Reinventing Yourself

(Re)Inventing Yourself

Michael DenomyBoston RubyNovember 12, 2013@mdenomy

Wednesday, November 13, 13


Michael DenomyBoston RubyNovember 12, 2013@mdenomy

Continuously


What Is This Talk About, Anyway?

• Based on my experiences as:- Developer- Manager- Director

• I needed to be writing software

• Change is hard- Dealing with fear, uncertainty, & doubt


How Did I Get Here?• Ten years ago....

• I was feeling pretty good- Senior developer- OOD- Learning new languages


How Did I Get Here?• Ten years ago....

• I was feeling pretty good- Senior developer- OOD- Learning new languages

• Truth was, I had a lot to learn


Water-Fail


Failure Can Be Good• Kicked off a long and still ongoing

learning journey

• Immersion into Agile and XP- Pairing, TDD, Continuous Integration- Incremental Requirements and Design- Led to more successful projects

• Got Out In The Community- Gave my first public talk- Introduction to TDD at Nashua Scrum Club


How Does This Get Me To Ruby?• Growing dissatisfied in .NET world- No love for XP/Agile

• Listening to podcasts, reading blogs- .NET developers defecting to Ruby...- What was that all about?

•Moving away from code and into management


Why Were People Moving To Ruby?

• Focus on Quality and Testing

• Good use of Design Patterns

• Rich, Open Source Community

•Well-suited to Agile and XP


Why Were People Moving To Ruby?

• Focus on Quality and Testing

• Good use of Design Patterns

• Rich, Open Source Community

•Well-suited to Agile and XP

These all sang to me, I had to be part of this


What About You?

•What brings you to Ruby?


Decided To Learn Ruby “In Anger”

• Declared a Season of Ruby- http://mdenomy.wordpress.com/category/season-of-ruby/

• 3 months intensive study- ~12 hours/week on top of my real job- Treated like an agile project- Ruby Koans- Michael Hartl Tutorial- Pickaxe Book- Ruby Rogues- Courses at thoughtbot


http://mdenomy.wordpress.com/category/season-of-ruby/

http://mdenomy.wordpress.com/category/season-of-ruby/

It’s Good To Have a Support System


Left My Cushy Job• OK, it wasn’t all that cushy, but I

had to give this a try

• Scared S**tless- Leaving a space I was established and

successful in for an uncertain future- Did I still have my developer chops- Would my “experience” work against me

• Got lucky in finding a company that saw my full body of work- Agile background helped pave the way


Getting Started in Boston Ruby

•What’s the big deal, can’t you just show up?

• Had no idea what to expect

• Had no contacts in the Ruby world

• Had some catching up to do!


Gaining a Toe Hold - Community

• Get involved- I volunteered to run Google Hangouts

• Improve the community- What would make Boston Ruby better?

• Grow your network- Meet people- Ask questions- Build relationships...


Gaining a Toe Hold - Community• Building Relationships


Gaining a Toe Hold - Open Source

•Where To Start???

• Ruby Documentation Project- http://documenting-ruby.org/- Zach Scott’s “Contributing To Ruby”

presentation at Boston Ruby got me started

•Where can you start?- Talk to fellow rubyists about projects they

know or maintain- The Boston Ruby website


http://documenting-ruby.org/

http://documenting-ruby.org/

Gaining a Toe Hold - Speaking

• Speak at a meetup or project night- Get your name out there- Become an expert- Tame your fear- Use your fear

• Project Night workshops- Getting Started With Rails Testing- Debugging With Pry


Gaining a Toe Hold - SpeakingFirst time speakers in 2013*

Kevin Incorvia Myke CameronJohnny BoursiquotAlex JarvisAlex WheelerBob GilmoreMike MunroPeter Degen-PortynoyKen MazaikaChris Lee

Matt DaubertLuke BergenDave JachimiakOctavian NeamtuThijs de VriesLiana LeahyRob ParkQuinn LeeMatt MongeauDaniel GrippiMichael Denomy

*Apologies if I missed anyoneWednesday, November 13, 13


•What could you possibly have to talk about

http://thisisindexed.com/2012/05/two-annoying-problems/





•What could you possibly have to talk about

http://thisisindexed.com/2012/05/two-annoying-problems/• Beginners- Gems you’ve used, or your “breakable toy”

• Intermediate and Advanced- Something from a project you’ve worked on


Will This Really Work For You?


Will This Really Work For You?• No guarantees

• Skill-set, network, past experience, and luck all come in to play

•What can you do to put yourself in the best position


Closing Thoughts - Take Risks• Put yourself out there

http://thisisindexed.com/2010/11/stretching-is-good-stuff/




Closing Thoughts - Open Source• Try your hand at open source

• Check out Zach Scott’s “Contributing To Ruby” - http://bostonrb.org/presentations/

contributing-to-ruby


http://bostonrb.org/presentations/contributing-to-ruby




Closing Thoughts - Build Skills• Keep Your Skills Current

• Study good design practices- SOLID- Design patterns

• Learn TDD and Pairing- Try them out at project night- http://www.jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/


http://www.jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/

http://www.jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/

Closing Thoughts - Community• Be Involved

•What do you think will improve the community

•Meet new people

• Build relationships


Closing Thoughts - Community• Be Involved

•What do you think will improve the community

•Meet new people

• Build relationships

This is not a network



@mdenomy


Reinventing Yourself

Technology

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