In this episode, Irina Nazarova, CEO of Evil Martians, shares her unconventional journey from earning a degree in computer science and working in finance to eventually becoming a leader in the Rails community. She discusses her entry into web development via WordPress and WooCommerce, her unfavorable experiences with PHP, and eventual discovery of Ruby on Rails. Irina provides insights into the company's culture, the advantages of using Rails for startups, and the importance of open-source contributions. The conversation also highlights Evil Martians' consulting and product strategies, the importance of company transparency and teamwork, and details about the upcoming San Francisco Ruby Conference.

LINKS

- Evil Martians

- AnyCable

- San Francisco Ruby Conference

- How to do well in consulting (Irina's talk from Balkin Ruby 2024)

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, Ryan and Brendan discuss the importance of documentation within a business and development context. They cover various types of documentation, including internal, user-facing, and code comments, and highlight the necessity of clear communication from story writing to feature documentation. They also share insights on tools and methods for keeping documentation organized and accessible within their teams.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:26 Diving into Documentation

02:48 Defining Documentation

05:12 User Stories and Documentation

08:12 Internal vs External Documentation

15:54 Organizing Documentation

21:09 Centralizing Resources with Trello

23:02 Balancing Multiple Documentation Tools

23:40 Challenges with Search Functionality

24:41 Effective Use of Trello Tags and Labels

27:54 The Importance of Code Comments and Commit Messages

29:28 Rebase vs. Merge: A Developer's Dilemma

30:16 Interactive Rebase: Cleaning Up Commit History

36:02 Concluding Thoughts on Rebase and Merge

- Thoughtbot Rebase Workflow

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, the hosts are joined by Ernesto Tagwerker, founder of Ombuabs and FastRuby.io, a company specializing in Ruby on Rails upgrades as well as AI solutions.

Topics covered include:

- Rails Upgrades

- Technical Debt

- Developer Onboarding and more!

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Ernesto Tagwerker
00:21 Ernesto's Developer Origin Story
01:10 Discovering and Embracing Rails
02:19 Building a Business Around Rails
02:51 Challenges and Solutions in Rails Upgrades
03:40 Client Needs and Service Offerings
06:18 Content Creation and Misconceptions
07:33 Best Practices for Rails Upgrades
10:34 Open Source Contributions and Tools
13:32 AI and Machine Learning Initiatives
18:27 Developer Experience and Technical Debt
29:46 Advice for Solo Developers
33:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

LINKS

- FastRuby.io

- OmbuLabs

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text