Code with Jason

In this episode I talk with Andy Croll about Brighton Ruby Conference, RailsConf, and why attending a conference is an investment in your career.

• RailsConf
• Brighton Ruby Conference
• Andy Croll on Twitter
• Andy Croll on Mastodon
• AndyCroll.com
• First Ruby Friend
• CoverageBook

In this episode, Ran Craycraft, Managing Director at Thoughtbot and I discuss consulting at Thoughtbot, the process of finding new clients, setting rates as a consultant, consulting vs becoming a full-time employee, earning a positive reputation as a consultant through thought leadership and referrals, the enduring popularity of Ruby on Rails, and work-life balance.

• Thoughtbot.com
• Thoughtbot on LinkedIn
• Ran Craycraft on LinkedIn
• Sin City Ruby

On today's episode, I talk with Erik Cameron of The Gnar Company.  We discuss containerization, WASI, the possibilities of AI-generated binaries, the iterative process of AI-assisted programming, potential professional and social changes from AI-assisted programming, the mismatch between the stock of currently available programmers and the needs of the current programming industry, and the granularity of the work that is output by AI.

• The Gnar Company
• Erik's profile on The Gnar Company site
• The Gnar Company Blog
• Erik Cameron on LinkedIn
• Sin City Ruby

Avo founder Adrian Marin returns for a discussion about our experience at Friendly.rb and how to get the most out of your time at a conference.  We also talk about Adrian's work with Avo, my upcoming Sin City Ruby conference and the possibilities for extracurricular activities, the Code with Jason World Tour, and my consulting work. 

• Friendly.rb
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• EuRuKo 2024
• The Rails 7 Way by Obie Fernandez et al.
• Nonsense Monthly, my newsletter
• Adrian Marin on Twitter
• Adrian Marin on GitHub
• Avo Admin
• Adrianthedev.com
• Sin City Ruby

On today's episode, Andrew Maier joins me for a discussion of usability testing and models.  We define usability testing and by using examples, we explore how it can make you a more efficient and effective developer.

• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• Stuck?  Diagrams Help by Abby Covert
• How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby Covert
• Gamestorming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo
• About Face by Alan Cooper, Et al.
• 3 Lessons From Teaching A Course On UX Design by Andrew Maier
• Flagrant
• Andrew Maier on Twitter
• Andrew Maier on Mastodon

On today's episode Jim Remsik, CEO of Flagrant joins me for a discussion that touches on finding clients as a freelancer or consultant, building word-of-mouth, networking at conferences, design in the development life cycle, gathering data to assist with the design process, and welcoming new members into the development community.

• Flagrant
• Jim Remsik on Ruby.social
• Jim Remsik on Twitter
• Madison Ruby - August 1 & 2, 2024
• Sin City Ruby

On today's episode, I'm joined by Friendly.rb speaker Lorin Thwaits to talk conferences past and future, gauging the intelligence of ChatGPT and its ability to create novel solutions, the evolution of intelligence, evolution's effects on reproduction, AI's potential capacity (or lack thereof) for power-seeking, the economic and societal impacts of AI, the amount of interest purely AI-generated content will be able to command, the power and limits of simulation, machines as synthetic animals and animals as biological machines, developing AI via evolutionary processes, the speed limit of evolution, and Lorin's project the Brick Gem.

• Friendly.rb
• Ruby Conferences.org
• Brighton Ruby
• The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
• The Brick Gem
• Lorin Thwaits on GitHub
• Lorin Thwaits on LinkedIn
• Sin City Ruby

On today's episode, Katie Langerman and Cameron Dutro of GitHub join me for a discussion of design systems, style guides and GitHub's design system Primer, view components, view-related logic, view testing, and how design changes can pass a system test and yet fail a common sense test. 

• Primer.style
• Cameron Dutro.com
• Complementary podcast
• Katie Langerman on GitHub
• Katie Langerman on Twitter 
• Katie Langerman on LinkedIn
• Cameron Dutro on GitHub
• Cameron Dutro on Mastodon
• Cameron Dutro on LinkedIn

In this episode, Matt Swanson returns to discuss YAGNI (you ain't gonna need it),  Kent Beck's quote "make the change easy (warning: this may be hard) then make the easy change," why educational materials for beginners abound, but that's not the case for intermediate and advanced developers, what drives people to create educational materials, the purpose of testing, and being judicious in what you spend your time thinking about.

• Matt Swanson on Twitter
• Matt Swanson on GitHub
• Matt Swanson on DevTo

On this special episode of Code with Jason, Andy Atkinson returns but this time he's interviewing me.  We cover my new consulting venture, the sorts of things my consulting clients are looking for, consulting as a generalist rather than specializing, CTO coaching, using tests to help you plan your project, some of the thinking around my upcoming Sin City Ruby conference, and my Code with Jason World Tour.

• High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails by Andrew Atkinson
• Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss
• RailsConf Detroit
• RubyConf
• Rails World Toronto
• Andy Atkinson.com
• Andrew Atkinson on Twitter
• Andrew Atkinson on GitHub
• Sin City Ruby