Identify the Team  

  I locate all of the team members starting with Twitter accounts, email, blogs, etc. If you use Gmail,  Rapportive can be a useful tool to help you locate them on other platforms. Next, I build a list in Twitter, including all team members, so that I can more easily get a feel for how the they engage with co-workers, customers and friends. I research some of the team members personal blogs to gain some insight about hobbies and what makes them tick.

Learn about the culture

Each business has it’s own organizational culture, this includes the teams values, visions, beliefs and habits. It is important to learn about the culture early on so you can get a feel for how you may or may not fit within the team. With a little research, you should be able to easily locate a companies culture and core values. If you are unable to, you can get a feel for how you may fit while you are “identifying the team” or email a team member and ask them if they would help you.

Familiarize yourself with the product

If you are applying to work for a company and you are not already familiar with their product or service, get familiar immediately. Signup for the trial, if they don’t offer a trial, you could pay for a month of service, assuming there are no contracts involved, etc. If all else fails, email the team, explain that you just applied and want to become more familiar with their service. They may be able to give you limited access during their hiring process, it won’t hurt to ask.

I recently applied at Buffer and Help Scout. Although I was not chosen for either position, I learned a lot about each team, their products and their culture. Both companies offer amazing products, as well as passionate teams to back them up. I am glad that I had the opportunity to connect with each company and engage with some of their amazing team members.

If you are in search of a new career, use each application process as an opportunity to learn and engage with amazing people who make amazing things. If you don’t get the job, walk away with your chin up, glad you had the opportunity to meet new people and learn new things.

I feel that if I can focus on these three things I can better connect with my family and still get what I need done to make my career change.

 Say yes, more than I say no

Sometimes, I tell my kids no, for one of two reasons. The first is because I am very overprotective and other times it’s just because I am selfish and don’t want to clean up their mess, go outside, stop doing what I am doing, etc. I need to start taking a few seconds and considering their requests before just saying “no” as an almost instant reaction. Many opportunities to create memories can be missed by saying no.

 Encourage my kids

While listening to the audio book “START” by Jon Acuff recently, I heard a part of the book that spoke about not killing our kids dreams. He said that we should encourage our children to be whatever they want to be and not kill that passion they have by telling them that can’t be or accomplish certain things. My kids are all very talented in different ways and I need to work harder to help them embrace their creativity and talents.

 Balance work/family time more efficiently

I have very few hours each day to work on learning ruby, cultivating relationships via social media and keeping up with my blog. I usually grab my laptop as soon as the kids go to bed and work until midnight, or until I fall asleep in front of my laptop. I want to increase the time I spend online, so I can ramp up my social networking in order to find a great customer support position.

In order to do this I will need to start conditioning myself to get up earlier and do it before I go to my day job. I don’t want to steal time from my family when I can simply get up earlier. I usually get out of bed at 7am and will need to get up around 5am to accomplish what I want to get done.

In everything we do, we can all find areas where we need to improve. I believe in identifying my areas of weakness and taking action to become better.

Some of us don’t have a huge following on our social platforms, for various reasons. Maybe you are a new blogger, or just not really good at networking or knowing how to find people with like interests. There is a way that you can accomplish all of the following with the use of hashtags:

• Reach a broader audience
• Find people with similar interests
• Attract more relevant followers
• Create more opportunities for yourself

Lets get to it! Let’s say you have 500 followers on Twitter and only your wife and mother are subscribed to your new blog.  You write a great blog post about something you learned, that you feel could really help a lot of people.  If you tweet a link to your amazing new post, your potential reach is only 500, that is unless someone happens to retweet it.

Hashtags

  
  Ok, here is where it gets fun! Your post is about something you learned in ruby on rails. In order to reach your target audience, you would add the hashtag #rubyonrails right? Now, what do you think that did to the potential reach of that very same tweet? By simply adding the hashtag #rubyonrails you have just increased the potential impact of your tweet by 24,424! That’s a huge increase and even better, it’s reaching a targeted audience who cares about ruby on rails.

The important thing to remember, is that you identify the most relevant hashtag for whatever you are posting, otherwise people won’t be sticking around or networking with you. For example, I will be using the hashtag #socialmedia for this post, the potential reach for that hashtag is 272,413. If you want to do some hashtag research, checkout www.tweetreach.com

I really enjoy helping people learn about technology and social media. To be honest, if I start talking about it with you, you’ll have a hard time shutting me up. If you have a question, please fee free to reach out. I am not an expert on social media, but I would enjoy helping you get better at it.

