the challenges of working with large, preexisting codebase. James adds to Caleb’s points, discussing the learning experiences with different production apps.
[00:13:50] Andrew asks Julie about her experience working for Ruby for Good projects, and she expresses her enthusiasm for Ruby for Good. Andrew tells us what he did with contributing and praises Ruby for Good and encourages listeners to contribute.
[00:14:43] Eric tells us about his current career position, and he describes a personal existential crisis following an intense project for a Rails conference, which led to a period of burnout and a shift in focus back to Ruby fundamentals.
[00:18:08] Eric shares advice from Cody Norman, a lead at The Agency of Learning, about pursuing what inspires you. Andrew relates to Eric’s return to fundamentals and shares a perspective on learning Rails and Ruby.
[00:19:41] Andrew asks about the hardest part of learning Rails in 2023. James discusses the challenge of keeping up with front-end updates in Rails, specifically Hotwire and Turbo Drive. Caleb talks about the challenge of focusing learning on an era with abundant resources and highlights Launch School and The Odin Project as helpful resources. Eric reflects on the complexity of Rails and strategies learning it.
[00:24:21] Julie asks the guests if they would recommend Rails to others or change their own journey. Caleb states his positive experience with Ruby and Rails, suggesting it as a good starting point. James enjoys Rails and believes it helped him understand programming fundamentals, Eric speaks highly of Ruby and Rails and values the community.
[00:27:15] Julie mentions that Ruby’s appeal kept her in software engineering and would recommend it as a first language. Andrew reflects on advising his brother on programming languages, highlighting the clarity Ruby brought him after learning Java.
[00:29:20] Eric credits Julie for highlighting the importance of community in learning to program and James emphasizes reaching out for help in the Ruby community, praising its supportive nature.
[00:30:53] Andrew asks for advice on how to join the Ruby community. James tells us to connect through Twitter, Discord, and conferences. Caleb recommends reaching out to study or work with others, leading to lasting relationships. Eric started with podcasts, moved to Twitter, then conferences.
[00:34:09] Julie shares two Discord groups for joining the Ruby community: The Ruby Learning Center and the GoRails Discord.
[00:34:24] Find out where you can follow Eric, Caleb, and James online.
[00:35:26] Andrew explains and gives an example of a race condition, since Julie had one at work that was driving her crazy.
Panelists:
Andrew Mason
Julie J.
Guests:
James Garcia
Eric Halverson
Caleb Mitchell
Sponsors:
Links:
In this episode of Ruby for All, Andrew and Julie welcome special guests, James Garcia, Eric Halverson, and Caleb Mitchell, all part of The Agency of Learning run by Dave Paola. Today, they share their unique journeys into software development, ranging from music to technical support backgrounds, and their involvement in The Agency of Learning. They discuss the value of the Ruby community, the joy of coding in Ruby, and the complexities of keeping up with Rails in a fast-paced tech environment. The conversation also touches on the importance of community in learning and how to get involved in the Ruby ecosystem, wrapping up with practical advice on handling race conditions in coding projects. Press download now to hear more!
[00:00:13] Julie wonders if Andrew launched his feature and he mentions a setback due to architectural challenges. Julie relates to his issues sharing she faced a race condition blocking a release.
[00:01:24] Julie mentions the Ruby for All Book Club and three guests joining them, who are a part of that club, where they are reading, The Well-Grounded Rubyist.
[00:02:02] Eric, Caleb, and James introduce themselves and talk about their backgrounds.
[00:05:36] What is The Agency of Learning? Eric shares his view and experience as an amazing ride, and James describes it as a “finishing school” for new programmers.
[00:09:17] Andrew inquires about the unique challenges faced by Caleb due to his music background. Caleb discusses the time management challenges of balancing music and programming.
[00:11:41] Julie’s interested to understand the guests’ experiences and challenges at The Agency of Learning. Caleb talks about the challenges of working with large, preexisting codebase. James adds to Caleb’s points, discussing the learning experiences with different production apps.
[00:13:50] Andrew asks Julie about her experience working for Ruby for Good projects, and she expresses her enthusiasm for Ruby for Good. Andrew tells us what he did with contributing and praises Ruby for Good and encourages listeners to contribute.
[00:14:43] Eric tells us about his current career position, and he describes a personal existential crisis following an intense project for a Rails conference, which led to a period of burnout and a shift in focus back to Ruby fundamentals.
[00:18:08] Eric shares advice from Cody Norman, a lead at The Agency of Learning, about pursuing what inspires you. Andrew relates to Eric’s return to fundamentals and shares a perspective on learning Rails and Ruby.
