In this episode of "Dead Code," host Jared Norman interviews Jim Remsik, a Ruby developer and founder of the consultancy Flagrant. Jim shares his journey from .NET to Ruby on Rails, reflecting on the early days of the Ruby community and the impact of its vibrant, collaborative environment on his career. He discusses the importance of mentorship and nurturing junior developers, stressing the need for more opportunities within the Ruby community to help them grow into senior roles. Jim also talks about his passion for organizing events like Madison + Ruby, which recently returned after a hiatus, highlighting how conferences and meetups play a vital role in building connections and strengthening the community. The conversation underscores the value of stepping up to contribute to programming communities, whether through organizing, speaking, or participating in events.

Links:

Jim Remsik on LinkedIn

Flagrant Consultancy

Madison + Ruby Conference

Ruby on Rails

RubyConf

Solidus

Turing School

Honeybadger

AppSignal

Dead Code Podcast Links:

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Jared’s Links:

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Episode Transcript

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In this episode of the Dead Code podcast, Jared welcomes RailsConf speakers Joël Quenneville and Stephanie Minn, both from thoughtbot and co-hosts of The Bike Shed podcast. Stephanie discusses her talk on the stages of change model, initially about codebase changes but ultimately focusing on adopting testing practices, highlighting the evolution of her topic and the importance of addressing test pain. Joël introduces Hotwire and Turbo through building an interactive Dungeons & Dragons character sheet in Rails, emphasizing decoupling code and progressively enhancing applications without JavaScript. The conversation delves into managing coupling and cohesion in software development, the benefits of visualizing code structure, and using tests as tools for gathering information and improving code quality, with practical insights and reflections on enhancing the development process.

Links:

The Bike Shed Podcast

thoughtbot

RailsConf

RubyConf 

Hotwire

Turbo

Dead Code on Mastodon

Dead Code on X

Jared on Mastodon

Jared on X

Transcript

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In this episode of the Dead Code Podcast, Jared interviews his brother Alistair Norman and colleague Senem Soy about their experiences with conference talks. Alistair recently spoke at RailsConf in Detroit on mentorship and pair programming, choosing the topic for its broad relevance and personal interest. He prepared for the talk by biking 750 kilometers from Toronto to Detroit, which, while mentally relaxing, left him less time to finalize his presentation. Senem, gearing up for her first talk at Madison Ruby, discusses how her passion for paragliding influences her problem-solving in programming, focusing on mental training and stress management. Both highlight the importance of choosing engaging topics and thorough preparation to reduce stress and enhance the delivery of their talks.

Links:

RailsConf

Madison Ruby

Alistair on Strava

Senem on Strava

Dead Code on Mastodon

Dead Code on X

Jared on Mastodon

Jared on X

Transcript

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In this episode of the Dead Code podcast, host Jared Norman interviews Robby Russell, the CEO of Planet Argon and creator of Oh My Zsh, who shares insights from his extensive experience in software development, particularly Ruby on Rails. Robby discusses the challenges of software maintenance and technical debt, emphasizing the importance of understanding and managing different types of debt within teams. He advocates for building simpler, more maintainable systems, taking ownership of the codebase, and integrating maintenance work into regular workflows through effective communication and documentation.

Links:

Robby’s TikTok

Robby’s LinkedIn

Robby’s X

Oh My Zsh

Planet Argon

Maintainable Software Podcast

Michael Feathers' book "Working Effectively with Legacy Code"

Ward Cunningham and the concept of Technical Debt

RailsConf

Ruby on Rails

Refinery CMS

Solidus

Spree

Martin Fowler's book "Refactoring"

John Osterhout's book "A Philosophy of Software Design"

Rails World 2024

Dead Code on Mastodon

Dead Code on X

Jared on Mastodon

Jared on X

Episode Transcript

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What does Quora.com think of TDD?

Guests: Noah Silvera (she/her), Benjamin Wil (he/him)

Jared Norman: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads

Dead Code: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads

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What's going on with the TDD heads these days?

Byron Alley: Website, Twitter, Mastodon

Jared Norman: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads

Dead Code: Mastodon, Twitter, Threads

References: The Tweet

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A short preview of what you can expect from future episodes of Dead Code. I promise better editing and mic position in the future.

Dead Code Socials:

• Mastodon
• Twitter
• Threads

Jared Norman Socials:

• Mastodon
• Twitter
• Threads

References:

• Oddly Influenced, Episode 40

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