IndieRails office hours?

So, I’ve had this idea I’ve been kicking around for the past year. Jess and I have talked about it a few times, we just haven’t tried it out yet. The idea is what I’m calling IndieRails Office Hours. Here’s the current conception…

Once a month, we have a 1-hour video call where a Rails professional (e.g. indie maker, consultant, business owner, tech lead) presents a technical or business challenge to the group and asks for feedback. Jess and I play host, but the other attendees (maybe 4-6 others on the call) ask questions, help brainstorm, and offer ideas and suggestions. The goal would be to help get the person unstuck or at least move them a little further along with their challenge. We’d publish the videos to a private feed only for group members.

We might even get to a place where, if we knew what the challenge was ahead of time, we could find someone with that specialty to be part of the panel.

I don’t know if we should make time for an ongoing project like that, but selfishly, I wish something like this existed that I could occasionally bring a challenge to. And yes, a mastermind group definitely helps with this, but the time is usually split over all participants and so it’s hard to dig into one pressing challenge. And getting fresh ideas and perspectives in a rotating panel could be really nice.

What do you think?

I would probably be interested in that.

Myself, i am starting to consider two separate projects that i have been thinking about. The first one (a financial portfolio balancer) has a sort of hacky prototype running. The second one is a kind of hobby school management & administration tool that is a bit specific to the local market.

For the first one, i am mostly the customer, but the second one has a concrete clientele with long years of experience and a very clear set of requirements and pain points.

I am by trade a sysadmin more than a programmer, but i feel drawn to the programming side again, very strongly so. I'm using ruby and rails since a decade now, but only really on the side, and i am missing routine, i think. and since i am doing all of this on my own, i'm missing feedback, even a way to formulate feedback requests. (-> this might make participating in a panel probably a bit awkward in the beginning, but i'm willing to put myself into that position)

currently, i am returning back to follow Avdi's stuff on graceful.dev and also GoRails episodes / paths that seem to be supporting the issues i am running into. Those issues are usually revolving around architecture, as my code often seems naive and procedural to me, and it feels a bit off.

anyway, long write up, but yes, i would be interested. :)

Hey, thanks for sharing this @whysthatso!

and since i am doing all of this on my own, i'm missing feedback, even a way to formulate feedback requests.

As someone who was mostly self-taught, I feel like I really understand and relate to this.

this might make participating in a panel probably a bit awkward in the beginning, but i'm willing to put myself into that position

Yes, that makes total sense! I think people learn a lot from observing and participating in these kinds of discussions, but it's not always easy for the person in the "hot seat", especially if they aren't used to being in that kind of situation. I think part of what helps there is making sure you set a group expectation of support and encouragement for anyone willing to share their challenge.

currently, i am returning back to follow Avdi's stuff on graceful.dev and also GoRails episodes / paths

Yeah, if I hear you correctly, it sounds like you are continuing to expand your own learning with available resources out there. But since you are doing Rails development mostly on the side, you're missing what you might get if you were on a team, with more senior devs who could talk through architectural solutions with you, and review your PRs.

Appreciate the perspective, it sounds like there's some opportunities here. It's making me think! 🤔😊

I'd rock up, timezone allowing. If you think I might be helpful.

As for...

as my code often seems naive and procedural

There's a lot to be said for code like that.

I'd rock up, timezone allowing. If you think I might be helpful.

Awesome, thanks for that @andycroll!

There's a lot to be said for code like that.

+1