Code and the Coding Coders who Code it
We talk about Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, and everything in between. From tiny tips to bigger challenges we take on 3 questions a show; What are you working on? What's blocking you? What's something cool you want to share?
Full Episodes
Episode 44 - Adam McCrea
What if you could scale your SaaS platforms effortlessly across diverse hosting services? Join us as we welcome Adam McCrea, the brilliant mind behind JudoScale, who takes us through his fascinating evolution from being a Rails developer to creating a cutting-edge autoscaling solution. Adam opens up about the technical challenges he faced while adapting JudoScale for platforms like Render, F...
Episode 43 - Stan Lo
What drives a seasoned developer from Taiwan to London, and how does one translate a passion for Ruby into groundbreaking projects? Hear from Stan Lo of Shopify's RubyDX team as he shares his captivating journey and his significant impact on the Ruby development landscape. From his essential work on the debug gem and IRB to his current efforts with the Sorbet type checker and Prism parser, S...
Episode 42 - Cody Norman
Cody Norman, an independent Ruby on Rails consultant and creator of SpotSquid, takes us on a fascinating journey through the intersection of technology and tattoo artistry. Discover how Cody transformed a traditionally paper-based industry into a tech-savvy environment, using customer feedback to tackle the unique challenges faced by tattoo artists and shop owners. With anecdotes from his te...
Episode 41 - John Nunemaker
Ever wondered why a seasoned entrepreneur would choose acquisition over starting from scratch? Join us as veteran Rubyist John Nunemaker unravels the secrets behind his strategic purchase of Fireside FM. You’ll discover the ins and outs of transitioning ownership and handling infrastructure while gaining insights into why stepping into an existing company can be a game-changer for entreprene...
Episode 40 - Jeremy Smith
What does it take to build a modern, distraction-free forum platform that fosters deep community engagement? Join us as we welcome back Jeremy Smith, a seasoned Rails developer and consultant, who shares his journey of creating Liminal, an innovative platform inspired by conversations at RailsConf. Jeremy's insights offer a unique look into his work under Hybrid Studio, his passion for Ruby ...
Episode 39 - Aaron Francis
Ever wondered how a backend developer can transition into a successful content creator while juggling a bustling family life? Join us as Aaron Francis, a prominent figure in the tech video content space, shares his incredible journey. From his early days working with Laravel to launching a comprehensive SQLite course, Aaron provides invaluable insights into balancing full-time commitments wi...
Episode 38 - Amir Rajan
Ready to unlock the secrets of game development using Ruby? Join us as we chat with the ingenious Amir Rajan, the mastermind behind the DragonRuby Game Toolkit. Amir takes us on a captivating journey from his corporate days in app development to becoming a trailblazing indie game developer. You'll be amazed at how Amir leveraged Ruby's expressive power to create innovative games and how his ...
Episode 37 - Kinsey Durham Grace
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the meticulous planning for RubyConf, where Kinsey Durham Grace reveals exciting new initiatives aimed at making the conference more inclusive and accessible for developers of all skill levels. Learn about the importance of the early Call for Proposals (CFP) and the exciting RubyConf tracks planned for this year. As she details the structure of RubyConf,...
Episode 36 - Live (at the time) from RailsConf 2024
In this special crossover episode recorded live from RailsConf 2024 in Detroit, join us for a unique gathering of prominent Ruby podcasters. Drew teams up with Elise from the 'Ruby on Rails' podcast, Jason from 'Code with Jason,' Joël from 'The Bike Shed,' and Julie from 'Ruby for All' The group discusses their experiences at RailsConf, including workshops, talks about Test Driven Developmen...
Episode 35 - Josh Wood
Ever wondered how a Ruby developer transitions into a successful entrepreneur? Join us as Josh Wood, co-founder of HoneyBadger.io, shares his fascinating journey. From creating notable projects like the Heya gem and Exceptional Creatures to spearheading the launch of HoneyBadger Insights, Josh offers an insider's view of the Ruby community and his experiences at RailsConf. Listen to his uniq...
Episode 34 - Ufuk Kayserilioglu
Discover the heartbeat of Ruby with Ufuk Kayserilioglu, the engineering maestro at Shopify, as we unravel the layers of Ruby infrastructure and the bright future of Rails development. Ufuk's insights into the meticulous work of maintaining CRuby reveal the fine art of balancing performance with modernity while also diving into the exciting realms of TruffleRuby and the Prism compiler. His re...
