7 ms·

My Madison Ruby Story

79 points by jremsikjr 14y ago

prestonaustin 14y ago
Never underestimate the power of bacon to bring together the technical with the aught to be technical. I've heard nothing but good things here in Madison about the conference as a way to broaden the appeal the ruby community seems to have for folks who fear approaching development.
HeXetic 14y ago
Wow the original title for this submission, "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study", completely missed the mark and I am glad it was changed.
- jremsikjr 14y ago
  I lifted it from a tweet describing the article from a third party but, you're right.
the-come-ons 14y ago
I, too, was skipping out on the technical panel and was in the room when Wendy's name was called. It was quite humorous to see her realize it was her name that was called. She said "that's me", got up and ran out of the room in excitement yelling “WAAAAIT!" I'm happy to have that memory and to have this blog post to remind me of one of the many great parts of the Madison ruby conference. I am definitely returning next year! Maybe I will win the gift certificate this time...
simon 14y ago
I work as a Java developer here in Mad Town, but I must say that I know some really nice, welcoming and seriously excellent Ruby programmers here. Glad to hear that my impression of the local Rubyists was not wrong. Mmmmm ... Wisconsin cheese is awesome! :-)
JLRemsik 14y ago
We felt Madison Ruby was a huge success. Reading Wendy's story makes all of the hard work worthwhile.
patja 14y ago
I started reading with that feeling of dread that this was going to be another indictment of tech conference misogyny that would make me feel sad for the world, my daughters, and our profession. How delightful to hear this inspirational response to a tech conference experience!
- simon 14y ago
  Yup, that was my initial thought too. I have two daughters and I have gotten my eldest going with Ubuntu on her school laptop and she's loving it. I'm introducing her to shell scripting and LaTeX (through the awesome Pandoc tool) right now.
egiva 14y ago
The keyword density and some of the keyword repetition for this article makes me suspicious. Not questioning the experience - I read it and it sounded great. Just analyzing the most common words and phrases used though - so you decide: 'Ruby' - 19 times (~2.4% density) 'madison' - 15 (1.87%) 'madison ruby' - 12 (1.50%) 'tech' - 13 (1.62%) 'conference' - 12 (1.5%)
- blaines 14y ago
  Haha, You totally missed the point of this post.
  - egiva 14y ago
    No I didn't. I understand the post. I support anyone, anywhere who wants to learn programming and show an interest, especially young women who are under-represented in the industry. I just think that they're promoting Madison Ruby because the piece is highly structured to display a very specific keyword density, and that's typical for promotional work. So my vote is that they're not being honest about the origins of this article. Just an opinion though.
    - drharris 14y ago
      It's a story about Madison Ruby, which is a tech conference that requires travelling to Madison and involves talks about Ruby. I think this is the appropriate keyword density. Sometimes good content is just that, no SEO required. SEO is for people who can't write.
      - egiva 14y ago
        Thanks for the comment drharris. With all due respect, I think this is a paid promotional article, not something that should be promoted on the front page of HN. Consider this: A) they published the article, then changed it to optize it for SEO. The original title being "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study". B) Event insiders and HN users with very low ratings plugging Madison Ruby in the comments section, and specifically plugging organizers "Jim and Jen" stating that other events people should consider hiring them. C) The author's story is highly unusual - blogger with no previous interest in programming invited (for free) to a tech conference, and afterwards writes very long, SEO-optimized blog post about the event? Hey - I'm sure the event was great, and I'm a 110% supporter of any ways to get young people, and more women into the tech industry. But I think that paid promotional work has no place on HN, because it's disingenuous to present it as a true testimonial.
nthitz 14y ago
Just moved from Madison to the Bay Area bout a week or two ago. Gonna miss that town a lot!
- simon 14y ago
  I suspect that you won't miss the snow. And certainly not the city's inability to plow anything other than the main roads after a heavy snowstorm. And I dare you to tell me that you miss the beltline traffic! :-)
dmragone 14y ago
“it's okay to not get this and be completely confused” I'm only 4 months into learning to program, but still think this is one of the most valuable mindsets to have. It's a skill, really, being able to accept that everything I read about might not make complete sense or be familiar enough for me to be able to apply the learnings right away, but that I will understand more each time I try to pick up some new content.
briandoll 14y ago
It's humbling to read this, and makes me incredibly proud to know Jim and Jen Remsik, who created and run Madison Ruby. She wouldn't take advantage of this thread by linking to her event management business, so I will: http://saplingevents.com/ http://saplingevents.com/ Jen does an incredible job building unique and interesting events and totally gets the important details that make a conference memorable and exciting. If you're thinking of hosting an event, I'd definitely give her a call.
- citizenparker 14y ago
  I was so fortunate as to speak at MadisonRuby in 2011, and I confirm it's a special thing. Jim and Jen have really created something special in the Ruby world, and I haven't seen anything like it. For starters, I've never seen as many talks start with hugs as I have at MadisonRuby. It's inclusive in a way that puts most uses of that word to shame. I don't know how it happens, either. I want to grow up and be like Jim.
desimcadam 14y ago
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this! :) Glad I got to know you there and I look forward to seeing you at this or another conference in the future.

