RailsConf is Coming Up
RailsConf is just a week away, and I’m so excited to head out to Philly and get to see new and old RubyFriends again.
So it was a special treat when Rhiannon Payne, the Marketing Directory for Ruby Central, asked if I could pick out some episodes of my podcast that highlighted what kinds of experiences people could expect from attending RailsConf.
After I put this playlist together with my picks, it occurred to me that I should take the time to explain why I picked these episodes.
Because there are MANY episodes that I wanted to include in this list, but I wanted to keep this list fairly short, very much a highlight-reel, and was trying to focus in on episodes that I really felt zeroed in on aspects of the RailsConf experience.
So here’s why I picked each of these six episodes:
Nadia Odunayo is one of my favorite people and Rubyists anyways, so I think I would have wanted to put this episode on the list regardless of any other considerations. But I had a GREAT time at Hack Day last year working at her table on Speakerline. I think Community Day, which is what we’re calling it this year, is a tremendous opportunity to meet people and get involved.
Erica McDevitt was a first-time attendee to the conference last year, and from the beginning I wanted to make sure to capture the experiences of people who were new to the RailsConf scene. If you’ve never been to something like this before, this episode is something you should definitely listen to.
Chad Fowler founded Ruby Central and created RailsConf, so any conversation about the conference would be incomplete without him. Talking about how and why it all started was super fascinating for me.
John Sawers works with the Scholars & Guides program. I’ve been a Guide once, despite applying multiple times, and it was great to hear about his side of this program and all the considerations that go into it. We also chatted a bit about how he first got involved (spoilers: he asked), which I think led to me being fairly shameless in telling people in RubyCentral that I wanted to be more involved.
The episode with Brand New Box was a different experience. Instead of just one guest on the podcast, I had a team of 7. They attended RailsConf together last year, most of them for the first time I think. As someone who usually attended the conference solo, or only with one or two other people, this was a fun and different perspective to see.
And finally, a very recent episode: Alan Ridlehoover. I met Alan at RubyConf back in November, and he wound up having a tremendous impact on me during the last night of the conference. It’s a whole story that I share during the episode. To me this feels like the most personal episode of the podcast, and an example of the kind of impact we can have on each other in this community.
Like I said before, there are so many other episodes that I’d include if I was building a bigger list. I’ve had the privilege of having wonderful conversations with so many people in the Ruby and Rails community. But for episodes that speak directly to aspects of RailsConf that I think are important, I think these are a solid top six.
I’m so excited for next week and to see all my Ruby Friends again!