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Here is where I want to caution you, especially if you have no prior programming experience.  Spend plenty of time learning ruby before moving onto rails.  I was advised by my friend Beverly to get a good grasp on ruby first, but I didn’t exactly listen.  Not because I didn’t respect her opinion and guidance, but because I was swept way by the magic that rails offers.

I went through some of the ruby training provided by Treehouse and Codeschool, and was also watching some great videos from Railscasts which got me off course.  Don’t confuse what I am saying, I love Railscasts, Ryan Bates is a great teacher.  I am just saying that until you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of ruby, you should be careful not to move forward too quickly.

If you are like me and crave the sense of accomplishment you get when you create an app and bring it to life by deploying it, then you are likely to get off track.  Another thing that drew me away from the fundamentals was scaffolding.  If you are not familiar, scaffolding creates a simple interface to put data in the database.  The downside to scaffolding is that it will likely create many files that you don’t need.  It is better to determine what you need in your app and add each piece as you go.

Before you jump into rails, I recommend you have a solid understanding of the following:

• Strings
• Variables
• Methods
• Blocks
• Objects
• Classes
• Numbers
• Arrays
• Hashes
• Loops
• Modules

Moving forward like I did, before you are ready will only cause you a great deal of frustration and discouragement.  During the time, beginning the second week of Nov 2012 through March 1, 2013 I did absolutely no work learning ruby and rails, as you can see by my github activity.  I was very discouraged because I could not figure things out and was burning myself out trying to understand what I felt I should have already known.  I had made up my mind, I was throwing in the towel, maybe this stuff just wasn’t right for me.

One day in late February 2013, I received an encouraging call from my friend Beverly.  After our phone call, I decided to give it another try and get back to coding.  I found myself right back in the same routine of cloning open source projects and following tutorials, but still not understanding ruby the way I should. I began my ruby and rails journey with Treehouse on April 1, 2012 and at the present time, I still do not have a good understanding of some of the basics of ruby.  Even though I took a 3.5 month break, I still feel that I should be a lot further along than I am right now. I attribute much of the frustration I am experiencing right now from not building a good foundation in ruby at the beginning of my journey.

If you are new to programming in ruby, I hope that you will take something away from this post.  Moving to fast, although exciting, will only cause you major problems down the road.

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]]> http://thecommongeek.com/index.php/how-not-to-learn-ruby-on-rails/feed/ 6 http://thecommongeek.com/index.php/a-dad-has_many-responsibilities/ http://thecommongeek.com/index.php/a-dad-has_many-responsibilities/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 02:52:12 +0000 dkeefe http://thecommongeek.com/?p=1015 As Dads, we have many responsibilities and shoulder many stressful things.  We often shield our families from these stresses and concerns because we feel that it is our duty.  We want the best for our families and want them to always feel safe and happy.  Dads play many roles and are seen in a different light according to each member of their family.

• A strong superhero who can lift anything (and kill scary bugs)
• A smart and handy guy who can fix almost anything
• A great provider who keeps the family safe
• The navigator and course charter on family road trips
• The great protector who investigates scary noises at night
• A loving comforter who can ward off scary dreams with a bedtime prayer

For those dads on a journey to learn new things, such as programming, so that they can make a career jump, maintaining all of these roles can be very difficult.  We must balance our family time with the time we spend in front of our computers.  We can very easily make the argument that having time to learn is extremely important, for the good of the family.  The truth is, in my opinion, nothing is more important to the family, than spending time with the family and creating great lasting memories. We can all adjust our schedules and commitments so that we have time with our family.  We can get up a little earlier or even stay up a little later to accomplish our learning goals.  We can always make up for lost hours of sleep, but we can never make up for lost hours with our family.

Being a dad is a very special and rewarding job.  I only hope that I am doing the best I can to instill great values in my children, so that they might pass them on to my grandchildren.

For the past year, I have been learning ruby on rails and making a lot of great friends along the way. My journey from a “Body Shop Asst. Manager” to becoming part of an amazing team in the tech industry is still being written, but I am confident that the right position is just around the corner.