79 points by jremsikjr 14y ago

Never underestimate the power of bacon to bring together the technical with the aught to be technical. I've heard nothing but good things here in Madison about the conference as a way to broaden the appeal the ruby community seems to have for folks who fear approaching development.

HeXetic 14y ago

Wow the original title for this submission, "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study", completely missed the mark and I am glad it was changed.

jremsikjr 14y ago
I lifted it from a tweet describing the article from a third party but, you're right.

the-come-ons 14y ago

I, too, was skipping out on the technical panel and was in the room when Wendy's name was called. It was quite humorous to see her realize it was her name that was called. She said "that's me", got up and ran out of the room in excitement yelling “WAAAAIT!" I'm happy to have that memory and to have this blog post to remind me of one of the many great parts of the Madison ruby conference. I am definitely returning next year! Maybe I will win the gift certificate this time...

simon 14y ago

I work as a Java developer here in Mad Town, but I must say that I know some really nice, welcoming and seriously excellent Ruby programmers here. Glad to hear that my impression of the local Rubyists was not wrong. Mmmmm ... Wisconsin cheese is awesome! :-)

JLRemsik 14y ago

We felt Madison Ruby was a huge success. Reading Wendy's story makes all of the hard work worthwhile.

patja 14y ago

I started reading with that feeling of dread that this was going to be another indictment of tech conference misogyny that would make me feel sad for the world, my daughters, and our profession. How delightful to hear this inspirational response to a tech conference experience!

simon 14y ago
Yup, that was my initial thought too. I have two daughters and I have gotten my eldest going with Ubuntu on her school laptop and she's loving it. I'm introducing her to shell scripting and LaTeX (through the awesome Pandoc tool) right now.

egiva 14y ago

The keyword density and some of the keyword repetition for this article makes me suspicious. Not questioning the experience - I read it and it sounded great. Just analyzing the most common words and phrases used though - so you decide: 'Ruby' - 19 times (~2.4% density) 'madison' - 15 (1.87%) 'madison ruby' - 12 (1.50%) 'tech' - 13 (1.62%) 'conference' - 12 (1.5%)

blaines 14y ago
Haha, You totally missed the point of this post.
- egiva 14y ago
  No I didn't. I understand the post. I support anyone, anywhere who wants to learn programming and show an interest, especially young women who are under-represented in the industry. I just think that they're promoting Madison Ruby because the piece is highly structured to display a very specific keyword density, and that's typical for promotional work. So my vote is that they're not being honest about the origins of this article. Just an opinion though.
  - drharris 14y ago
    It's a story about Madison Ruby, which is a tech conference that requires travelling to Madison and involves talks about Ruby. I think this is the appropriate keyword density. Sometimes good content is just that, no SEO required. SEO is for people who can't write.
    - egiva 14y ago
      Thanks for the comment drharris. With all due respect, I think this is a paid promotional article, not something that should be promoted on the front page of HN. Consider this: A) they published the article, then changed it to optize it for SEO. The original title being "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study". B) Event insiders and HN users with very low ratings plugging Madison Ruby in the comments section, and specifically plugging organizers "Jim and Jen" stating that other events people should consider hiring them. C) The author's story is highly unusual - blogger with no previous interest in programming invited (for free) to a tech conference, and afterwards writes very long, SEO-optimized blog post about the event? Hey - I'm sure the event was great, and I'm a 110% supporter of any ways to get young people, and more women into the tech industry. But I think that paid promotional work has no place on HN, because it's disingenuous to present it as a true testimonial.

nthitz 14y ago

Just moved from Madison to the Bay Area bout a week or two ago. Gonna miss that town a lot!

simon 14y ago
I suspect that you won't miss the snow. And certainly not the city's inability to plow anything other than the main roads after a heavy snowstorm. And I dare you to tell me that you miss the beltline traffic! :-)

dmragone 14y ago

“it's okay to not get this and be completely confused” I'm only 4 months into learning to program, but still think this is one of the most valuable mindsets to have. It's a skill, really, being able to accept that everything I read about might not make complete sense or be familiar enough for me to be able to apply the learnings right away, but that I will understand more each time I try to pick up some new content.

briandoll 14y ago

It's humbling to read this, and makes me incredibly proud to know Jim and Jen Remsik, who created and run Madison Ruby. She wouldn't take advantage of this thread by linking to her event management business, so I will: http://saplingevents.com/ http://saplingevents.com/ Jen does an incredible job building unique and interesting events and totally gets the important details that make a conference memorable and exciting. If you're thinking of hosting an event, I'd definitely give her a call.

citizenparker 14y ago
I was so fortunate as to speak at MadisonRuby in 2011, and I confirm it's a special thing. Jim and Jen have really created something special in the Ruby world, and I haven't seen anything like it. For starters, I've never seen as many talks start with hugs as I have at MadisonRuby. It's inclusive in a way that puts most uses of that word to shame. I don't know how it happens, either. I want to grow up and be like Jim.

desimcadam 14y ago

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this! :) Glad I got to know you there and I look forward to seeing you at this or another conference in the future.