[00:19:41] Andrew asks about the hardest part of learning Rails in 2023. James discusses the challenge of keeping up with front-end updates in Rails, specifically Hotwire and Turbo Drive. Caleb talks about the challenge of focusing learning on an era with abundant resources and highlights Launch School and The Odin Project as helpful resources. Eric reflects on the complexity of Rails and strategies learning it.
[00:24:21] Julie asks the guests if they would recommend Rails to others or change their own journey. Caleb states his positive experience with Ruby and Rails, suggesting it as a good starting point. James enjoys Rails and believes it helped him understand programming fundamentals, Eric speaks highly of Ruby and Rails and values the community.
[00:27:15] Julie mentions that Ruby’s appeal kept her in software engineering and would recommend it as a first language. Andrew reflects on advising his brother on programming languages, highlighting the clarity Ruby brought him after learning Java.
[00:29:20] Eric credits Julie for highlighting the importance of community in learning to program and James emphasizes reaching out for help in the Ruby community, praising its supportive nature.
[00:30:53] Andrew asks for advice on how to join the Ruby community. James tells us to connect through Twitter, Discord, and conferences. Caleb recommends reaching out to study or work with others, leading to lasting relationships. Eric started with podcasts, moved to Twitter, then conferences.
[00:34:09] Julie shares two Discord groups for joining the Ruby community: The Ruby Learning Center and the GoRails Discord.
[00:34:24] Find out where you can follow Eric, Caleb, and James online.
[00:35:26] Andrew explains and gives an example of a race condition, since Julie had one at work that was driving her crazy.
Panelists:
Andrew Mason
Julie J.
Guests:
James Garcia
Eric Halverson
Caleb Mitchell
Sponsors:
Links:
Previous Episode
Rekindling Ruby — A Journey through Burnout, Books, and Career Aspirations
In this episode of Ruby for All, Andrew and Julie reconnect after a three-week break to share how they spent their vacation and their plans for the new year, as Julie talks about her family’s newest addition, a Whippet named Lucy, and Andrew getting plenty of rest, some rock climbing, and a hot yoga class. Then, they dive into the topic of burnout, sharing their personal experiences and strategies for managing burnout effectively. They discuss looking forward to Ruby 3.3, upcoming conferences, and a collective aim to level up their careers. Join Andrew and Julie as they kick off the new year with optimism and hit download now!
[00:00:17] Andrew and Julie catch up and discuss their Christmas breaks. Julie reveals they have a new family dog and Andrew reveals he would like to get a dog one day.
[00:02:10] Andrew discusses his restful break, hibernating, visiting Virginia, rock climbing, and enjoyed a hot yoga class.
[00:04:50] Over break, Julie started reading the book, “99 Bottles of OOP” by Sandi Metz and catching up on conference talks. She considers redoing her app with Turbo and Rails.
[00:05:56] Andrew started reading “Practical VIM” but he’s ready to switch to Neovim. He’s been reading multiple books, trying to regain his love for reading, and he sets goals to read more and started using book summaries on Blinkist.
[00:07:30] Andrew and Julie reminisce about their childhood reading habits. Julie talks about her struggles with reading comprehension and trying to pick it up again.
[00:10:36] Andrew discusses his experience with speed reading techniques and explains how speed reading doesn’t necessarily impact his ADHD. He discusses extracting key points from books without reading every word.
[00:12:37] Julie feels burned out from work and finds reading “99 Bottles of OOP” refreshing, and she expresses her ongoing burnout and asks Andrew’s thoughts on this.
Andrew shares his personal warning signs of burnout, which includes losing the joy of programming, neglecting health, and feeling stuck and discouraged.
[00:15:06] Julie acknowledges the importance of recognizing burnout signs and relates to the difficulty in identifying them, especially when juggling work and family. Andrew shares the challenge is addressing burnout once it’s recognized, emphasizing the need to focus on self-care and potentially making changes if the job is the cause.
[00:16:11] Andrew suggests restoring sleep, exercise, and diet are crucial first steps to combat burnout, and he shares strategies for improvement, like focusing on sleep and reducing screen time.
[00:17:56] Julie has replaced watching stimulating YouTube videos before bed with reading to cut down on screen time. Andrew set a goal for less screen time in 2024.
[00:20:06] They shift the conversation to Ruby 3.3 and upcoming conferences and which ones they would like to attend.
[00:21:13] Julie inquires if Andrew’s desire to focus on becoming a better engineer is about “leveling up.” Andrew agrees and expresses feeling stuck in his career for the past couple of years and is now ready to advance.