Episode 33 - Stephen Margheim
Embark on a journey through the landscape of SQLite and Ruby on Rails as I chat with the exceptional Stephen Margheim, who enlightens us on the robustness and agility of SQLite for modern web development. Stephen brings to the table his extensive open-source contributions and projects that integrate SQLite with Rails, offering insights into Ruby gems like Lightstream for backups and an SQLit...
Episode 32 - Andy Croll
Imagine stepping into the control room of a major tech conference with us as we chat with Andy Croll, CTO of Coverage Book and freshly minted co-chair of RailsConf. This episode peels back the curtain on the meticulous craft of conference planning – from the adrenaline rush of putting together a tech event to the nitty-gritty of ensuring that every attendee leaves with more than they came fo...
Episode 31 - Elise Shaffer
It's time for another Ruby on Rails podcast crossover episode! This time I'm joined by the RoR Podcasts new host, Elise Shaffer. Elise interviews me about the game show I've been giving, I offer my thoughts on doing "weird talks", and we chat about how I got started podcasting. We then flip the script and I interview Elise about her new course on Test Driven Development (TDD), her podcast, a...
Episode 30 - Adarsh Pandit
In this eipsode I had the pleasure of talking to Adarsh Pandit, Executive Director of Ruby Central, who gave me a peek behind the curtain. From discussing his journey through the coding industry to arriving at Ruby Central, to the challenges he tackled stepping into an executive role - Adarsh's story is a tale of perseverance, growth, and community building.
Get ready to uncover how R...
Episode 29 - Ben Orenstein
In this episode, I'm joined by a special guest, Ben Ornstein, one of my Ruby heroes. I may fan-boy a bit as I express my admiration for Tuple, a tool I love. Together, we dive deep into Tuple's journey, starting from its inception and delving into the creative problem-solving and ingenuity behind its design and development. Ben also reveals his transition from CEO to Head of Product. W...
Episode 28 - Matt Swanson
Hands down my most boring episode to date. In this episode I'm joined by Mr. "Boring Rails" himself, Matt Swanson. We talked about removing premature abstractions, how decision fatigue impacts exploration, and revisiting ActionMailer (and finding it to be better than we remember). Even though Matt is notorious for sticking to boring tech the conversation was still great and I'm looking forward to having him on again.
Episode 27 - Andrew Atkinson
PostgreSQL wizard Andrew Atkinson joins the show to discuss his new book, "High-Performance PostgreSQL for Rails." Andrew talks about the challenges of writing a database book for Rails developers, refactoring prose, and the importance of maintaining a work-book-life balance. With his multiple fantastic talks on the subject of PostgreSQL, it's no surprise that he possesses a ton of knowledge to share. I'm genuinely delighted that I had the opportunity to have him on the show, and I'm incredibly excited for the book's upcoming release.
Episode 26 - Thomas Carr
Web3! 😱 Now that I have your attention. This episode I'm joined by Thomas Carr. Thomas is a Consultant & Software Developer for Emerging Technologies at CGI Federal. Which is a fancy way of saying he gets to play around with all the new tech out there and see what might have real world application. Thomas just gave an awesome talk at Blue Ridge Ruby called "Digital Identity or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Web3" and I found it so fascinating (much to my surprise) I felt like I had to have him on the show. If you're like I was and think Web3 is just a buzzword Tech Bros use you definitely want to check out this episode!
Episode 25 - Vini Stock
Fresh off his Ruby Kaigi talk, Vini Stock, joins the show to talk about all things Ruby LSP. Even though he's given a plethora of talks on the subject already there's so much to LSPs and to the future and vision of this project that I learned a ton while recording. Vini confirms what I always suspected, that getting paid to work on developer tooling is awesome. I'm super excited about this project and I suspect after listening to this episode you will be too!
Episode 24 - Alan and Fito - Cisco Meraki
Another double-guest episode! This time, I'm joined by Alan Ridlehoover and Fito von Zastrow from Cisco Meraki. There's almost too much great content in this episode to provide a proper summary. We discuss everything, from the modularization of massive Rails apps to building a toy framework. Alan and Fito have a ton of experience and are working on some awesome things. Best of all, they're hiring! If this episode makes you hungry for the types of problems they're solving, definitely check out Cisco Meraki's career page.
