Rails - Mar 2007 - Training a Development Team on Ruby on Rails

I''m looking for suggestions or people''s experiences with
training
their development teams on RoR.  I have a great team of 5 primarily
Java/C++ programmers at my startup that have messed around a little
with RoR, but need solid training before we start our next enterprise
project using Rails.  I''m considering the following options:

1.	We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
2.	We find a local training class.
3.	Self Study (books and online documentation).
4.	Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
our .com home page or a time tracking application.
5.	One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even goes
to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The ''ol train
the trainer.

Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!

Keith


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keith <keith-HvMfZJdeoTJWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> 1.	We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
> 2.	We find a local training class.
> 3.	Self Study (books and online documentation).
> 4.	Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
> critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
> our .com home page or a time tracking application.
> 5.	One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even goes
> to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The ''ol
train
> the trainer.
> 
> Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!
	I like #4 or #5... but I learn by doing. Maybe get one of your more
competent senior developers to do #3 and #4 in conjunction for awhile and
then start bringing individuals in on #5 as the small applications get
bigger?

	- Tyler

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On Mar 30, 2007, at 4:59 PM, Tyler MacDonald wrote:
> keith <keith-HvMfZJdeoTJWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> I''m looking for suggestions or people''s experiences
with training
>> their development teams on RoR.  I have a great team of 5 primarily
>> Java/C++ programmers at my startup that have messed around a little
>> with RoR, but need solid training before we start our next enterprise
>> project using Rails.  I''m considering the following options:
>>
>> 1.	We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
>> 2.	We find a local training class.
>> 3.	Self Study (books and online documentation).
>> 4.	Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
>> critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
>> our .com home page or a time tracking application.
>> 5.	One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even  
>> goes
>> to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The
''ol
>> train
>> the trainer.
>>
>> Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> 	I like #4 or #5... but I learn by doing. Maybe get one of your more
> competent senior developers to do #3 and #4 in conjunction for  
> awhile and
> then start bringing individuals in on #5 as the small applications get
> bigger?
>
> 	- Tyler
I''d suggest you do 3, 4, and 5 all at the same time.  There''s
probably someone on the team that is
*  a "read the docs and try it once" person (#3, maybe #5)
*  a "just point me in the right direction" person (#4)
*  a person who fits the blank in: "well, just ask ___, s/he will  
know" (#5)

#1 and #2 won''t be too effective to start -- you need to know how  
much you don''t know!

And make sure you focus on the Ruby part of RoR.  You''ll save a lot  
of time if you avoid the pitfalls of thinking in some non-Ruby  
language while you''re doing Rails.

(Presumably the team already has a handle on (X)HTML, CSS,  
JavaScript, etc. ;-)

-Rob

Rob Biedenharn		http://agileconsultingllc.com
Rob-xa9cJyRlE0mWcWVYNo9pwxS2lgjeYSpx@public.gmane.org



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I am a (hands-on-coder) manager of a dev team of 6 & we just converted
to rails from struts/spring/hibernate (Java).  I had my team take a
week off of active development and complete the agile development with
rails book (2nd ed).  Then we started working on a project together
where every day, twice a day, someone would take 15 minutes to give a
demo or explain something new they learned about ruby or rails to the
group.  It worked.  3 months later we are 100% ruby/rails and fairly
efficient at things.

keith wrote:
> I''m looking for suggestions or people''s experiences with
training
> their development teams on RoR.  I have a great team of 5 primarily
> Java/C++ programmers at my startup that have messed around a little
> with RoR, but need solid training before we start our next enterprise
> project using Rails.  I''m considering the following options:
>
> 1.	We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
> 2.	We find a local training class.
> 3.	Self Study (books and online documentation).
> 4.	Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
> critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
> our .com home page or a time tracking application.
> 5.	One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even goes
> to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The ''ol
train
> the trainer.
>
> Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> Keith

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I''d say number 4.

Coming from java and c++ backgrounds it''s important to learn what NOT
to do. The easiest way to do that is to make your screw ups in an
unimportant project and get rid of your bad habits.


