Career change: becoming RoR dev

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi all, I'm 27 and worked in the sysadmin field for about five years now. I've been using Ruby to help me for the past two-three years, and I started with Ruby on Rails, albeit slowly, over a year ago.

I'd like to make the switch to becoming a full-time Rails dev, but I can't devote much free time to developing the skills and experience required to comfortably say "Take me for a Senior position". Most of my free time is spent studying and teaching martial arts, something which I would not trade for the world.

If location could be a concern, I live on Long Island, so I'm not too far from NYC.

My question to you is, how would you recommend going about effecting this transition? Any steps, ideas, advice?

2

I’d like to make the switch to becoming a full-time Rails dev, but I

can’t devote much free time to developing the skills and experience

required to comfortably say “Take me for a Senior position”.

So, just to ensure I’m clear - are you asking for shortcuts to be able to get you straight in to a senior position - or just after hints to improve so you may take a non-senior position and work up to it?

Most of my

free time is spent studying and teaching martial arts, something which I

would not trade for the world.

I feel you, I love teaching Taekwondo…

My question to you is, how would you recommend going about effecting

this transition? Any steps, ideas, advice?

Practice. Start thinking of small, useful ideas and launch sites for them. They could be small sites (dynamically generated) with documentation, or search engine automation/mashups. You then get to practice automated testing, deployment, development.

Set up a github account and make some gems/plugins and put them on there for potential employers to find.

Start trying to help people on here - I always found that in putting forward help to those just coming in helped solidify my own learning, sometimes I was right (and got a hearty thanks), sometimes I was wrong (and got the chance to learn when a more senior developer chimed in). Either way, you’re getting value. Soon you’ll be at a point when you can do everything and easily answer questions in interviews (and then you can give more back).

It boils down to learn, practice, teach - the same as in martial arts, each stage has it’s own learnings and each is important.

Cheers,

Andy

3

Andy Jeffries wrote:

So, just to ensure I'm clear - are you asking for shortcuts to be able to get you straight in to a senior position - or just after hints to improve so you may take a non-senior position and work up to it?

Well, if you happen to know black magic, I'll buy a shortcut for 400; otherwise, the proper way to do things would suit me just fine :slight_smile:

Most of my free time is spent studying and teaching martial arts, something which I would not trade for the world.

I feel you, I love teaching Taekwondo...

Ooh.. Where do you teach? (I know, we're going off-topic!)

Practice. Start thinking of small, useful ideas and launch sites for them. They could be small sites (dynamically generated) with documentation, or search engine automation/mashups. You then get to practice automated testing, deployment, development.

*nod*

Set up a github account and make some gems/plugins and put them on there for potential employers to find.

Trevoke (Trevoke) · GitHub :slight_smile:

Start trying to help people on here - I always found that in putting forward help to those just coming in helped solidify my own learning, sometimes I was right (and got a hearty thanks), sometimes I was wrong (and got the chance to learn when a more senior developer chimed in). Either way, you're getting value. Soon you'll be at a point when you can do everything and easily answer questions in interviews (and then you can give more back).

It boils down to learn, practice, teach - the same as in martial arts, each stage has it's own learnings and each is important.

Understood :slight_smile: And as far as the search for a position, it's .. Standard operating procedure?

4

I feel you, I love teaching Taekwondo…

Ooh… Where do you teach? (I know, we’re going off-topic!)

I’m an assistant instructor at a club in Stevenage, Herts, UK. I used to have my own club for a few years, but now just help out/deputise.

Understood :slight_smile: And as far as the search for a position, it’s … Standard

operating procedure?

Yep, contact the pimps (agencies).

Cheers,

Andy

5

Andy Jeffries wrote:

> I feel you, I love teaching Taekwondo... Ooh.. Where do you teach? (I know, we're going off-topic!)

I'm an assistant instructor at a club in Stevenage, Herts, UK. I used to have my own club for a few years, but now just help out/deputise.

Very nice :slight_smile: Wish it were on my side of the pond, I love meeting fellow martial artists.

Thanks for the advice. I'll just keep digging!

6

Given your sys admin skills you could join a small company and be a sysadmin / developer and use that to get you skills then either become full time developer or move on with a CV that says developer.

I seem to be going the other way :slight_smile:

7

I have to agree here; your strongest skill is one that is often lacking in Rails developers.

You should be building an online ‘portfolio’, but if I were you, I’d focus on deployment and testing for value add to companies.

8

I don't know about NYC, but in Romania there is a great need for senior RoR developers, and one year could be enough, specially with your sysadmin background. If you have a few big(ish) projects in your portfolio, I'm sure you will have no trouble in US. Also try to find a small company with challenging projects. Even if you get slightly less, the experience you gain could make you a sought for RoR expert in the near future. Good luck with it, and I hope you find your dream job soon.