By I’m feeling very inspired having spent Friday and Saturday at GoGaRuCo listening to a group of speakers who largely have more experience and expertise in Ruby/Rails than I do. This is a good thing since it made me question what I’ve doing to up my game. I think that’s one of the main benefits of a conference – to give you a kick in the ass by seeing what other cool things people are working on.
I’ve been using Ruby/Rails as my main focus for over a year now and it seems like the first wave is complete. Wave 1 for Ruby (as for any language) was getting a base level of knowledge combined with practical ability that would allow me to actually do my job and add value day-to-day. Through a combo of pair programming with a great team and individual study, I was able to skill up pretty fast and become a useful member of our team.
I realize, though, that there are still a bunch of holes in my knowledge, especially where Ruby’s concerned. I also realize I stopped working so hard off-hours to learn and became somewhat complacent when I was able to handle the day-to-day. It’s not such a big deal – it feels like a natural ebb-and-flow thing and I wanted to focus on other stuff for awhile. But still… It’s sobering and inspiring in equal parts when you spend some time with people who are hungry and working hard and showing you interesting things.
I’m ready to go on to Wave 2, which is a deeper knowledge of the tools that I’m using. I know how to use a lot of the tools, but I have this inkling that I don’t fully understand how they work. I’m excited for the ride. Many thanks to the GoGaRuCo speakers (Ilya Grigorik, Steven! Ragnarök, et al) for inspiring me to push to the next level.
Peter Kinmond 