Oleg Andreev (oleganza). Back to articles list
How to become successful rubyist
Software developer from St. Petersburg (Russia) currently living in Paris, France.
- freelance eshop in my local town
- ror2ru posting from Yurii Rashkovskii
Where, and how, do you search for work now? Can you give me some advice on the best ways to find Ruby related work?
I'm searching for interesting people who i'd like to work with and learn from.
What advice would you give a Ruby beginner without any projects ready to show?
- Read others' code;
- Write your code;
- Publish it.
What have you learned in the past about working with Ruby, clients, how to find good clients, etc.? Many people dream about changing the past for a better present moment ... anything you want to share?
Nothing. The past is for learning from it, not for changing it.
What books, or sites, or recipes, or whatever else you can recommend (they may be about productivity, or negotiation, or thinking - anything you think will help me live a better life as a programmer)?
I'm inspired by writings and thoughts of Steve Dekorte, Jim Weirich, Dave Thomas, Zed Shaw, Linus Torvalds, Edgar W. Dijkstra. You may find their ideas in books, articles, blogs, twits, presentations, mailing list discussions. Rails/Merb guys are good at business and productivity, but not at code. Don't mix the one with another.
How much time per week do you work? How do you keep yourself productive and focused?
I don't count. Office work takes 40-44 hrs a week.
Productivity depends on interest. When doing a boring job, try to find something to put your effort in to keep yourself interested. Learn stuff, try to do it different way.
If the work is just completely stupid and you are doing it just to pay your bills, keep the focus on the ultimate goal: on something to be done. Do it as fast as you can and go home to your personal projects.
Table, chair, macbook pro, tea, orange juice. Textmate and xcode for writing code and terminal to control things.
How do recommend becoming a successful and profitable programmer?
What do you care about more: being successful, profitable or being a programmer? If you want to be happy doing some things you have interest in: evaluate your interest, make something useful for others: useful open source patch is a good start.
What should every programmer know?
I don't care about everyone, but to be a successful and nice guy you have to know how to communicate (be patient, tolerant, listen to others, learn english and write without grammar errors), process information (== science, you must know how science works: maths, physics, biology are good examples), know "the stuff": do not just observe, but learn things: be critical to what you see around, try to improve things, constantly ask yourself "why?" about everything you don't understand.
Please write your thoughts about being a programmer, fun and happy person.
Thank you!
