Getting more women (and people) into Open Source
I gave this talk at the Github Patchwork event at Dev Bootcamp NYC on 9/18/14. I spoke about the work we've done with Write/Speak/Code on getting more women into open source. The main lesson: technical skill isn't the barrier; it's the belief that they have nothing to contribute that stops people from giving back to the tech community. (more…)
The Path to Becoming a Developer :: Skillcrush Masterclass
Recently, I had the honor of doing a Skillcrush Masterclass on the Path to Becoming a Developer. I talked about how I became a developer, mining your own experience, and presented on the 4 things you can do now to become a professional developer: (more…)
How do databases work?
I put together this presentation to explain database concepts to people just learning Rails. Expect to learn: How databases store data Primary key, foreign key, and index in a database What is an algorithm and data structure? (more…)
Incremental Design — A conversation with a Designer and a Developer at RailsConf 2013
Here is my Rails Conf 2013 talk! Developers: how many times have you had to completely rip out your hard earned code for a totally new site design? Designers: how many times has a re-design taken 4 times as long as the developer said it would and not looked good in the end? Change all that by using an incremental approach to design. Set up your code to change all the buttons at once or prioritize design changes to make each small change ...