Can the Ruby/Rails/Dev community make it any easier to learn?!?!

[Robert Stevenson]

Hey everyone!

I thought of Bradley when I saw this since he was looking for a Rails teacher/mentor a few weeks ago. This weekend, CodeSchool (via Cloudspokes) is going to be FREE for all those who sign up (Space is limited, however). I really encourage you to read Gregg's blog post since he lists out a ton of different courses you can take (Not just Ruby/Rails!). Heck, the rewards for finishing courses are good enough just on their own (1 free PeepCode, 1 free month of "Destroy All Software" screencasts, 1 free month of RailsCasts Pro ... crazy!)

Read about it more in depth here:

http://blog.envylabs.com/2012/05/campaign-to-stop-bad-rails-code/

Then go here!

http://www.codeschool.com/free-weekend

On a related "Learn me some Rails" note, I (re-)purchased Michael Hartl's Rails Tutorial book/screencasts (http://ruby.railstutorial.org/) a week or so ago. I purchased his first version and the screencasts (and book) are second to none. He is _constantly_ updating the material (to the point that you think he's nuts and has to be losing money w/ all the time he puts into it!) and if you're saying to yourself ... "Man, I just bought Diablo 3 in a heartbeat but, that's just way too expensive!" (sarcasm intended) ... Michael gives away his book for free online (http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book). Michael is very generous with coupon codes, so follow him or Rails Tutorial on twitter and watch for them. I can't recommend Michael's book/screencasts highly enough.

Have a great Friday!

-Rob

[Bradley]

Rob-

Hey there!  I want to thank you very much for writing this response and listing all of these resources.  I actually ended up getting Michael Hartl's screencasts and book and have been very pleased and making progress quickly.  So to those of you who are excellent RoR devs, Rob's suggestion of Michael Hartl is one you should share with your friends when they inevitably ask how you learned RoR.

Thanks Again,

Brad

[Paul Baker]

Rob +1 for the CodeSchool heads up. I really enjoyed those courses and I think I'll be signing up for the one month trial. I got through the intro ruby course (forgot the name) and the Rails for Zombies 1 & 2, but definitely need to spend some more time working on my Coffee and SCSS (last part of RFZ2  kicked my butt just a little). 

Brad - Hartl's screencasts are awesome, but the best is just the web book. I bought the set last year, which was my introduction to RoR, and really enjoyed watching the screencasts. However, I found that I was able to chew through the material faster online. Just my two cents. 

That being said, I've been thinking a lot more seriously about shifting my career from BI development to web development, focusing on Ruby on Rails. I've been thinking about it for over a year now, since first working with RoR. The biggest draw is that even when I am at a loss, I love working with Ruby (and Rails), which is something I can't say about writing SQL queries day in and day out. Everything about the community, the fact that the Ruby and Rails are opensource, working on the command line (I run Linux Mint), the speed the framework evolves; all of it just really speaks to me as a technologist. 

The biggest problem that I have right now is that most jobs/ contracts that I see online are looking for senior RoR devs (of course the same is true for just about any dev job these days). Does anyone have any advice on how to "break in" to RoR development with basically no experience? I have a degree in CS and a masters in BI, so I've written code (mostly C#.NET), but my professional experience is focused mostly on MS SQL.

Thanks in advance, 

Paul

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[tela-graphic]

I've checked out most of those resources, they are all great. The Ruby/RoR community seems to be awesome at putting out great resources.

But what about something else than just an online resource.  Sitting down with someone and pacing them through my questions would be the next best learning tool for me.  Would anyone be interested in taking up a tutor role, someone who would teach and answer questions and give some guidance for learning?  I would definitely pay someone who would tutor me in Rails and AJAX.  I'm relatively new to server side programming and to programming in general, so having a tutor would be the next step to help me wrap my head around this stuff.  Maybe meet twice a week?

Thanks,

Nick 

[Ed Jones]

Nick, ask away.

I'm a pretty long drive from Cbus, but willing to try.

ed.j...@gmail.com

[David Fisher]

Here's what they are doing in Boston as the new Ruby project/mentor/learning night, organized by the amazing Dan Choi. 

http://project-night.bostonrb.org/

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