Fresh Beginnings

Posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Unintentionally this blog has become a chronicle of not only my thoughts and feelings on web standards but also of my journey through my career in the same field. In September 2006 I got my first job, a temporary role in the civil service that got me out of the house, but onto a hellish commute. I moved to London shortly after and then in July last year I moved into web development, starting work with VYRE.

Once again things have changed. A couple of months ago I spotted an exciting job opportunity in an advert in the sidebar of a blog. Had I not seen it, not read it, I would still be working with VYRE. However, fate had some hand in things and after reading more deeply into the offering I decided this was to be my next step. I applied and, after the interview process and my notice period, I started on Monday.

What Now?

I continue as a front end developer, but now, instead of working with VYRE’s Unify CMS framework, I will be developing with the open source Ruby on Rails. I will be working for Mint Digital who do all sorts of interesting stuff trying to bridge the gap between new media and old.

So over the last three days I’ve been learning a whole lot of stuff really quickly, installing Ruby and Rails, getting to grips with Subversion for the first time as well as familiarising myself with the OS X terminal. All along while trying to pick up as much Ruby knowledge as possible, mainly from Why’s bizarre, sorry, poignant guide to Ruby.

It’s an exciting time as I embark on this new venture. Things may slow down here for a while as I am reading a lot and taking a lot in at the moment, but they will pick up again (you may even see a couple of extra categories pop up, Ruby and Rails perhaps, we’ll see). I was also redesigning, but that might have to wait too (only because an even better design just popped into my head this evening).

It’s been an interesting journey on this blog so far and I still think things are just beginning. Let’s see what happens next.

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Comments

  1. 1April 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 am

    Neil Says:

    Congrats on the move. Have they given you any cool new gadgets?

    Glad to hear you picking up Rails - how’s it coming along? There are easier guides than Why’s - some of the Apress titles are a little more conventional and will be better suited to some people.

    If you ever get stuck with something, make sure you check out RailsForum, the Ruby On Rails mailing list, and the IRC channel on Freenode. If have time for podcasts, and a few chuckles every now and then, you might also want to svn check out (pun) the Rails Envy podcast.

    p.s. You should definitely sign up to the PizzaOnRails meetup.


  2. 2April 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    Tim Says:

    Hey Phil,
    Congrats on the new job. Great to hear! I haven’t had a chance to look into Ruby on Rails with any depth but I hear its real nice to program in.

    best of luck!


  3. 3April 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Phil Says:

    Thanks Neil and Tim!

    I’ve only been given the one gadget, a brand spanking new MacBook Pro! Can’t complain!

    I have to say, I quite enjoy Why’s guide, sometimes I find it harder to follow the story than the Ruby teachings, so I must be getting there with the language! Thanks for the tip too, I’ve signed up for updates to PuzzaOnRails.

    And Tim, I’ve not done any proper Ruby on Rails programming yet, but I’ve heard much the same and, from what I’ve seen so far, it does look like it will be a pleasure. I’ll be sure to update my findings here when I know more!


  4. 4April 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

    Darren Says:

    Wow! What a coincidence. I have just started on Ruby on Rails for my website. I love it and I’m sure you will too. I think at first many people stay away because competent hosts of Ruby on Rails are hard to come by or expensive.


  5. 5April 7th, 2008 at 8:01 am

    Phil Says:

    Hi Darren,

    That is quite a coincidence! We must discuss beginning with Ruby on Rails some time, I’d love to hear another beginners views on it at the same time as my own.


  6. 6April 8th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    Darren Says:

    Sounds Great. Im close to finishing my first project (a tumblelog with video support). It’s going really well and I have grown to seriously love Ruby. PHP will never look the same.


  7. 7April 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    Finnur Says:

    Sorry I missed your leaving party.
    Best of luck in the new job and welcome to the Mac cult


  8. 8April 21st, 2008 at 8:15 am

    Phil Says:

    Thanks Finnur, glad to hear you had an awesome time on holiday too!


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