Tsaka tsaka tsu…
tsuuuuu! Our main (and probably only) RoR developer left the studio for pastures new a couple of weeks ago. While I was/am happy for him the panic the ensued was epic. I have been working on rails sites for a few months now but I knew that everytime I needed help he would be there to answer questions and provide solutions and support to a RoR newb like me. The fear and stress of him going literally had me crying in my sleep and panicking in my wake. How was I to cope when he left, with 6 major sites to be completed and loads of production sites that needed support or extending. Oh, the nightmares and day-mares…
Two weeks later I am still alive. Along with the rest of the bsnm team we managed to get through the first stressful days. Sites went live on time with no glitzes, problems were solved and luckily no new issues popped up. On a personal level I managed to do new things and solve existing issues on projects, which a week ago I would have passed on to somebody else. Although my understanding and knowledge of RoR are still limited, extending and modifying stuff was a challenge but not really a problem once I got over the fear in my head I would mess something up.
I didn’t do these things unsupported though. Biggest help were the rest of the team that put up with my frustration, supplied me with coffee and support and an extra pair of eyes when I couldn’t see anything after looking at the screen for so long. Also my project manager who instead of looking at the clock, joined me for cigarette breaks and listened to me thrashing out possible solutions and approaches to whatever I was trying to do at the time. And the head of the team who laughed and put up with me, when everytime I was stressed out, I would say “Don’t y’all think we should go back to expression engine?”
The other great resources in no particular order where:
- The Railscasts site cause I’m a visual person
- Peepcode Podcasts
- The Rails Documentation , a documentation site I can actually use and understand
- Simply Rails the best book for beginners, every time i need to get the basic workings of RoR straight again in my head
- Rails Wiki always pointing me to the right direction
- Rails Guides rails guides for newbs like me
- SVN and the safety net it provides. Hell what if I do really really mess up the app? I can always roll it back. Peace of mind .+-
I’ve learned a lot from this experience and I know that the next few weeks will be taxing but not in a bad way. In a geeky, slightly masochistic way I’m looking forward to it. And the fact that when discussing a new project yesterday I replied “This would be easier on RoR” can’t be a bad sign. (Although this last statement will probably come back to haunt me :P)
Comments
<quote>The fear and stress of him going literally had me crying in my sleep and panicking in my wake.</quote>
Wow, that must be hard :S
Congratulations for managing to get through this though :) And thanks for the links!
Congrats and thanks for the links since I was thinking of looking into RoR myself for quite some time now.
Bravo Maria gia tin omorfi selida sou.
Xairetismous apo Germania.
Giorgos