Teaching Myself Ruby on Rails Programming

Recently I started on my venture to teach myself Ruby on Rails. Coming from a LAMP background I find it not so easy to adapt tot. The code is more complex, but the actual product seems to be what I have been looking for in regards to having  community support. RoR seems to be more of a programming movement. You can free tutorials all over the internet with a simple Google search. Below are some sites that I recommend to beginners. They have helped me grasp a better understanding of Ruby (and Ruby on Rails). I so used to front-end development, it's like I starting all over again. It reminds me of being in HS back in the day and learning how to program PASCAL. The lack luster of design and more of commend coding somehow is intimidating at first. Coming from PHP where there are a lot of free templates and design layouts out there really pushed the urge to be graphically in tuned. But after my first week of studying RoR, I feel like I was missing the real development aspect of websites. Sure its easy to grab some code from one site and alter it for your own benefit, but to actually write everything yourself and see the fruition of your ideas at work seems to be more fulfilling.

Another thing that I like with RoR is that I feel I'm going to be apart of something. Some sort of movement to make websites better and more intuitive. With so many PHP developers in the world I always got the feeling that I was not being innovative in any kind of way. PHP developers are a dime a dozen, whereas RoR are a rare breed. Not saying that I do not like PHP any more and i'm moving over completely to the "Ruby"-side, but  I have always felt the need to do something that not everyone was doing. So somehow my efforts in creation meant that I had to change the way things were done in order for it to mean something to me.

RoR is not easy to learn, by no means. I have a deadline to get a MVP developed and now since, college is over for the summer, I will be getting deeper and deeper in my efforts to develop this new product. Speaking of which, Why are developers so hard to find these days?

Training Links:
- TryRuby.org - Very basic training, but very good at explaining what RoR is.
- TheNewBoston.org/tutorials.php - This guys tutorials are right on point for the beginner. He has 32 videos that walk you through step by step.
- RailsforZombies.com - Very informative. You must know some Ruby before you start here. The course goes right into writing code and giving examples of the possibilities of RoR

As I learn more about RoR I will be posting my findings. If you have any questions, or If you can offer any help, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks!

The Start of a New Day

Hello everyone. I set this site up a couple of days ago because of a suggestion of a person I met during a business meeting. I was not sure how to begin. what I should talk about, or even what I felt someone would be interested in reading. A sort of writers block before I actually had a subject. I've always found writing about nothing easy to do, but when writing for a website about yourself, it made me think of all these things. It caused me to possibly over think.

So now I just decided to start. Start from the beginning of my thought. If you somehow landed here I want to invite you to give me feedback about anything you read on this blog. From time to time, I will ask questions, ask for suggestions, and ask your honest opinions.

I wanted to start this now because i'm currently at a pivotal point in my life. I have a lot of things going on (thanks to the people that have supported me) and I want to chronicle my lessons learned and ideas created.

Most of my life I have always thought of myself as as entrepreneur. Starting when I was 11 I started the typical pet sitting business, racked leaves, mowed lawns, and tried my hand at being a hip hop artist. For years I have had this yearning drive to start something on my own and create something big out of it. Now that I'm 35 years old, married, a business owner, I have the yearning to start again with something new. Ruby on Rails! I've done PHP and the typical HTML web development and design projects, but my new business venture is calling for me to get really involved in coding backend applications. Scalability is definitively the key at this point and from the research that I have done, and the meeting I had with a local Baltimore entrepreneur, its really the only way I feel that I will get this business developed. Its the challenge that I like, its what drives me. The fighting with my back against the wall is the way I have been able to really create great things in my life.

I ask that anyone and everyone go on this journey with me as I start day one of coding and developing this project. I will try my best to keep this blog updated with my latest ventures and my latest pitfalls as I create from scratch something that I feel will be my greatest creation (with the exception of my children) yet!!