Ruby and Rails for developers
26 - 27 Jul 2012 at The Post Office

As one of the devs with a 32bit box, it was a little frustrating been thrust in the spotlight throughout the opening minutes. It was however quickly resolved and the vagrant box was built by lunch.
I think to resolve future issues of this nature why not make the box build available in the weeks/days prior to the event, making it a requirement that all devs up and running with with the build well in advance.

I thought it was fantastic that we were introduced to the theory first, Phil's dedicated web pages which helped 'flow' through the initial hours are a great idea, maybe some form of navigation to these pages would be more suitable however rather than "forward slash explore".

Lunch was great, should have been pre-ordered en-mass though, the guy in subway on the second day even said if we had called ahead there would be discounts available!

I think due to the nature of devs, when we got rolling it felt like a race, a competition. I understand that this is an individual preference, but maybe just pointing out to the class that to take your time, understand. It might just take that 'edge' off.

Phil was a top instructor, as a group of experienced devs we were throwing some tricky questions his way, at every instance he responded gracefully and as fully as he knew, in the couple of times he didn't have an answer, he told us so. That integrity is appreciated above all skills.

This suggestion may not be possible to implement, but by its very nature both ruby and rails aren't accessible and as great as having a pre-configured box was, I know that my lack of HOW to set up the required packages/dependencies will get frustrating when I go to roll my own.

All in a great job, loved the course. It has without doubt give me the nudge to move forward with ruby in particular.

Kind regards,
Matt Kirwan

Wow, where to start...

Firstly, Philip was excellent! His passion for Ruby, the community and the skills involved really came across. He had obviously prepared very well for the course, and responded well to the questions asked, even if some of them were a bit trying!

The course itself was very very good. I enjoyed the progress we made, and particularly found it useful that we were encouraged to branch out on our own, familiarise ourselves with the docs (and Google of course!) and figure out the answers to problems on our own. This to me feels like a better approach than being hand-held all the way through, as this is not something that's going to continue once you walk out of the door at the end of the course!

On day 2 in the afternoon, I did start to get a little bit lost, but I think this is something that's bound to happen when everything starts to step up. Rails is a very clever and very useful framework, and I'm definitely going to spend some time practising and improving my knowledge in the future.

The provided lunch was great, although I've never been in a Subway that didn't have a toaster before... The process was slightly confusing for the Subway staff, a suggestion in the future may be some sort of order to make sure everyone gets what they would like.

The Post Office was great, although it was a bit of a pain having to rearrange the room on the second morning. The wifi seemed to be quite stable, and the room was more than adequate for our needs.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, really enjoyed learning Ruby and Rails, and I really hope that Philip continues to impart his knowledge on others through a similar sort of workshop, his teaching skills are excellent!

I'm looking forward to the intermediate course in a couple of months ;)

Over all I think the course was nicely paced and the venue was good.

I would have liked to have Sinatra covered but it was obvious that by the level of questioning that we did spend a lot of time answering some very good questions instead.

Cheers for a great educational experience!

Mike

Organisation
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I would have liked to grab a few minutes at the beginning of day one, if only to welcome everyone properly and to make sure everyone had what they needed; I felt like it was more chance that they did. Philip did a great job of having a Virtualbox VM ready on multiple USB sticks to pass around, with the only real hiccup being that it was only a 64bit VM and we had a couple of 32bit hosts - Philip quickly built a 32bit version though. Great work.

I think we could have gave Subway a heads-up that we would be coming en mass, if only to relieve a little bit of confusion on their part. Also, a 5 or 10 minute break every 90 minutes or so wouldn't have gone amiss.

Venue
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I found the Post Office more than suitable, and the guys at PNE were great. Although, it was difficult arrange pre/post workshop access and I still have their projector! Wii Mario Kart on the neighbours house anyone? :)

The venue smelt a little "funny" on the second day, minor but annoying.

Trainer
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In a word, "Wow". Philip was fantastic and he clearly knows his stuff, his passion for the language and it's community was prevalent throughout the workshop. I always found him approachable, and considerate when any questions arose.

Philip is a credit to the Ruby and Rails community, and I hope he continues to teach/train as it clearly makes him very happy.

Content
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Philip had obviously spent a lot of time planning how to deliver the course content, and it showed. I really liked how we started with Ruby and gradually moved up to using Rails without ever feeling too lost. Sure there were stumbling blocks but those, I felt, were there by design to challenge us. I must admit, I got a little lost towards to the last hours or so of day 2.

Overall (or, if you prefer, TL;DR)
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The workshop went by without any issues to speak of, and the venue seemed to be more than suitable. Philip was great, and he delivered everything I expected he would. I really enjoyed learning about Ruby, and will definitely be looking to explore it further. However, Rails not so much.

Anthony.