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On Mar 30, 3:54 pm, "keith"
<k...-HvMfZJdeoTJWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> I''m looking for suggestions or people''s experiences with
training
> their development teams on RoR.  I have a great team of 5 primarily
> Java/C++ programmers at my startup that have messed around a little
> with RoR, but need solid training before we start our next enterprise
> project using Rails.  I''m considering the following options:
>
> 1.      We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
> 2.      We find a local training class.
> 3.      Self Study (books and online documentation).
> 4.      Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
> critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
> our .com home page or a time tracking application.
> 5.      One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even goes
> to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The ''ol
train
> the trainer.
>
> Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> Keith
Working through the Agile 2nd Ed. book is probably as good a place to
start as any.  The hard part is getting out of the Java mindset and
into the Ruby mindset.  Otherwise some of the Rails stuff seems really
strange, and can potentially become a real obstacle for people.

That''s why we''ve found that one of the most important elements
of
getting up to speed with Rails is getting a solid introduction to Ruby
as well.  We''ve done training for C#/C++ developers, a kind of Ruby
101/Rails 101, and most of the concepts translate easily for Java
people as well.  If you''re in the Chicago area, send me an email if
you''re interested.  (We don''t rely on training income, so
we''re
cheap :-)

Jeff
softiesonrails.com
cohen.jeff-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org


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I really like the Pragmatic Agile Rails book, and it seems like
everyone here does too.  I went through building the sample app and I
thought it was very easy to follow.  I think this is the book I would
have my team study.

Everyone who has posted to this has consistently selected option 3,
self study.  Very interesting.  I think most people agree that 1 week
is an acceptable amount of time to let people study the book.

I was talking it over some more with my Architect Derrek Long.  Derrek
and I are thinking about going with option 3 and 4.  Then maybe
attending a more advanced Rails class later on.  I kinda figure that
any intro Rails class will focus on the stuff covered in the Prag
Agile Rails book, so the intro class won''t be terribly useful.

On Mar 30, 8:23 pm, "Jeff"
<cohen.j...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> On Mar 30, 3:54 pm, "keith"
<k...-HvMfZJdeoTJWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I''m looking for suggestions or people''s experiences
with training
> > their development teams on RoR.  I have a great team of 5 primarily
> > Java/C++ programmers at my startup that have messed around a little
> > with RoR, but need solid training before we start our next enterprise
> > project using Rails.  I''m considering the following options:
>
> > 1.      We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
> > 2.      We find a local training class.
> > 3.      Self Study (books and online documentation).
> > 4.      Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
> > critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
> > our .com home page or a time tracking application.
> > 5.      One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even
goes
> > to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The
''ol train
> > the trainer.
>
> > Any advice is way appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> > Keith
>
> Working through the Agile 2nd Ed. book is probably as good a place to
> start as any.  The hard part is getting out of the Java mindset and
> into the Ruby mindset.  Otherwise some of the Rails stuff seems really
> strange, and can potentially become a real obstacle for people.
>
> That''s why we''ve found that one of the most important
elements of
> getting up to speed with Rails is getting a solid introduction to Ruby
> as well.  We''ve done training for C#/C++ developers, a kind of
Ruby
> 101/Rails 101, and most of the concepts translate easily for Java
> people as well.  If you''re in the Chicago area, send me an email
if
> you''re interested.  (We don''t rely on training income, so
we''re
> cheap :-)
>
> Jeff
> softiesonrails.com
> cohen.j...-Re5JQEeQqe9DikU9e3U3fg@public.gmane.org Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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> 1.      We bring in a person/company to do onsite training for a week.
> 2.      We find a local training class.
> 3.      Self Study (books and online documentation).
> 4.      Small Applications.  We come up with some small non mission
> critical apps to build that we could use at our office.  For example,
> our .com home page or a time tracking application.
> 5.      One of us studies the heck out of Ruby on Rails and maybe even 
> goes
> to a class, then comes back and teaches the rest of us.  The ''ol
train
> the trainer.
Promiscuous pair programming. There is just no substitute.

