Learning Ruby on Rails?

Hackerspace Computer Science
#21

I’d look at a Nanodegree from Udacity.com. They have full career paths, industry mentors, and resume review. Some classes are free.

There’s also freeCodeCamp.org, which is completely free. They have local meetups and Facebook groups where people will help you when you’re stuck. They also have opportunities to code for nonprofits and post to their github, which is real project work you can add to your portfolio, not just class assignments like everyone else has.

I’m not sure why everyone forgets about PHP. Facebook and WordPress (and the millions of sites that run on WordPress) run on PHP. I don’t see it going away any time soon.

Javascript and Python seem to be must-haves. So are HTML5 and CSS3.

Don’t forget to learn how to do whiteboard interviews. They are important in the screening process.

One more thing: There’s a predicted shortage of cybersecurity experts. If you have the right mindset, you can go far. Some companies, like British Telecom (Office is near Irving) train you as part of being a new hire, I believe. That’s rare in this day and age, and definitely worth exploring.

If you can get to a GeekMeet, you might meet recruiters and hiring managers who can tell you more.

Best of luck to you, and keep us posted and ask for help as needed.

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#22

Well sometimes we do not get to pick the stack, even then it probably should meet business goals not what you want to learn. Or the flavor of the month.

Small Projects: those with super tight timelines can often developed in CMS’s or god forbid Drupal, WordPress, etc. Sometimes Time To Market (TTM) is crucial for the business case and spending weeks to determine your development tools is a fail.

Mid-Range Projects: do you need very specific services for your application? Do you need seamless integrations across multiple platforms?

Complex Apps: do you have big e-commerce or social apps that have to integrate multiple services from other 3rd party providers. Do you have big processing loads, extremely large datasets or need very low latency? Also do you have the development team to implement? Sometimes a NO is your best answer, know when you are in the weeds!

All of this the the tip of the iceberg. then you have maintainability, portability and scalability.

Good things to learn that apply almost everywhere:

HTML/CSS
Javascript/jQuery
Node.js
MySQL, PostgreSQL, DB2, MSSQL
React.js
Docker or other containerization systems
Always know a little Python/PHP/.NET C#

I guarantee you will get a request to fix someone else’s code.

Be as multilingual as you can. Only then do you know the right tool for the job.

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#23

Funny enough Facebook will be transitioning away from PHP in 2020. A lot React Conf was about how the built new tools/features to make the new Facebook. But yup. PHP is going to be around for a long time. Just I wouldn’t expect to many new projects to pick LAMP is it’s first stack.

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#24

WordPress is probably for your smaller shops, less corporate, fewer HR employee benefits. However, it can be a good way to pick up small to midsize business clients.

If you go this route, it’s only prudent to offer a maintenance package. At the rate these sites are getting hammered by brute force attacks and malware in the plugins, you’re not doing anyone any favors with “set it and forget it.”

If you’re interested in developing iOS apps, Swift and XCode would be good, too.

I’ve been hearing a lot about learning integrals (part of Calculus) for AI work, including AI in iOS apps.

You have a lot of choices here. I guess the best thing to do is figure out where you want to work and what they are using to get your foot in the door, or if you want to go the entrepreneur/startup route.

And, whatever you do, expect to need to retrain frequently as the coding landscape changes.

#25

I wouldn’t bother with Ruby on Rails unless you’re going after a specific job that requires it. I think your time would be much better spent on learning more modern frameworks.

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#26

I generally learn better that way too, but the challenge is the current 50-60 hour a week job with a 2 year old and another on the way and a wife I’d like to see regularly :smile:. Ideally, I’d have a semester or two to dedicate full time hours to, but for now, this style of learning will have to do.

The resources I’ve come across typically focus on the language and (sometimes) the design patterns, but I haven’t seen too many that go into algorithms or data structures. Do you know of any resources for that, or do any of the already mentioned ones go into that once you get far enough in?

#27

Thanks for the suggestions! Starting in on freeCodeCamp.org over the week I have at my in-laws’ for Christmas.

Right now, I’m in the “dig into this and figure out which part you’re good at” phase. Cybersecurity seems rather daunting for my current skillset, but who knows what I’ll find as I get further in. To @lukeiamyourfather’s question, there is a possibility of a very intro level job that relies on RoR, but right now, it’s hypothetical.

I love learning, so retraining is actually pretty exciting for me, even in my current field. I’ll keep you guys posted, and I’m incredibly grateful for all the insight and tips!

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#28

Necro-ing this thread for one reason:

Just pulled into the office at my new job as a Jr developer. HUGE thanks to all the DMS members who encouraged, taught, and just in general helped me get here :slight_smile:

Now excuse me while I put these on :nerd_face:

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