Episode 23 - Daniel Huss
First time Podcast guest, Daniel Huss, joins the show. Daniel is a TestDouble agent and recently gave his first conference talk (Spoiler, it was great)! We talk about the differences between contract and product work, Dragon Ruby, and tending to your code like it's a garden. Daniel crush it on his first, of what I hope will be many, podcast appearances.
Episode 22 - Brittany Martin
In this episode, I'm joined by returning guest Brittany Martin to talk about her new role as an Engineering Manager at Shogun. We also discuss corporate hackathons, the delicate balance between work and personal projects, and the potential benefits for both developers and the company. Brittany shares her insights on the value of hackathons in terms of team bonding, productivity, and learning opportunities. We also have mischievous plan to surprise another podcast.
Episode 21 - Nick Schwaderer
Nick Schwaderer rejoins the show. We discuss our experiences in giving talks, the importance of engaging with the audience, and the development of Scarpe, a new implementation of _why's Shoes DSL for building Ruby desktop applications. Nick shares valuable insights on creating connections, maintaining a balance between humor and content, and fostering a welcoming community. Nick also hints at something awesome that our editor refers to as "Schwad-warts Express". You're going to have to listen to find out all about it.
Episode 20 - Julie J
Julie J, co-host of Ruby for All, joins the show to talk about her cool side project and Ruby for All. We talk about getting stuff done, Rails upgrades, and some of the confusion that still exists around assets in Rails. Julie has quickly grown into one of my favorite podcast hosts so you definitely want to give this one a listen.
Episode 19 - Joel Drapper
The creator of Phlex, Joel Drapper, joins the show. Joel has been working on HTML streaming in Phlex and, spoiler alert, it sounds super cool! Joel really likes SQLite and thinks Aaron Francis's new MySQL for developers course is great (he's right). We also dive into getting unblocked by using a Ruby Developers secret weapon (hint: it's the community).
Episode 18 - Andrew Mason
Coding Coders first ever guest, Andrew Mason, returns to give an update on what he's been up to since joining Podia. Of course no episode with Andrew would be complete without a dive into ADHD land. From learning to hack your brain and last minute passport renewals to Web Mentions and the world of Indie Web dev we cover it all.
Episode 17 - Joe Masilotti
Joe Masilotti is, in many ways, the guy. Chances are you've heard of him you may just not know his name. He's the Turbo Native guy, the RailsDevs guy, the helping juniors get hired guy, the Hotwire newsletter guy, the all around nicest guy. Joe joins the show to talk about his various projects, why it's so important to build in public, and how doing less is helping him to do it all.
Episode 16 - Mike Munroe and Dave Kroondyk
A double first for Coding Coders, this episode is the first to feature TWO guests both from the shows very first sponsor OBLSK! Mike Munroe and Dave Kroondyk are both from OBLSK, a software consultancy specializing in Ruby on Rails. In this episode they share their adventures converting a clients dotNet and angularjs application to Rails and Hotwire. A full rewrite of any application is always an adventure but throw in mobile apps and you have an adventure of epic proportion. Mike and Dave share the things they've learned along the way and why they firmly believe there is not better choice than Rails.
Episode 15 - Tom Rossi
This episode Tom Rossi, from Higher Pixels, joins the show. You're probably familiar with Higher Pixels work but you may not know it. They're the brains behind my favorite podcast hosting service, Buzzsprout, which is used to host this show! Tom is an amazing guest with lots of stories to tell. Learning to scale Buzzsprout, upgrading to Rails 7/Hotwire, and that time they had to ask a podcast to go somewhere else because they got too big!
Episode 14 - Kevin Newton
It's a New Year and a new episode of Code and the Coding Coders who Code it! In this episode, man of many projects, Kevin Newton, joins the show. Kevin tells us about YARP, the new Ruby parser, and his desire to help make it a "magical unicorn rainbow land" (his words not mine). We also get into dealing with to do lists, the weight of high expectations, and imposter syndrome.
Episode 13 - Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith has been designing and building web applications since 1998 and has worked with Ruby on Rails since 2009. He joins the show to talk about building successful web apps by your lonesome, solving really complex background job workflows, and spills the beans on a new regional Ruby Conference he's planning, Blue Ridge Ruby!
Episode 12 - Lucian Ghinda
Lucian Ghinda from Short Ruby Newsletter joins the show to let me pick his brain about his amazing new newsletter. We chat about how he finds and organizes the content for the newsletter and Lucian spills the beans on a few ideas he has for the future. Here's a fun game. Count how many time I say the newsletter is awesome during the show!