At work we set up 3 monitors, 3 keyboards, and 2 computers across one 
super-cheap folding table. Not an elaborate desk and _not_ one of those 
brainless cubicle corner desks where only one person can sit.

Then we have "owned" chairs which we have each customized.

We pair program by alternating on the keyboards, without swapping them back 
and forth. And we use the third computer to run the test trigger system, and 
so each pair can Google independently.

-- 
  Phlip
  http://flea.sourceforge.net/PiglegToo_1.html


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On Mar 30, 9:59 pm, "Phlip"
<phlip2...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> Promiscuous pair programming. There is just no substitute.
This is how our team got up to speed on Rails and I have to agree that
it''s the best way. Pair up a more experienced RoR developer with
someone new to it and have them solve problems. It combines the learn-
by-doing, train-the-trainer, self-study, small application development
methods, and it is fast.

We did run into some problems when good developers, new to Rails but
quite proficient in it, were paired up with brand new Rails
developers, as it is hard to explain some of the agile/rails concepts
when they are pretty new to you. Yeah, I was one of those people who
found it difficult to explain:)

However - learning to explain the reasons behind the big concepts of
agile development and rails results in one having a firmer grasp of
them for oneself, so I suppose it all works out well in the end.

I also recommend the Agile Web Dev book from PragProg. However, the
Depot example is pretty basic, and once your developers have done it I
think it would be worth it to check out some of the screencasts from
PeepCode (http://www.peepcode.com), especially the ones on Test Driven
Development and RESTful Rails.

All the best,
Jacqui


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jacqui wrote:
>> Promiscuous pair programming. There is just no substitute.
>
> This is how our team got up to speed on Rails and I have to agree that
> it''s the best way. Pair up a more experienced RoR developer with
> someone new to it and have them solve problems. It combines the learn-
> by-doing, train-the-trainer, self-study, small application development
> methods, and it is fast.
Our boss has run out of Rails resumes in our area, so this is why I advised 
them to get PhP and Tomcat resumes...

;-)

-- 
  Phlip
  http://flea.sourceforge.net/PiglegToo_1.html


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Hey Philip, I like #2, #3, and #5.  Why?

#3)

Initially, I went the self study route because I was very curious
about the technology and I wanted to apply it to future development
projects.  It wasn''t structured training.  Thus, I found myself all
over the place until I started reading the AWDwRv1 and learning by
doing.  Thus, I like the idea of giving your team a week to cover the
AWDwRv2 as well as do the sharing as (dysinger) has stated earlier in
this thread.

#2 and #5)

Then I took the ''Ruby on Rails:  Express Train to Web Development"
given by Dave Thomas and Mike Clark.  Thus, I must say that 24 hours
of training by some of the people that helped to write the book was
well spent and erected a very solid foundation from which to build.
Also, it allowed me to ask questions from my self study, the material
in class, and general agile development practices using RoR.  Now, it
would be very easy for a more senior person in RoR to take acquired
knowledge and teach the junior people around them.

Lastly, you might want to also consider resume(s) that have Python and
Smalltalk because the Ruby language was partly derived from Smalltalk
conceptually and it''s
very similar to both Python and Smalltalk syntactically.  BTW, Ruby
also was derived from PERL, Lisp, and Ada.  Just some additional
information to think about.  Well, I hope that my comments are helpful
and I wish you the best of luck.

-Conrad

On 3/31/07, Phlip <phlip2005-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> jacqui wrote:
>
> >> Promiscuous pair programming. There is just no substitute.
> >
> > This is how our team got up to speed on Rails and I have to agree that
> > it''s the best way. Pair up a more experienced RoR developer
with
> > someone new to it and have them solve problems. It combines the learn-
> > by-doing, train-the-trainer, self-study, small application development
> > methods, and it is fast.
>
> Our boss has run out of Rails resumes in our area, so this is why I advised
> them to get PhP and Tomcat resumes...
>
> ;-)
>
> --
>   Phlip
>   http://flea.sourceforge.net/PiglegToo_1.html
>
>
> >
>
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