I'm further down the same road. :) I'm currently interviewing for ROR jobs and C# ones. Currently employed but looking for a better fit.
I agree with others that you should just start coding and post your work up. In interviewing, people want to see your work. You need running sites that demonstrate functional capability and design ability. That's what really helped me. I'm waiting on an offer for a ROR right now because of it. Expect to show code as well. As for learning ROR, I would say, "Dive in". If you are new to web development then you have a lot to learn about. You've got to learn about tableless layouts, CSS, Javascript, HTML all in addition to Ruby and separately the Rails framework. I agree that a solid understanding of Ruby is very helpful, however, don't let that slow you down from jumping in. Use the web as a resource and here's my suggestions for getting started. This assumes you are already familiar with DB concepts and OOP in general. * Start with a guide that walks you through a small project. The official ROR books are good at this. (Agile Development with Ruby on Rails) * Realize that Test Driven Development is where you have to be eventually. However, when you are just learning, that can be a lot to grasp before experimenting with code. Wait on that while getting familiar. * Spend some time really learning a few key Ruby concepts. They are all over in Rails. (I rank them in this order) * Ruby blocks * Hashes * Arrays * OOP in Ruby (Classes, methods, and attributes) * Using the book as a guide, you'll get familiar with the MVC pattern. * Learn deployments (Capistrano probably) * Assuming you are coming from an IDE perspective, I recommend trying Netbeans (free) and RubyMine (trial, then pay). Once I got over some snags in RubyMine, I happily paid for it because it is just so much better than anything else I've tried. I used Netbeans for a couple years first. As for good ROR resources, I recommend... * Railscasts - excellent resource * Ruby5 podcast - news and items to investigate. Exposure to new ideas * RailsEnvy podcast - news and items to investigate. Exposure to new ideas * RailsGuides - Walk-through specific concepts and shows best practices * ruby-toolbox - Figure out what most people are using * http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails - Scaling Rails podcast series - learn about designing for performance and how to troubleshoot performance Jump in! Enjoy the adventure! -Mark E. On Jan 6, 9:07 pm, tundal45 <dixit.ash...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am learning Rails & Ruby right now with the ultimate goal of using > these technologies full time. However, my current job is at a windows > shop & I am not in a position to influence any decisions on what > technologies to use. I have a limited understanding of web > development. However, my database skills have improved significantly > thanks to my role in my current job. Given this background, I was > wondering what I need to achieve before starting to look for a job as > a Rails developer. > > Obviously learning Rails & fundamentals of Ruby as soon as possible is > on the list. Learning the tools of the trade in terms of Git & RSpec & > others is also something that is on my list. I wanted to get a sense > of what are other things I could do to substitute for work experience? > Participating in the community I think would be a great way to do it > but I wanted to get a sense of the competency level that is a minimum > to do this successfully. What are other action items that I need to > pay attention to? > > I would also really appreciate it if people could tell me what are the > ways they found were the most effective in terms of learning Rails. > How much of Ruby do you delve into before you build complex apps? How > far can you go & get away with without focusing too much on Ruby? > > Thank you very much. I am willing to invest the necessary time in > learning the language and building a solid foundation. I just need a > little guidance from the community to point me in the right direction. > > Thank you very much for your guidance! It is very much appreciated!
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