[00:21:41] Julie questions if Andrew has a plan for achieving his career growth. Andrew explains he intends to improve his database skills, particularly Postgres and architecture, dive into security, and learn more about iOS development.
[00:22:10] Some personal goals Andrew wants is to increase his typing speed and become more proficient with the home row typing method.
Panelists:
Andrew Mason
Julie J.
Sponsors:
Links:
Julie J. Website
99 Bottles of OOP by Sandi Metz
High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails by Andrew Atkinson
The Programmer’s Brain by Felienne Hermans
- (00:00) - Intro and Welcome
- (00:17) - Catching up and Christmas breaks
- (02:10) - Andrew's restful break and activities
- (04:50) - Julie's reading and app plans
- (05:56) - Andrew's reading goals
- (07:30) - Childhood reading habits
- (10:36) - And...
Next Episode
New Onboarding Experiences — Julie's Transition to a New Team
In today’s episode, Andrew and Julie dive into the topic of onboarding onto new teams. Julie discusses her latest venture of switching teams, and Andrew sheds light on the innovative “Shape Up” method by Basecamp that’s shaking things up in the project management world, and why he prefers this over Agile. There’s talk of the dreaded technical debt, and how to keep it in check, plus the perks of pair programming and the need for a solid support system at work. Besides tackling these workplace issues, they also touch on the challenge of maintaining personal relationships in a remote working environment, keeping old team ties strong, and why asking questions is key to professional growth. Press download now to hear more!
[00:01:45] Julie gives us an update on the changes at her work, transitioning from a consumer team to a platform team. She mentions that her old team is shifting from two-week sprints to a new process called “Shape Up,” which Andrew explains it as a product/project management philosophy from Basecamp, focusing on a six-week cycle.
[00:03:08] Andrew details the process of shaping a feature, setting boundaries, identifying risks, and then pitching it.
[00:04:25] Julie inquires about the involvement of engineers in the shaping and betting processes, and Andrew describes how it works at Podia, and how they used Flipper.
[00:06:33] Andrew discusses the “cool down” period after a project cycle, which at Podia involves monitoring for bugs and wrapping up the project details rather than no scheduled work.
[00:07:42] The topic of technical debt is addressed, with Andrew acknowledging its inevitability and the importance of staying on top of it through practices like support weeks.
[00:10:54] Andrew expresses preference for the Shape Up process over Agile, appreciating the longer time frames, collaborative problem-solving with designers, and a less stressful experience with more planned projects.
[00:12:14] Julie shares her transition to a new team and the challenges of ramping up, contrasting it with her experience from two years ago and feeling the pressure to not ask basic questions due to her years of experience.
[00:13:53] Julie discusses the pressure she feels to ramp up quickly on her new team, acknowledging its self-imposed. Andrew and Julie talks about the onboarding process, where Julie notes the benefit of scheduled pair programming sessions with teammates as a key part of her learning.
[00:15:44] Andrew shares Podia’s onboarding method, which involves acting like a user of the application to understand its various parts. Julie reflects on the complexity of her new team’s codebase and the challenge of understanding how services interact.
[00:17:51] Andrew suggest creating a service diagram to visualize service interactions, something he found useful in previous jobs. Julie considers the idea and mentions the potential benefits of a detailed visual representation of the service interactions for her understanding.
[00:19:48] Julie and Andrew discuss the social dynamics of joining a new team with established relationships and the extra challenge of doing it so remotely. Andrew shares similar experiences and the importance of being inclusive to new team members.
[00:21:59] Andrew shares how he’s an introvert by nature, and Julie and Andrew both agree on the importance of asking questions and having supportive seniors and leaders who encourage a culture of inquiry.
[00:26:05] Julie talks about maintaining relationships with her old team and the value of keeping professional connections active, even after moving to a new team or company.
Panelists:
Andrew Mason
Julie J.
Sponsors:
Links:
- (00:00) - Intro and Topic Overview
- (01:45) - Julie's Team Transition and Shape Up Method
- (03:08) - Andrew on Shaping a Feature in Shape Up
- (04:25) - Engineer Involvement in Shaping and Betting
- (06:33) - Podia's "Cool Down" Period After Project Cycles
- (07:42) - Addressing Technical Debt
- (10:54) - Preference for Shape Up Over Agile
- (12:14) - Julie's Transition and Ramping Up Challenges
- (13:53) - Onboarding Process and Pair Programming
- (15:44) - Podia's Onboarding Method
- (17:51) - Creating a Service Diagram for Understanding Interactions ...
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