Junior Developer in Formation
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Vincent Bonmalais
May 21, 2012, 4:53:05 AM5/21/12
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Hi,
I'm currently looking for any kind of information or help to succeed in my (crazy) attempt to become a RoR Junior Developer in Australia (FYI, the crazy part will be explained very soon).
Context:
I have 2 years experience in CakePHP / ExtJS, a Master in Computer Science, and a good experience with testing using Rspec/Selenium and deployment using Capistrano. It's just been a few months since I actively try to work my way around Ruby on Rails. Which means I'm reading a lot, and making a lot of test code/projects.
No fancy professional rails app running out there, and no outstanding participation in the open source community yet.
To top it all, I am currently not in Australia... I'm a bit of a free-man-soul-who-can-live-wherever-there-is-food... I happen to have already moved outside of my home country (Reunion Island [France] => Montreal [Canada]) and plan on doing the same once again, which means moving to Australia pretty soon. (so yes, I speak "le" french as a native language)
What I want is:
- Finding a job ;)? I would gladly accept any offer (if any), but this is not the main goal of me making this thread. I am truthfully more interested in finding out what have made you a competent, funny-to-speak-with developer.
- As I heard, there is a mentorship program going on out there. I sure would like to spam all of you with stupid questions, but I would vaguely prefer if somebody would be interested in teaching me first. Who knows? Maybe I have something interesting to teach you too. Need a french native speaker to discuss with or learn the language? Have a problem on a legacy PHP or CakePHP project? Just ask. (island spicy cooking is still on top of the list though).
- Participating in the open source community. I read pull requests and issues on a daily basis on Rails, but happen to not have the skill to propose anything yet. Maybe you need help on a github project, or have a nice starting point where a junior can place his efforts.
- Any plan which makes the difference. I've already looked around and read quite a few tutorials / books on various subjects, which goes from CoffeeScript, Backbone.js, Mobile Programming, Flexible design... To Cucumber, Rspec, Rails Best Practices (Thanks Code School...), etc. So maybe you want to add something here, which will really make the difference, which you hoped you'd knew sooner, an advice or a few words which changed your ruby developer's life.
- Also, making friends would be a great starting point too ! :) (that actually may be the most important point during my trip...)
Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
--
Vincent
Samuel Richardson
May 21, 2012, 5:59:06 AM5/21/12
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It sounds like you're off to a great start.
One thing that really launched my career off was finding a company and asking to be an unpaid intern. I got in there, showed some dedication and interest in what I was doing and they wound up paying me anyway. Point is, showing a genuine interest and willingness to learn will get you far.
At the moment in Melbourne (and I suspect all of Australia) there is a massive shortage in good talent, so come along to the Roro meetups / trampoline meetups and jelly meetups and I'm sure you will find some people in need of developers.
Do you have a portfolio site or Github account? It's always worth passing that around.
Finally, I'm working on a product which is designed to put high quality freelancers in touch with digital agencies and development houses in Melbourne. If you wanted to contact me off list with some details about what you've worked on then I might be able to help out with getting your name around.
Samuel Richardson
www.richardson.co.nz | 0405 472 748
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Tim Uckun
May 21, 2012, 6:34:30 AM5/21/12
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Hey Vincent.
Where are you looking to locate to in Australia? Have you considered
New Zealand? Either way let me know when you have landed. Contact me
offline if you want and I'll try to help you out.
Cheers.
Where are you looking to locate to in Australia? Have you considered
New Zealand? Either way let me know when you have landed. Contact me
offline if you want and I'll try to help you out.
Cheers.
Vincent Bonmalais
May 21, 2012, 8:37:59 AM5/21/12
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Hi Samuel!
On Monday, May 21, 2012 1:59:06 PM UTC+4, Samuel Richardson wrote:
I'm not very proud of my Github account https://github.com/kouno, since the last real cool thing I did on it was an EnumerableBehavior plugin for CakePHP... As I said, I'm not as active in the community as I wish I could be... This is a big weakness of mine that I know, and god knows how hard I'm trying to fix it :).
I also have my CV online at http://cv.bonmalais.com. Well... It was made 2 years ago and it has not been updated since (apart from minor fixes here and there)... I was playing around with CSS3 animations at the time, and the support was very shaky on everything aside from Chrome and Safari. I never had the time to add a useful backend to it. Maybe it will be part of my "Let's do it!" fever when it will get high enough on my priorities list.
(by the way, I know, I look terrible)
Aside from that, I'm focusing my searches on Melbourne. Mainly because I have a contact there and because I saw there was a lot of activities in the Ruby community on this side of Australia.
If you still feel like giving me a hand, I can send you my CV on your email (which I guess is the one on your website: www.richardson.co.nz).
