On this episode, I'm joined by Derrick Fonseca for a conversation that touches on Derrick's path to software development and the commonalities in problem solving between programming and mechanical engineering, finding the problem, my experience at Rails World 2024, the state of the Ruby community and the benefits of attending meetups, writing understandable tests and test driven design, and my upcoming conference Sin City Ruby 2025.The Beginning of Infinity by David DeutschThe Fabric of Reali...

On this week's episode, Will Carey, CTO of Brand New Box and I get together for a chat that touches on RailsConf Detroit, Will's work at Brand New Box, the challenges of remote work, starting new development projects, the benefits and risks of deploying early, pets vs cattle when it comes to server maintenance, Kubernetes, state-full code vs stateless code, starting at the end and working backwards, the value of curiosity, the benefits of building long-term relationships, and my consulting wo...

On this episode, I'm joined by Adarsh Pandit, Executive Director of Ruby Central. We discuss men's fashion, Adarsh's path to becoming a developer, the distinction between contracting and consulting, defining what you do as a consultant, keeping yourself top of mind to potential consulting clients, how Ruby Central is building community among Rubyists, the current state of Ruby meetups & conferences, and my conference, Sin City Ruby.Derek Guy on TwitterRubyConfRailsConfrubycentral.or...

On this episode, Landon Gray and I get together for a conversation that touches on AI consulting, backfilling tests in a system that wasn't developed with TDD, generative AI assisting with testing in data science settings, using AI to develop your product vs using AI in your product, getting clients as an AI consultant, the benefits of remaining a solo contractor over starting an agency, work/life balance as a freelancer, whether charging an hourly rate is the best way to represent the value ...

On today's episode, I sit down with Eric Normand to discuss how to select good customers, the importance of sales and marketing to a freelancer, the importance of imagination, industry, and optimism, the purpose of consulting, how I structure my consulting services, other ideas for consulting structures, domain modeling, tech debt vs dull knives as a metaphor, how product design influences domain modeling, how having a theory of your product impacts domain modeling, the abundance of bad advic...

On this episode, I'm joined by Joel Hawksley, Staff Engineer at GitHub for a discussion of code ownership with regards to a 3-year WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) project at GitHub, benevolent dictatorship, collective ownability, terrible code vs acceptable code vs the viability of a project, writing good code vs solving problems, defining quality code, quality code resulting from clear conceptualization, the desirability (or not!) of perfect adherence to standards, reducing defec...

On this week's episode, I talk with Allison McMillan to discuss working environments, the importance of getting a remote team together on a regular basis, the benefits of a well thought out offsite, not-so-great offsite types, elements of a worthwhile offsite, and more.Allison McMillan.comAllison McMillan on LinkedInAllison McMillan on Twitter

On this episode, I talk to Matt Kirkland, Founder and Designer at Brand New Box. We talk about how to get good clients, the utility of reminding people that you exist, reading science fiction, ChatGPT as highly advanced autocomplete, reading history, The limits of ChatGPT-style AI as compared to AGI, and Matt's Dracula read-through newsletter Dracula Daily. Philip K. Dick on GoodreadsFrançois Chollet on Sean Carroll's Mindscape PodcastDracula DailyMatt Kirkland.comBrand New BoxMatt...

On today's episode I talk with Nate Clark, founder and principal software engineer of Brand New Box. We discuss Brand New Box's early days and what it's like to found an agency, the different ways Nate and I think about acquiring new business, marketing yourself, how big picture thinking can sharpen your day to day plans, deciding to build a product, the difficulty of finding a problem to solve where it makes financial sense to do so, and how personal relationships beget opportuni...

On today's episode, I talk with Alex Bunardzic about TDD (Test Driven Design), separating IO from business logic, configurable dependencies, TCR (Test and Commit or Revert), making many small commits rather than trying to write the whole program right the first time, distributed cognition, order dependency and imperative vs declarative programming, coding speculatively, and coding without shipping.The Agile ManifestoAlex Bunardzic on SubstackSoftware Breakthroughs for the 21st CenturyCoding I...

