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Yes. Also, if I am going to put some time into OSS and I'm a beginner, I want more specific advice than "work on OSS". What's the procedure for jumping in?
by jraines 16y ago
Yes. Also, if I am going to put some time into OSS and I'm a beginner, I want more specific advice than "work on OSS". What's the procedure for jumping in? How many initial questions are non-annoying for the project maintainers? How do I submit a pull request? What are the projects that are near or just slightly above my skill level? Is my own project, started from scratch at my less than impressive skill level, as good as contributing to an existing project if I'm not ready?
Oh and just to tack on my Ruby specific gripe -- so what if I haven't written tests for my own stuff? Can't you teach me Rspec or whatever your shop uses instead of just tossing out my resume?
- aaronblohowiak 16y agoTake an afternoon to learn RSpec. there is plenty of documentation, free tutorials online or you can pay $9 to peepcode to get a screencast. Being self-directed goes a long way.
- jraines 16y agoYeah, I was definitely being a little whiny there. I did just pick up an RSpec book -- just wish TDD experience wasn't such a pre-req for getting a Ruby job.
- steveklabnik 16y agoSee, I'm actually the other way, I'm really glad that testing is such a huge part of Ruby's culture. In a language that gives you so much freedom, you need something to make sure you're not doing terrible things. Also, writing tests is a skill. After knowing how, you still can actually get better at writing tests. It's not as easy as 'just teach me RSpec,' it's more like 'teach me functional programming' or something. It's much bigger than just switching languages.
- jraines 16y agoI agree that it's important for the community as a whole. But for a junior position, isn't the key that the person can write working Ruby, can get along with the team, and has growth potential? Would you hire someone who had been a hobbyist, produced some cool, working web apps, but happened to not have written a single test for them?
- steveklabnik 16y agoTotally. But knowing how to test puts you at a competitive advantage; if you had two applicants and one knew how to test already, wouldn't you hire that one?
- pstinnett 16y agoI've been working on my own to learn Ruby, and I know TDD is a big part of things. Have you used the Peepcode screencast? Would that be a good starting point on RSpec?
- bphogan 16y agoRailsMentors.org will help. This is one of my pet projects for RailsBridge, and we have a ton of volunteers. Hell, ask me any time and I will teach you to write tests if you want.
- jraines 16y agoMy email is in my profile -- send me a note! Got any mentors in the LA area?
- bphogan 16y agoThere's a couple I think. If you create an account and enter in your location details, we sort mentors geographically close to you on the map page. http://www.railsmentors.org/mentors http://www.railsmentors.org/mentors When you're a guest, it's just not really sorted.