Regards,
Vincent
On Monday, May 21, 2012 1:59:06 PM UTC+4, Samuel Richardson wrote:
It sounds like you're off to a great start.One thing that really launched my career off was finding a company and asking to be an unpaid intern. I got in there, showed some dedication and interest in what I was doing and they wound up paying me anyway. Point is, showing a genuine interest and willingness to learn will get you far.At the moment in Melbourne (and I suspect all of Australia) there is a massive shortage in good talent, so come along to the Roro meetups / trampoline meetups and jelly meetups and I'm sure you will find some people in need of developers.Do you have a portfolio site or Github account? It's always worth passing that around.Finally, I'm working on a product which is designed to put high quality freelancers in touch with digital agencies and development houses in Melbourne. If you wanted to contact me off list with some details about what you've worked on then I might be able to help out with getting your name around.
Samuel Richardson
www.richardson.co.nz | 0405 472 748
On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 6:53 PM, Vincent Bonmalais wrote:
Hi,I'm currently looking for any kind of information or help to succeed in my (crazy) attempt to become a RoR Junior Developer in Australia (FYI, the crazy part will be explained very soon).Context:I have 2 years experience in CakePHP / ExtJS, a Master in Computer Science, and a good experience with testing using Rspec/Selenium and deployment using Capistrano. It's just been a few months since I actively try to work my way around Ruby on Rails. Which means I'm reading a lot, and making a lot of test code/projects.No fancy professional rails app running out there, and no outstanding participation in the open source community yet.To top it all, I am currently not in Australia... I'm a bit of a free-man-soul-who-can-live-wherever-there-is-food... I happen to have already moved outside of my home country (Reunion Island [France] => Montreal [Canada]) and plan on doing the same once again, which means moving to Australia pretty soon. (so yes, I speak "le" french as a native language)What I want is:- Finding a job ;)? I would gladly accept any offer (if any), but this is not the main goal of me making this thread. I am truthfully more interested in finding out what have made you a competent, funny-to-speak-with developer.- As I heard, there is a mentorship program going on out there. I sure would like to spam all of you with stupid questions, but I would vaguely prefer if somebody would be interested in teaching me first. Who knows? Maybe I have something interesting to teach you too. Need a french native speaker to discuss with or learn the language? Have a problem on a legacy PHP or CakePHP project? Just ask. (island spicy cooking is still on top of the list though).- Participating in the open source community. I read pull requests and issues on a daily basis on Rails, but happen to not have the skill to propose anything yet. Maybe you need help on a github project, or have a nice starting point where a junior can place his efforts.- Any plan which makes the difference. I've already looked around and read quite a few tutorials / books on various subjects, which goes from CoffeeScript, Backbone.js, Mobile Programming, Flexible design... To Cucumber, Rspec, Rails Best Practices (Thanks Code School...), etc. So maybe you want to add something here, which will really make the difference, which you hoped you'd knew sooner, an advice or a few words which changed your ruby developer's life.- Also, making friends would be a great starting point too ! :) (that actually may be the most important point during my trip...)Thanks for reading and have a nice day!--Vincent
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Richard McGain
May 21, 2012, 7:05:21 AM5/21/12
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Hi,
I am in the middle of making the opposite move (to Montreal, Canada) and am in a similar situation (I haven't worked professionally in Ruby). What I plan to do (and what I would encourage you to do) is go to meetups, talks, conferences etc. My favourites in Melbourne have been Roro meetups and YOW! nights. It is always worth sticking around afterwards for a chat (and a beer). I'd wager there is a high chance of meeting a future boss or co-worker at these events.
I have been lax up until now with my open source contributions but I plan on recording all those little problems I have with frameworks/libraries/gems as I learn them and, if possible, making it easier for the next developer coming along. I figure this will force me to learn lots of different codebases and that can only be a good thing.
Welcome to Australia, I'm sure you will have a blast.
Richard
I am in the middle of making the opposite move (to Montreal, Canada) and am in a similar situation (I haven't worked professionally in Ruby). What I plan to do (and what I would encourage you to do) is go to meetups, talks, conferences etc. My favourites in Melbourne have been Roro meetups and YOW! nights. It is always worth sticking around afterwards for a chat (and a beer). I'd wager there is a high chance of meeting a future boss or co-worker at these events.
I have been lax up until now with my open source contributions but I plan on recording all those little problems I have with frameworks/libraries/gems as I learn them and, if possible, making it easier for the next developer coming along. I figure this will force me to learn lots of different codebases and that can only be a good thing.
Welcome to Australia, I'm sure you will have a blast.
Richard
Pat Allan
May 21, 2012, 9:47:14 AM5/21/12
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A few things to note:
* come along to the meetings, come along to the Rails Camps (if you're planning to be in Australia in November, make sure you grab a ticket to the Rails Camp happening then when they're released - the upcoming June camp tickets disappeared in a matter of minutes). They're a great way to meet other people coding with Ruby, to learn from them, to share things with them. If there are Code Retreats and other such skill-focused events, they're extremely worthwhile as well. It may also lead to jobs.
* Write code - and if Ruby's the focus, then write Ruby code. Find a little itch that needs fixing, and write code to deal with it (unless it's an actual itch, then perhaps seeing a doctor is better). The more code you write, the more confident you'll be about your code, the easier it gets for contributing to open source projects.
