Code with Jason

On this episode, I'm joined by Derrick Fonseca for a conversation that touches on Derrick's path to software development and the commonalities in problem solving between programming and mechanical engineering, finding the problem, my experience at Rails World 2024, the state of the Ruby community and the benefits of attending meetups, writing understandable tests and test driven design, and my upcoming conference Sin City Ruby 2025.The Beginning of Infinity by David DeutschThe Fabric of Reality by David DeutschRails WorldRailsConfBoston Ruby MeetupSan Francisco Ruby MeetupProfessional Rails Testing by Jason SwettDerrick Fonseca on LinkedInSin City Ruby

On this week's episode, Will Carey, CTO of Brand New Box and I get together for a chat that touches on RailsConf Detroit, Will's work at Brand New Box, the challenges of remote work, starting new development projects, the benefits and risks of deploying early, pets vs cattle when it comes to server maintenance, Kubernetes, state-full code vs stateless code, starting at the end and working backwards, the value of curiosity, the benefits of building long-term relationships, and my consulting work.RailsConfBrand New BoxWill Carey on LinkedInSin City Ruby

Adarsh Pandit, Executive Director of Ruby Central, is on a mission to strengthen the Ruby community through inclusive initiatives and vibrant meetups. He shares his journey from academia to tech consulting, offering insights on maintaining professional relationships and the differences between contracting and consulting. The conversation highlights the revival of Ruby meetups post-pandemic and the excitement surrounding upcoming conferences, including the Sin City Ruby conference, which promises engaging sessions and networking opportunities.

On this episode, Landon Gray and I get together for a conversation that touches on AI consulting, backfilling tests in a system that wasn't developed with TDD, generative AI assisting with testing in data science settings, using AI to develop your product vs using AI in your product, getting clients as an AI consultant, the benefits of remaining a solo contractor over starting an agency, work/life balance as a freelancer, whether charging an hourly rate is the best way to represent the value you provide as a consultant, having a north star to guide your decision making in your work life, what actually comprises risk, how marketing yourself is important regardless of whether you're an employee or a freelancer, how the modern hiring process is broken, value created vs compensation received, and Landon's trip to the AI Engineer World's Fair in San Francisco.The AI Engineer World's FairMadison RubyLandon Gray on LinkedInLandon Gray on Twitter

On today's episode, I sit down with Eric Normand to discuss how to select good customers, the importance of sales and marketing to a freelancer, the importance of imagination, industry, and optimism, the purpose of consulting, how I structure my consulting services, other ideas for consulting structures, domain modeling, tech debt vs dull knives as a metaphor, how product design influences domain modeling, how having a theory of your product impacts domain modeling, the abundance of bad advice for new consultants, and the pros and cons of masterminds.Eric Normand.meEric Normand's NewsletterEric Normand's Clojure GuidesEric Normand's Clojure Video CoursesThe Eric Normand PodcastMillion Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss99 Bottles of OOP by Sandi MetzEric Normand on LinkedInEric Normand on Twitter

On this episode, I'm joined by Joel Hawksley, Staff Engineer at GitHub for a discussion of code ownership with regards to a 3-year WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) project at GitHub, benevolent dictatorship, collective ownability, terrible code vs acceptable code vs the viability of a project, writing good code vs solving problems, defining quality code, quality code resulting from clear conceptualization, the desirability (or not!) of perfect adherence to standards, reducing defect rate, and meaningful testing goals. Code Complete by Steve McConnellJoel Hawksley at GitHubJoel Hawksley at TwitterHawksley.orgEpisode 88 - ViewComponent with Joel HawksleyLive From Ruby Conf 2021, Joel Hawksley Tells Me About His DrinkEpisode 130 - ViewComponent with Joel Hawksley

On this week's episode, I talk with Allison McMillan to discuss working environments, the importance of getting a remote team together on a regular basis, the benefits of a well thought out offsite, not-so-great offsite types, elements of a worthwhile offsite, and more.Allison McMillan.comAllison McMillan on LinkedInAllison McMillan on Twitter

On this episode, I talk to Matt Kirkland, Founder and Designer at Brand New Box.  We talk about how to get good clients, the utility of reminding people that you exist, reading science fiction, ChatGPT as highly advanced autocomplete, reading history, The limits of ChatGPT-style AI as compared to AGI, and Matt's Dracula read-through newsletter Dracula Daily. Philip K. Dick on GoodreadsFrançois Chollet on Sean Carroll's Mindscape PodcastDracula DailyMatt Kirkland.comBrand New BoxMatt Kirkland on TwitterMatt Kirkland on LinkedIn

On today's episode I talk with Nate Clark, founder and principal software engineer of Brand New Box.  We discuss Brand New Box's early days and what it's like to found an agency, the different ways Nate and I think about acquiring new business,  marketing yourself, how big picture thinking can sharpen your day to day plans, deciding to build a product, the difficulty of finding a problem to solve where it makes financial sense to do so, and how personal relationships beget opportunities.Million Dollar Consulting by Alan WeissTraction by Gino WickmanBrand New BoxNate Clark on LinkedInNate Clark on Twitter

On today's episode, I talk with Alex Bunardzic about TDD (Test Driven Design), separating IO from business logic, configurable dependencies, TCR (Test and Commit or Revert), making many small commits rather than trying to write the whole program right the first time, distributed cognition, order dependency and imperative vs declarative programming, coding speculatively, and coding without shipping.The Agile ManifestoAlex Bunardzic on SubstackSoftware Breakthroughs for the 21st CenturyCoding Interviews with AlexDiary of a Perplexed Software DeveloperAlex Bunardzic on Open SourceAlex Bunardzic on MediumAlex Bunardzic on TwitterAlex Bunardzic on LinkedInNonsense Monthly, my snail mail newsletter