The "Making a basic Rails app" talk at NovaRug went fairly well on Tuesday, about 60 or so people came out. I was pretty darn nervous but everyone says I did well (probably don't want to see me cry) :-)
If I could do the talk over again I would have more clearly stated in the Meetup group that I wouldn't be able to help people install Ruby or Rails, and to make sure to have everything working on your computer before coming. The talk went slower than I wanted for a variety of reasons, but all in all I really enjoyed it, and would love to do more public speaking/teaching in the future.
When am I going to finally get hired??? Well I have been doing multiple phone screens and interviews EVERY week, so I think it's just a matter of time till I find a place that is a mutual "good fit". Once I am hired, I will tell you more about some of the pit falls and horror stories I've had, and maybe a few tips on what not to do.
I signed up for Code School, and am going to go through some of their materials. A really talented, smart, senior RoR developer who I got to pair program with last week recommended it to me, so I decided to give it a try. It's supposed to be better than other places because of the challenges they give, to make sure you really know what you are learning. I don't know, I'll let you know what I think as I get through them.
By the way, if anyone is looking for someone to pair program with over Google hangout who is also trying to learn RoR, send me an email, or put your name in the comments. I always have a ton of people asking to pair program, and I can't pair program with everyone.
Not trying to be cocky, I just thought that maybe if someone wanted to know of someone else who was looking for a study/partner I could suggest one. No fee, no business idea, just trying to help others out and learn this RoR beast!
-Josh
