Sean Marcia, founder of Ruby for Good, takes us behind the scenes of an organization that's transforming how developers contribute to social impact. What began as a way to help nonprofits with their software needs has blossomed into a thriving community where coders of all experience levels build sustainable, open-source solutions for organizations serving vulnerable populations.

• RubyGems funding model post (part of intro before Sean joins)
• Ruby for Good
• Upcoming event, Sept 11-14

Sarah Mei, a longtime Ruby community leader and former Ruby Central board member, shares her journey from co-founding RailsBridge to advocating for diversity and human-centered software development.

• Co-founded RailsBridge in 2009 to help thousands from underrepresented backgrounds enter tech
• Reflects on the evolution of RailsConf and Ruby Central's future focus on Ruby
• Shares memories of the early internet era before "the internet had cats"
• Explains how representation and diversity at conferences influenced her journey
• Discusses how code design should be contextual, evolving, and focused on clarity
• Describes the connection between team communication patterns and code quality
• Explores why people, not code, are the most valuable asset in software development
• Compares AI programming assistance to the transition to garbage collection in the 90s
• Celebrates the resurgence of local Ruby meetups and community events

In this episode of the Ruby Gems Podcast, hosts David Hill and Marty Haught sit down with Evan Phoenix, a notable figure in the Ruby community. They discuss Evan's contributions in the Ruby space, including the development of Rubinius and Puma, his role in solving scalability issues for Rails developers, and his tenure on the Ruby Central Board since 2011. The conversation also delves into Evan's journey with Ruby and his fascination with how things work. Additionally, Evan shares insights on the importance of maintainership in open source projects, the evolution of Ruby Central, and the impact of the pandemic on the community and conferences. Evan wraps up with his current ventures and thoughts on the future of tech and AI in coding.

• Rubinius repo
• Puma
• benchmark-ips