I’ve just returned from the regional rails conference know as acts_as_conference. Two main themes seem to have kept coming up.
Most consistent theme seemed to be along the lines of Success is not the result of spontaneous explosion, you must set yourself on fire. Every speaker that is an owner of a consulting firm said this in some form. All these are paraphrases but I believe it captures the essence of what was said. Starting with DHH Q&A Question “Why do so many projects fail?” DHH replies “People give up too soon. Don’t give up, basecamp was a failure for over a year. Just stick to it and keep pushing.” Two speakers mentioned “Turn off the TV”.. and get to work. Another “Overnight success takes at least 4 years so stick to it.” The entire keynote by Talbott “Fear of Programming” was dedicated to overcoming mental/psychological obstacles that hinder people from striking out and trying new things. Dan Benjamin emphasized a more mid-eastern quiet way of overcoming mental/psychological obstacles that enables people to achieve greater feats of intellect.
Second theme that was repeated many times could be summed up with “Lone Rangers wear out, burn out, and die out. Find a partner”. Whether a business partner or programming partner. From pair programming to running a business you need someone to be up when you are down, prod when you are slow, and encourage when are weary and start writing sloppy code. Somehow the words of George Washington at valley forge come to mind “We all hang together or we all hang separately.”
Probably the most practical immediately applicable thing that was mentioned was in one of the 5 minute lighting talks on PowerDNS ruby integration. Thanks to the guys at chi.mp.
The tech talk I enjoyed the most was on “Why you should never use fixtures.” While it was mostly a talk on what to call a particularly bad programming practice. It is immensely helpful to be able to name a basic flaw and systematically see the errors and know how to fix them. Highly recommended for any programmer that doesn’t have the benefit of a good comp/sci program.
Best Quote “You know you have arrived at an equitable way of dividing income when both partners feel equally screwed.”
