[LRUG] May Meeting - Specifics

[Suw Charman]

On 5/3/07, Tom Stuart <tom at experthuman.com> wrote:
>
> I hope this will be taken as polite and pragmatic (which is the
> intention) rather than rude and inconsiderate (which isn't), but:
> there seem to be at least a few people who have little or no Ruby
> experience at all, and I'm not convinced that mentoring is a good use
> of either party's time in those cases.
>
> Mentoring is best applied when there's some grit in the oyster, so to
> speak: "I pretty much know what I'm doing, but I came up against this
> weird problem/situation/feeling the other day, so can you give me the
> benefit of your experience?"
>
> There are already plenty of really, really good Ruby-beginner
> resources freely available on the web, and increasingly there are
> some Rails ones too, although those tend to still be somewhat
> fragmented and cast to the four corners of the blogosphere. In many
> cases these tutorials are the distilled result of careful thinking
> and editing on the part of their authors, and are therefore likely to
> hit home much more rapidly and effectively than someone trying to
> sketch out the syntax of blocks on the back of a fag packet down the
> pub.
>
> Therefore would it be useful to compile a list of *recommended* Ruby/
> Rails-newbie resources, so that people can at least break the ice of
> their total unfamiliarity with the language/framework and so put
> themselves in the best position to actively pick the brains of their
> mentors?

I agree, but I also disagree. There's got to be some grit in the
oyster, but it has to be the right grit in the right place! For
example, I've started on the Agile Development book, and yes it's
good, but if I get stuck (and it's not a typo issue) then I really get
stuck because I am too inexperienced to know where the problem may be.
If I'm trying to do something and there's an error because of a
problem with the way my environment is set up, (two people have helped
me set up my computer and I have no idea what either of them did!),
then there is no way for me to fix it.

If I had a monthly, or maybe fortnightly, session with a mentor who
could look at my problem and teach me how to fix it, then that would
be a massive help. It would also give me the motivation to keep
working on the various books that I've bought but which currently
languish on my bookshelf.

Having resources online and books and mailing lists is all well and
good, but having someone who can take one look at your error and say
'Ah, right, what's wrong is...' is a much better way to go.

If I have to wait until I 'pretty much know what I'm doing' before
anyone will mentor me... well, that could be several years away.
Having someone who's willing to help me fix my problems, talk me
through things I don't understand, and encourage me to keep going with
the books would be just invaluable. (As would working on a project
with someone, but that might be a little advanced for me right now.)

Suw


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