Seeking any advice/help from other local Ruby enthusiasts

[Ricky Meyers]

Hello everyone,

I only recently joined Tech Valley Ruby Brigade and while I'm looking forward to attending my first gathering I feel bad posting about seeking assistance. 

I'm posting because I could really use some advice and/or help in looking for employment in the capital area. My ultimate goal is to increase my skills to a point

to where I can earn a junior level Ruby developer position, however I only recently finished up a bootcamp and still feel that I have many gaps in my knowledge and need

to continue training and learning before I'm ready for doing so. That being said I was hoping to find a position within a tech company doing nearly anything so that I'd

at least be able to show off my work ethic and also so that I'd be able to take advantage of the fact that I'd be around developers, could learn from them and 

get advice as to how to continue improving. I'd be more than happy handling mail, data entry or any clerical work, so long as I'd be able to be in such an environment. 

I feel somewhat guilty posting such a self serving request, but I'm extremely anxious to begin to move forward in my career and thought that being blunt and direct

would be the best thing. I know of some tech companies in the area, however like I said I'm fairly new to the area and I'm sure there are far more than I know of.  

That being said I'd be incredibly grateful to any and all help. In fact it's actually kind of hard to express the gratitude I'd feel. Even if things don't work out, just the willingness

of strangers offering help in a new area would mean a lot. And heck, if something were to work out I'd love to do what I can to repay the kindness. My girlfriend says I'm a 

fairly decent cook so perhaps a home cooked meal, haha. Seriously though, anything would mean a lot to me.

Well with all that being said, thanks for hearing me out and I hope to meet some new people at the next gathering. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and hopefully

making new friends in a new area!

Thank you again!,

Ricky

[Jim Cifarelli]

Hi Ricky,

Welcome to the group.  My advice is to get started on something now.  You're done with bootcamp.  Work on a project that scratches an itch of your own in order to keep enthusiasm up and the project moving forward.  There is much to understand in even a basic Rails app (if you choose to really understand it enough to call yourself a professional!).

We don't have a topic for next week's meeting... so maybe the topics that are spinning around your head as a newly minted developer would be a good discussion for all.

-Jim

[Ricky Meyers]

Hi Jim,

Thank you! I recently went to the javascript meetup, but I'm looking forward to the Ruby one since I'll be able to follow along along better (hopefully, haha). I definitely need to keep practicing away on my own, I only recently started up a small project for myself and while any features that would be added aren't all that exciting, I know for me they'd feel like an accomplishment to finish and get working. I sometimes feel like it's difficult to know what's a reasonable step and what could be biting off too much, but I suppose that's all part of the process of learning. Certainly something I'm hoping I hope to get better at.

But that being said I'm super nervous about being in a room with a bunch of developers, but I do feel like it's an important step for becoming more comfortable in such an environment. And everyone that I met at the javascript meetup was as nice as can be so I'm sure it'll be somewhat similar, which really helps. I'd be happy to bring it up though for sure, both as a bit of help for myself and hopefully to encourage discussion for the group as a whole.

I really appreciate the advice,

Ricky