Episode 11 - Noel Rappin
Noel Rappin joins the show to talk about his new book, "Programming Ruby 3.2", best known as the "Pickaxe Book". Noel talks about his adventures working on a legacy book and even having to deal with some legacy code in a legacy book. The Pickaxe Book is one of the biggest, and oldest, books on my shelf so it's no surprise that this was a beast of an update.
Episode 10 - Ernesto Tagwerker
My friend and fellow Philadelphian, Ernesto Tagwerker joins the show to talk about his companies new offering, Tune. We also talk about some of Ernestos open source projects, how his team balances educating the community on how do upgrade while also making it their main business, and strategies to onboard juniors.
Episode 9 - Collin Jilbert
Collin Jilbert joins the show. We discuss the value of being willing to jump into source code, orienting yourself to new codebases and... cloud whitening?! My ADHD was raging for this episode but Collin did a get job keeping up.
Episode 8 - RailsConf: HomeEdition Podcast Panel
A live podcast recording from RailsConf: HomeEdition 2022! The panelists discuss what they're up to, if you can still build a career in ruby (spoiler: You can!), and how our ecosystem can benefit from more Ruby frameworks and podcasts.
Episode 7 - Chris Oliver
Chris Oliver joins the show to discuss all the adventures he's been having. He tells us about the various projects he has going on, including: rewriting Hatchbox, hiring his first employee, and what the future of learning Rails could look like. He also is building a house which definitely takes some time to put together! There was so much to talk about this episode that it's certainly getting the 1st place spot for longest episode!
Episode 6 - Kevin Murphy
We finally get Kevin Murphy back on the show. Kevin is speaking at RailsConf, has some great tips and tricks for job hunting or career building, and has a pretty cool tool for helping to write prose.
Episode 5 - Sebastian Wilgosz
On this Episode I'm joined by Sebastian Wilgosz of Hanami Mastery. In addition to all things Hanami, we discuss the challenges of writing good documentation, helping to build a community, and the value of giving back to Open Source.
Episode 4 - Brittany Martin
In this epic crossover episode, the first ever winner of "Who Wants to be a Ruby Engineer?", Brittany Martin, joins the show. But only after I join The Ruby on Rails podcast. Come hear Brittany out host me on my own show!
Episode 3 - Nick Schwaderer
The Indiana Jones of Ruby Archaeology, Nick Schwaderer, joins the show. Nick has a banger for his Sin City Ruby talk, has an awesome new gem, and found a way to find a new hobby.
Episode 2 - Jason Charnes
Jason Charnes, Lead Product Developer at Podia, joins. the show. I learn more than I'll ever need to know about European taxes, we're both super excited for Sin City Ruby, and we talk about being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.
Episode 1 - Andrew Mason
_The_ Andrew Mason joins the show. Naturally, ADHD (aka scenic route disorder) is talked about, a lot. Andrew loves "workflows", doesn't get Turbo yet (like the rest of us), and has a new website, maybe.
Bonus Episodes
Live at Rails World part 3
Ever been jolted awake at 2:30 AM by a fire alarm while at a tech conference? We have, and it was just one of the unexpected moments that added a unique twist to our RailsWorld experience. Join us as Andy Kroll, Chris Oliver, Alan Reitelhoover, and I recount the highs and lows of the conference, from the festival-like energy to the invaluable hallway conversations. We share our reflections on E...
Live at Rails World part 2
Can you feel the festival vibes of Rails World? Brace yourself for an electrifying journey through the upcoming release of Rails 8, where authentication features are creating a buzz like never before. Picture yourself amidst a sea of passionate developers, where hallway interactions often outshine the scheduled talks. We'll also share a heartfelt tribute to Justin Searles, whose potentially ...
Live from Rails World part 1
What groundbreaking feature has Rails 8 introduced that has Jason Charns grinning from ear to ear? Join us live from Railsworld 2024 in Toronto as we break down DHH's monumental keynote unveiling the built-in authentication feature that’s set to revolutionize Rails development. Jason shares his excitement over the long-awaited feature, drawing hilarious comparisons to his past struggles with...
Bonus Canadian Football Episode
Matt Swanson stays on to talk about Canadian Football and no it's not Rugby.
RubyConf Mini Podcast Panel
Recorded in front of a live audience it's the Podcast Panel from RubyConf Mini!
Bonus Hockey Episode
Kevin Murphy stays on for some bonus hockey talk. Mostly me venting about how bad my team was this season.