When I began working at reInteractive I didn’t know much about Ruby or Rails and I knew nothing about the Community, or that it even existed. Now, after 6 months in my role at reInteractive I know a little Ruby, a little Rails and a lot about this amazing Community.
As reInteractive’s Community Manager I have been given the opportunity to create events and projects to help our Developers and others in the Community share their passion with many who may have otherwise, like me, have never known about the awesomeness of Ruby, Rails and the Community.
Over the six InstallFest events that we’ve run in Sydney, I’ve had the chance to personally meet and help over one hundred and twenty people start their Rails journey. While, not everyone who comes along makes the decision to be become a RoR Developer, some do choose to continue to learn and have gone on to develop much more than a simple blog. We now have about fifty developers coming along to Development Hub every month, and it is this continued support that helps those new to Rails stick with it and improve their skills.
As part of my role, I have been able to work with and meet many talented Devs who have been part of the Ruby on Rails Community long before me, all whom have been extremely welcoming. There has been an overwhelming response from these awesome members of the Community, volunteering to mentor at the monthly InstallFest and Development Hub. I believe it to be a unique asset of the Community that so many amazing Devs are happy to give up their free time to help others with their projects, problems and errors, and it is pretty cool that we are able to give the Community the opportunity to share their passion, and give new developers the chance to learn from them.
For many RoR devs the monthly RoRo is a ritual not to be missed. In recent months this meetup has grown from not just those well acquainted with Ruby and the Community, but has expanded each month, with fresh faces coming along to meet more of the Community and learn from those doing interesting talks. The now packed room is an indication of the increasing interest in RoR and our great community.
This growth would not have been possible without our awesome team of Developers and the awesome Sydney Community who have supported our initiatives, and have helped us to truly grow the Ruby on Rails Community.
The impact of these initiatives extend beyond their origins in Sydney, with over one thousand people from around the world at the time of this post viewing our tutorial guides, and the expansion of the InstallFest to Singapore and Melbourne this month. Many new Developers outside of Sydney have been and are about to be introduced to RoR from these resources, and we are excited to see even more growth to come!
