B'More Stunners: Over and Out!
Pair Programming Session with coach Beverly.
(Image Credit: Oreoluwa Akinsanmi)
It’s with heavy hearts we bid Rails Girls Summer of Code a farewell. We feel very humble to have been apart of this fellowship. RGSOC has given us the opportunity to not only sharpen our programming skills, but to also connect with an amazing community and form long-lasting friendships. This summer we had the opportunity to work on the Bundler project alongside supervisor André Arko. We were tasked with the project of making modification to Bundlers’ metrics dashboard so that it can accurately reflect its current metrics.
Here’s a little short summary of what we’ve accomplished:
- A better understanding of how Bundler and Rubygems.org works
- Submitted a Pull Request to Rubygems.org server
- Built a class that focuses on capturing system information and the options run with Bundler upon installation
- Refactoring our code…followed by a little more refactoring
- Attending Strange Loop Conference and meeting team Team JaM.
Ore and Nicola Hughes at the Strange Loop Conference
(Image Credit: Oreoluwa Akinsanmi)
Team JaM and Ore at the Strange Loop Conference.
(Image Credit: Team JaM)
Setting the bar high with Strange Loop
Ore - Yes, it is true. Conferences can be diverse and inclusive while being absolutely phenomenal! Now, I hope every tech conference I go to will be just as progressive.
There was never a dull moment or boring talk at STL. Every workshop room or auditorium was consistently packed. I started my experience off with the ally skills workshop hosted by Valerie Aurora where I was reminded that even I (a marginalized person) have biases that can be damaging if left unchecked; there’s always room for personal growth. Nicola Hughes talk, Is it a Bug or a Story, proved that tech can change the way we interact with information and produce justfying results. It affirimed alot about how I believe information should be represented. I won’t forget how sore my legs were the next day from all the fun I had at City Museum. It was a literal adult playground with a 10-story slide!. The entire audience including myself was captivated by the talk Ashley Nelson-Hornstein gave on the intersection of technology and hummanities. She really hit home when she introduced how gaming has been used to cope with cancer and depression. Not only were the speakers diverse, the topics of the talks were as well. Talks ranged from deconstructing and systematising music from central Africa by Chris Ford to “the future of web development” with Paul Kinlan. I even got to see my mentor Andrei Arko give a talk, LIES, DAMN LIES, AND METRICS, on the very project I was working on. Lastly, I was fortunate enough to meet Crystal Martin CoderGirl Program Director at launch-code and Ashe Dryden from Alter conf! I want to give a special shout out to Team JaM for letting me join their crew on this amazing adventure. I will definitely be going next year. Thanks you so much Rails Girls Summer of Code for sending me there.
Future plans:
Ashley - I fully attend to continue working on Bundler/Rubygems.org. There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed within the metrics project! Additionally, I will be starting my new job as a Junior Developer at a local tech company located in Baltimore. :D
Ore - I’m more motivated than ever to finish the project. I got a lot further on the project than I ever thought, which has been a huge boost of confidence.
Advice:
Ashley - My biggest advice would be to continue to remind yourself that you CAN and you WILL do it! You were chosen to be apart of this fellowship for a reason, so don’t doubt your awesomeness. It’s okay to have bad days. Just remind yourself that no one was born a developer. Every great developer had to go through this learning process at one point to succeed :)
Ore - My advice to next year’s participants is to keep on going no matter what. Also, be sure to get lost in the Rails Girls Summer Of Code slack channels; you never know what you’ll find in there.
Special Thanks:
Our sincere thank you goes out to our amazing coaches and mentors ( Benedikt André , Lynn, Jamie, Mira and Beverly) who dedicated their time this summer to help us on this journey. We could not have done it without your ongoing support, mentorship and pep talks!
Lastly, We would like to thank the wonderful organizers of Rails Girls Summer Of Code. Thank you for making this fellowship possible and giving us the opportunity to be a part of it! Because of this program we have grown as developers and individuals.
And for that we are eternally grateful <3
(Image Credit: giphy.com)