iamcoreyg

Quick Recap

For those who don’t know, Ruby on Rails is a popular programming library that is used to develop web applications like Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Why I Needed to Learn Rails

The first programming language that I learned was PHP. Back in 2006 or so.. At the time, I was into the Newgrounds community and I would hang out in the Programming room on their forum. Around 2008, I started visiting this other site called Kongregate and heard that it was built with Rails, and I remember hearing how Rails was the next big thing, etc. So I looked into it but it was way over my head at the time so I gave up and that was that..  

So, I was strictly PHP until about 2013 when I started working for a small web shop. It was a really rails-heavy job and I HAD to learn Rails to be useful.

First Attempts

At first, I enrolled in a handful of interactive coding classes like Tree House, Codeschool, etc. Those were fine and I “felt” like I was learning but in retrospect, I wasn’t actually gaining any meaningful skills from it. I would take the quizzes and do the online activities but for the most part it wasn’t very useful as far as practical skills. 

It was most useful as an introduction to general concepts like MVC (Model View Controller), database architecture, and terminology. But I could have learned this from some articles instead of paying $10-$20 per month. 

Learn by DOING

I didn’t seriously start learning until I was assigned to a Rails project at work. I was assigned some tickets and had to implement some new features. Basically, I was thrown into the pool and how to start swimming. 

And, I realize that isn’t the most ideal answer to “How do I learn X?” but that’s really how I learned. I didn’t know how to do anything and I had to google my way through it.

For example, if I wanted to know how to get pull an object from the database so that I can use it in the view, I googled that specific question. And usually Stack Overflow came through me. Looking up solutions for specific problems as part of a project was the best method for me. As opposed to trying to learn the entire framework THEN going to build something. 

Also, having a “Rails” mentor or someone to ask. Whether it’s one person or some kind of Slack room or message board, getting hands-on help is very useful. So, definitely feel free to hit me up, if you have questions. 

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