Everybody Loves Ruby
March 29th, 2010
8
Everybody loves Ruby. She is a star of Style Network’s highest rated show, which documents her weight-loss journey, going from 715 lbs to 350 lbs. She even has the ruby-red hair to match her name. She tells her story to help those who are on a similar road and . . . oh wait, I meant to write about Ruby the programming language.
Some love it for its English-like syntax and some because of its type system (dynamic and strong). What I find unique about Ruby is the community around it – opinionated, passionate and vocal. A strong community drives the language, the tools and ideas in an accelerated velocity. An opinionated community leads to high quality and variety of educational material, which makes it easy for newbies to get a grip of the language.
LA is known mainly for its movies, fashion and music industries, but not necessarily for being a high tech hub. Even when you look at tech companies, you usually find more ‘corporate’ languages like Java and .Net. So my curiosity took me to a simple search on a job site – 277 Ruby jobs compared to 2,118 Java! That’s why it’s always exciting to meet other Ruby fanatics from the LA area. It makes you feel a little special, knowing your are doing something a bit different than others by working on a non-mainstream technology or language.
After moving to our new office we started hosting the LA Ruby Meetup Group a few times a year. The Meetup is organized by JR and Alf, and scheduled on the second Thursday of every month. It’s a fun event where everyone is encouraged to share his/her experience and learn from others. There is a mix of backgrounds and expertise – from students to CEO’s of local companies. You not only get a chance to talk to ruby rock stars like Giles Bowkett, Ron Evans and
Evan Phoenix, but you just can’t pass up free food and beer!
It’s not just ruby geeks who find this meetup valuable – start-up founders who are looking for great technical talent and HR companies are also part of this diverse group.
So whether you are into Ruby, or you just want to talk to ruby enthusiasts, this is the place for you. Come and join us at the next Ruby Meetup!
A Ruby presenter will always stand on top of an ottoman during his presentation to make his statements stronger.
Waiting patiently for him to fall off the ottoman.
Ok… not everyone loves Ruby.
(click on the image to view bigger size)
Update: More blogs by Ruby meetup members
Tagged with: ruby, programming languages
Related Posts
Author
Oren Golan
Oren is a Senior Ruby Developer. When he is not munching on the ruby syntax on his Dvorak keyboard, Oren is busy discovering life changing events. Never talk to the police, iPod Nano and Ubuntu are among his recent interests.
8 Comments Leave a comment
Good one, Oren! I really enjoyed reading it. It definitely motivates me to try to make it to the next ruby meetup.
Cheers,
This has gotten funnier since I was here last. I like Giles up on the chair while presenting.
Leave a comment
Allowed Tags
_emphasis_
*strong*
??citation??
-deleted text-
+inserted text+
^superscript^
~subscript~
@code@
Add code using a GIST
gist: gistid
Too funny! Oren – you rock.
Reply to comment