I've been working with Ruby since 2008 and working at Engine Yard since 2011. In my free time, I love stand-up paddle boarding, rock climbing and hanging out at the beach with my family.
Working in the Support organization at Engine Yard, I sometimes run into platform issues when helping customers. Sometimes, the problem is big enough that I need to create an internal ticket but many times, it's easier to just fix the issue.
At Engine Yard, we're fortunate enough that if someone wants to work on the platform, they are free to do so; just make sure everything is tested and submit a GitHub Pull Request. Letting anyone in the company work on the product makes employees and customers happier. This talk will encourage business owners to give their employees more control and inspire employees to put more into the products of their companies.
I have not given this talk before.
"DAD! I'm hungry."
"DAD! Can you tie my shoes?"
"HONEY! The baby needs a diaper change."
How do you balance all the distractions with raising children and still be able to deliver at your job? As Ruby developers, it's something that many of us can relate to but few really talk openly about. I work full-time at Engine Yard, create videos for Code TV, and also maintain RailsInstaller. All of that needs to balance nicely with my family and this talk will explore some of the problems I've faced and how I address them.
I have not given this talk before but am scheduled to do so at Ancient City Ruby in St. Augustine in April.
The Infrastructure as Code movement has been great in a lot of ways. It has brought the idea of managing our servers in much the same fashion as we do our applications. Unfortunately, our repositories tend to grow with the size of the infrastructure and the amount of new components that need to be added.
We have to make sure to periodically clean our "kitchen" so that we continue to be confident in making changes to the code base. This talk will focus on some of the issues that I've seen when working with a large Chef repository that powers the Engine Yard platform, specifically with trying to add new features without breaking old ones.
I have not given this talk before.