* As you write code, you'll use other peoples' libraries, and thus get a better feeling for the styles of code you like - so read the code of those libraries. I use `bundle open [gem name]` *all* the time - it's often a better source of information for how gems work than their documentation. The more you navigate other peoples' code, the better you will be at doing so, and you'll learn a heap.
* Once you've got some knowledge of Ruby, and you come across things that are worth sharing, do so - especially by giving talks at the meetings. I blame/thank Tim Lucas for prodding me to speak at the very first Rails Camp - which was certainly a nervous experience. I'm far more comfortable these days because I've had a ton of practice - almost every time it gets a little easier.
* If Melbourne's where you're looking, and you have the working situation that allows for it, consider working from Inspire9 in particular (and coworking spaces in general). There's a few experienced and friendly Rubyists there - Ryan Bigg, Ivan Vanderbyl, Nathan Sampimon, Sam Richardson, the Culture Amp crew, myself - who are often happy to answer questions (though granted, I'm away from next week for four months). Also, there's some amazing Ruby teams in Melbourne as well, should you get the opportunity to work with them (Envato and The Conversation both quickly come to mind) - essentially, find smart people and if possible, work with them.
But the first three points I've listed are the key ones, I think: write code, read code, talk to coders.
Also: there's some very smart Rubyists in Montreal as well, so you've no excuses for starting on all three of those right now!
--
Pat
* come along to the meetings, come along to the Rails Camps (if you're planning to be in Australia in November, make sure you grab a ticket to the Rails Camp happening then when they're released - the upcoming June camp tickets disappeared in a matter of minutes). They're a great way to meet other people coding with Ruby, to learn from them, to share things with them. If there are Code Retreats and other such skill-focused events, they're extremely worthwhile as well. It may also lead to jobs.
* Write code - and if Ruby's the focus, then write Ruby code. Find a little itch that needs fixing, and write code to deal with it (unless it's an actual itch, then perhaps seeing a doctor is better). The more code you write, the more confident you'll be about your code, the easier it gets for contributing to open source projects.
* As you write code, you'll use other peoples' libraries, and thus get a better feeling for the styles of code you like - so read the code of those libraries. I use `bundle open [gem name]` *all* the time - it's often a better source of information for how gems work than their documentation. The more you navigate other peoples' code, the better you will be at doing so, and you'll learn a heap.
* Once you've got some knowledge of Ruby, and you come across things that are worth sharing, do so - especially by giving talks at the meetings. I blame/thank Tim Lucas for prodding me to speak at the very first Rails Camp - which was certainly a nervous experience. I'm far more comfortable these days because I've had a ton of practice - almost every time it gets a little easier.
* If Melbourne's where you're looking, and you have the working situation that allows for it, consider working from Inspire9 in particular (and coworking spaces in general). There's a few experienced and friendly Rubyists there - Ryan Bigg, Ivan Vanderbyl, Nathan Sampimon, Sam Richardson, the Culture Amp crew, myself - who are often happy to answer questions (though granted, I'm away from next week for four months). Also, there's some amazing Ruby teams in Melbourne as well, should you get the opportunity to work with them (Envato and The Conversation both quickly come to mind) - essentially, find smart people and if possible, work with them.
But the first three points I've listed are the key ones, I think: write code, read code, talk to coders.
Also: there's some very smart Rubyists in Montreal as well, so you've no excuses for starting on all three of those right now!
--
Pat
Vincent Bonmalais
May 21, 2012, 1:33:07 PM5/21/12
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Hi Pat!
You are on the mentors list, right? I'm sure I saw your name somewhere.
Anyway, thanks for the input! I very much appreciate your point of view as a speaker (among other things). It's always fascinating to know how people started! (even more when they were not so good in the beginning...)
Sadly, I won't be able to go meet up the Montreal Ruby community because I'm not in Montreal anymore. But I will make sure to come over as soon as I set foot in Australia! (and I will certainly look forward to the Rails Camp in November)
@Richard, thanks for the advice! I hope you will do great!
I know you probably already prepared your trip but here some piece of advice (who knows, if it helps you in any way I'll be happy!):
- Bring a french CV in addition to your english one. Some Montrealers don't speak english, prefer to read french, or just appreciate that you try to integrate.
- If you don't already speak french, learn a few words at least. Again, it's appreciated.
- Bring your coat. The biggest one... Yes, the one with fur in it. You never know what temperature you may face up there...
Thanks you all,
--
Vince
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Nicholas Faiz
May 21, 2012, 7:05:48 PM5/21/12
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Hi Vincent,
Another option is to talk to people online and become involved in open source. The freenode #roro (Ruby on Rails Oceania) channel is very good.
Whenever I'm learning something new I tend to follow this route (i.e., locate a community and a coding problem). Picking an open source project that interests you and writing something small then something substantial can help a great deal, if it's the right project the experience and the knowledge of the other devs will rub off on you and point you in the direction.
Cheers,
Nick
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