I applied for a great customer support position at Buffer last week. Buffer is a really great company, with an amazing team who care a tremendous amount  about their customers, as well is helping each team member grow. With my 15+ years experience in customer service, passion for technology, commitment to team balanced with commitment to family I would mesh perfectly with their culture. I hope to hear some good news soon!

Here are a few tips that I think are important when seeking a new career:

• Stay Positive: Don’t get discouraged if doors close on you. Do your best to remain positive in everything you do, people always remember someone who has a positive attitude.

• Embrace Social Media: You may be thinking that this is a no brainer, especially for someone trying to get into the tech industry. The truth is, some people are just not comfortable with some areas of social media. If you are they type of person who just dabbles with Facebook, but feels a little intimidated by Twitter, now is the time to step out of your comfort zone. Push yourself to explore other platforms and network with people. If you have questions, ask someone. If you are afraid to ask a stranger, email me, I would be glad to help you.

• Be Bold: I’ve heard the phrase “If you want something you’ve never had before, you need to be willing to do something that you have never done before”. This is a very true statement, so challenge yourself to think of new ideas and creative ways to get your name out there and show the world what you have to offer.

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Research

When you meet someone new, whether it be in person, or online, do some research. Don’t be a creepy stalker, but find out if they have a blog, twitter or website and what they are most passionate about. Learn what it is that makes them tick. Do you both share any common interests? Are there any areas that you may be able to help this person in some way?

Use Lists

Use Twitter lists to organize your contacts into groups. For example, if you are trying to get a job at a specific company, find all of the team members and add them to a list. Use similar lists for core groups of friends, people in specific trades or groups and anyone else who you would like to engage with on a regular basis. Once you have your lists, you can easily monitor these groups and discover interesting things about them and how they interact online.

Track Engagement

I use a simple spreadsheet to keep track of my frequency of engagement. You can do this in Google Drive so that it is always accessible. We often lose track of time and don’t realize just how long it has been since we last contacted someone. Use whatever works best for you, but make an effort to keep track of the frequency of your engagement.

Be Genuine

It’s really important to be genuine when cultivating your relationships. Don’t just try and make someone think that you care about them. Invest a little time to read their blogs, give helpful feedback and encourage them on their journey. People aren’t stupid, they can tell if you aren’t sincere. If you find it difficult to be sincere, then maybe you shouldn’t engage with them at all.

Have No Hidden Agenda

The most important thing to remember when you decided to work on cultivating relationships is not to expect anything in return. That’s not to say that you can’t hope for a positive outcome, or some really great opportunities to open up for you along the way. I’m just saying don’t seek out a person because you think you can gain something by engaging with them. Look for opportunities to help people, for no other reason than you care and want to help them grow. Let them know that you are there if they need you and always look for ways to encourage them. Trust me, a little encouragement goes a long way.

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   I am so glad that I went to LessConf, on the other hand, very disappointed that it was announced by Allan and Steve as being the last LessConf. I really hate that I didn’t attend any of the previous conferences, but I am really hoping that Allan and Steve change their minds.

I had a great time at LessConf and met a lot of really great people from all over the world. At first, I was a little hesitant about just walking up to strangers and introducing myself, but I forced myself to just do it. At dinner, I went out of my way to sit at a table full of people that I had never met. It wasn’t long before I was learning just how amazing the people I was sitting with were.

The talks were great, so many interesting speakers, some inspired us to do the things we have been holding back on doing, while others helped us to realize we need to be thankful for what we already have. If there were any issues behind the scenes, I didn’t see them. Everything went great in my opinion and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity.

My goal is to maintain contact with all of the great people I met and cultivate those relationships over the next several months.

What I hope to gain:

• Meet amazing and talented people in the tech industry
• Establish new relationships with potential future employers
• Network with new programmers/designers so I can continue to encourage them and be encouraged by them
• Allowing people to see just how passionate I am about ruby/rails and getting into the industry

What I have to offer potential employers:

• Super friendly person
• Encouraging to others
• Passionate about all things geeky
• Enjoy learning new things
• Open to constructive criticism
• Enjoy teaching others about technology
• Approx. 10 months ruby/rails  experience
• Strong desire to do work that matters

  So, if you are going to LessConf, I would really like to meet you!

@thecommongeek

Resume denniskeefe.me