On today's episode, I'm joined by Alan Ridlehoover and Fito von Zastrow for a deep dive on flaky tests. Code with Jason - Testing Anti Pattern: Merged Setup DataCode with Jason - DuplicationCode with Jason - Why Duplication is More Acceptable in TestsA Brewer's Guide to Filtering out Complexity and ChurnFito von Zastrow on LinkedInFito von Zastrow on TwitterAlan Ridlehoover on LinkedInAlan Ridlehoover on TwitterThe Code GardenerCisco MerakiJobs at Cisco Meraki

Today Rich Steinmetz returns for a discussion that touches on switching between languages, both spoken and programming, structuring tests, getting the most out of reading a book, buying an existing business, struggles with CircleCI and GitHub Actions, my project SaturnCI, and the need for better APIs.The Beginning of Infinity by David DeutschThe SaaS Playbook by Rob WallingStart Small, Stay Small by Rob WallingAcquire.comFlippa.comRich Steinmetz on TwitterRich Stone.io

On this episode, I talk with Paul Campbell, co-founder and CEO of Tito. We discuss the origins and early days of Tito, trends in current web design, Parkinson's Law, my project SaturnCI, using LLMs in the coding process, the need to understand universal programming principles rather than superficialities, and the quest for dejankification.We Are Developers World CongressXOXO FestivalThe Beginning of Infinity by David DeutschThe Fabric of Reality by David DeutschTitoIoPaul Campbell on Ma...

In today's episode, I'm joined by Ciaran Lee, founder and Chief Engineer of Intercom for a discussion that touches on the genesis of Intercom and factors that enabled their success, scaling challenges when you're dealing with double-digit growth month to month, load balancers, canary deployment, the benefits of making many small deployments, how a robust testing environment benefits the hiring process, and the benefits of in-person vs remote work.The DevOps Handbook by Gene Kim et al.The Phoe...

On today's episode, Matthew Kaliara joins me for a conversation on his work with his startup Rescale Supply. We also discuss React, ViewComponent, system testing, looks vs usability in design, flat design, the value of convention in design, usability testing, the inseparability of good UI design and good code, the importance of appropriate names in core components, and how good code can help with hiring.Rescale.SupplyMatthew Kaliara on LinkedInMatthew Kaliara on TwitterKaliara.com

It must be both hot dogs and buns, not just the hot dogs themselves. Preparation (e.g. skipping meals beforehand) is allowed.Guests: Peter Cai, Brandon Casci.

On today's episode, Brad Pauly and I dig into the five causes (raised conditions, fixed time dependency, randomness, leaky state, and network or third party dependency) of flaky tests. We also discuss diagnosing flaky tests, common pitfalls of fixing flaky tests, and things that do work for fixing flaky tests.Brad Pauly on TwitterBrad Pauly on GitHub

On this episode, I talk with Verda Korzeniewski about going into programming straight out of high school. We also discuss Verda's experience in 3D printing, problems in modern manufacturing, and problem solving skills that transcend programming. Verda Korzeniewski on LinkedInVerda Korzeniewski on Instagram

On today's episode, Trae Robrock joins me for a discussion of his new Rails project Translated and his hotel management software Comfort.ly. We also talk about managing a hotel, investing in real estate, internationalizing a Rails app, investing in assets that give you income, investing in your personal brand, marketing Comfort.ly, connecting with potential clients in person, the importance of having a comfortable working environment, reading to enrich yourself, and taking care of...

On today's episode, Andrew Atkinson joins me once again for a recap of events at Sin City Ruby 2024. We also talk about Andrew's new Postgres consulting venture, his upcoming book High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails and what he learned in the process of writing the book, deciding how to communicate what you do as a consultant, naming things appropriately, how poor decision making in the early stages in the creation of an app can make it prohibitively expensive to fix later,&nbsp...

In this episode, Tom Henrik Aadland joins me for a conversation about learning languages, life as an ex-pat in small town Argentina, starting a company focused on quality control in Norwegian fish farming, microservices, object oriented design, learning from Fred George, and instilling a healthy testing culture. Tom Henrik Aadland on LinkedInTom Henrik Aadland on TwitterEGFred George on Twitter

On this episode, Rich Steinmetz returns once again for a conversation on working with and testing APIs.    Rich Steinmetz on Twitter Rich Stone.io

In this episode I talk with Andy Croll about Brighton Ruby Conference, RailsConf, and why attending a conference is an investment in your career. RailsConfBrighton Ruby ConferenceAndy Croll on TwitterAndy Croll on MastodonAndyCroll.comFirst Ruby FriendCoverageBook

In this episode, Ran Craycraft, Managing Director at Thoughtbot and I discuss consulting at Thoughtbot, the process of finding new clients, setting rates as a consultant, consulting vs becoming a full-time employee, earning a positive reputation as a consultant through thought leadership and referrals, the enduring popularity of Ruby on Rails, and work-life balance. Thoughtbot.comThoughtbot on LinkedInRan Craycraft on LinkedInSin City Ruby