[LRUG] Converting from the dark side

[Jason Hooper]

Hi Jay,

I came from a similar route plus 370 Assembler, C, Delphi, Pascal, etc. I then worked for several years as a DBA too. The best option I found to get back into development was to use a bootcamp. The one I decided on was WeGotCoders (http://wegotcoders.com/ <http://wegotcoders.com/>). They went through everything from HTML and the DOM, through javascript and frameworks, right into writing Rails apps (and even Gems). They then also placed me with a client. This did mean that I dropped back to junior level, but am loving the change!

If you want to go the self-study route I would recommend learning Ruby before you tackle Rails and full stack development. Getting to know a javascript framework would also be a good idea. To this end there are a lot of courses available. I used Lynda (http://www.lynda.com <http://www.lynda.com/>) and others that I just googled for. I then also found a really good SAAS MOOC course on EdX through UC Berkley (https://www.edx.org/course/engineering-software-service-uc-berkeleyx-cs169-1x <https://www.edx.org/course/engineering-software-service-uc-berkeleyx-cs169-1x> and the follow on of cs169.2). Maybe diving into the more intense books after the basics would make more sense. It did for me.

Good luck!

Regards,


> On 2 Jun 2015, at 12:38, Jay Greasley <jaygreasley at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm a bit of a dinosaur, having started with COBOL through Visual Basic 3, classic asp and then onto the asp.net <http://asp.net/> stack.
> But, I'm really interested in moving over to using Ruby.
> I supported an old Rails 2.3 app a couple of years ago and liked the syntax and flexibilty.
> I have a new work opportunity where Ruby appears to be a good candidate for the product.
> Has anyone else made a similar move?
> My main question is what one book would you recommend to start with.
> Is it the Pickaxe book? 
> I'm sure it'll take a while to change mindset to appreciate metaprogramming etc.
> 
> All responses are much appreciated
> 
> Best
> 
> Jay
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