Blue Ridge Ruby 2024, May 30–31
Where Mountains Meet Code
Creative inspiration — it’s one of the unsung heroes of software development, unlocking clever solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems, prompting us to think outside the box, and providing us with some of the most satisfying moments of our craft.
As with a painter, poet, or musician, we often find this inspiration against a background that gets our creative juices flowing — a debate amongst friends at a meetup, while doodling in a notebook or deep into a bold cup of coffee at our favorite cafe.
Enter Blue Ridge Ruby, a cozy gathering slated for May 30–31, nestled in the heart of one of the South’s most eclectic and vibrant cities — Asheville, North Carolina.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this event offers seasoned Rubyists and aspiring developers alike (and enthusiasts from all walks of coding) the perfect retreat to rekindle their enthusiasm for the craft and draw fresh inspiration for their endeavors.
What is Blue Ridge Ruby?
Blue Ridge Ruby is a two-day, single-track conference featuring ten speakers, plus lightning talks. The conference will be held at The Collider in downtown Asheville on Thursday, May 30th and Friday, May 31st. Hosted by Joe Peck and Mark Locklear.
- A dynamic two-day event: Delve into a single-track conference featuring 10 captivating talks. Topics span from essential refactoring techniques to invaluable career transition strategies.
- Immerse yourself in Asheville’s charm: Engage in stimulating discussions amidst the rich history and allure of downtown Asheville. Our sleek and contemporary venue at the Collider event space, situated across from Pritchard Park — home to Asheville’s renowned Friday drum circle — provides the perfect backdrop.
- Crafting connections: Experience a conference of just the right scale — large enough to foster diverse perspectives yet intimate enough to cultivate enduring professional relationships.
- Indulge in Asheville’s culinary delights: With an open lunch schedule, relish in Asheville’s culinary scene, renowned as a haven for food enthusiasts.
- An inclusive atmosphere: Regardless of your background or expertise, you’ll find a warm welcome at Blue Ridge Ruby. If you’re here, you’re part of the community.
The Speakers
Lauren Auchter
Lauren started her career in edtech as an educator at science museums and transitioned to the engineering side with the help of Thinkful’s Engineering Flex program. She continues having a positive impact on education as a Senior Engineer and technical lead at Instructure creating accessible applications. When she’s not coding you can find Lauren chasing her toddler or surrounded by her latest crafting endeavor.
Navigating Career Transitions — Stop Second Guessing and Let Go of Guilt
When navigating your career it’s vital to evaluate whether it’s time to take a new step and all to common to feel guilty about an impending change. Learn ways to refocus from guilt to appreciation as we walk through my winding career path and how I identified the right moments to make a change.
Brian is an accomplished technologist, having spent time building and scaling software in many highly-regulated environments. He holds multiple patents for software design, speaks internationally, and is a sought after thought leader.
Brian resides in Virginia and loves to travel and explore, often bringing his family along for the adventure.
Simplicity: The Key to Software Success
In a world dominated by cutting-edge technologies and complex systems, it is easy to overlook the power of simplicity in software. Let’s explore the benefits of simple software with real-world examples to uncover how simplicity can be a game-changer for developers, businesses, and end-users alike.
Craig has been using Ruby and Rails since 2005. He enjoys writing concise readable code, especially in Ruby. He enjoys a player-coach role, helping teams improve their processes, technical practices, and automation. (He’s likely looking for work.)
Giving a conference talk is Craig’s way to strike up some conversations. So feel free to go up to him and “talk shop”. If you want to make small talk, ask Craig about traveling, attending concerts, beekeeping, or where he was when the pandemic hit.
Nil — Nothing is Easy, Is It?
Nil is pretty simple — it represents nothing. But that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy to use, or that it’s always the right choice when it appears to be the obvious choice.
We’ll cover several anti-patterns in the use of nil. We’ll discuss *why* they’re problematic, and explore some better alternatives. The refactorings that we’ll look at will help to reduce errors and optimize for understanding. Writing good code might take a little longer in the short run, but it pays off in the long run.
Daniel is a Senior Software Engineer on the Ruby Architecture team at GitHub. He’s worked on Rails applications of all sizes, and contributed to numerous open source projects. Daniel was formerly a composer, violist da gamba, and professor of music.
The Very Hungry Transaction
Have your database transactions become a liability? Transactions are an essential tool, and frameworks like Rails make them easy to write. But it’s also easy to fall into some dangerous patterns that can threaten your data integrity and application availability. Find out more before it’s too late!
Dustin is a Software Engineer at Spreedly who loves a good pun and riding his bike over bridges because the unabridged version is too long. In a previous life he was a Chemical engineer, but over the years he grew unhappy with factory work.
His passion for researching everything he could find about human happiness led him to quit his job, join a bootcamp, spend a few months exploring South America, and finally jump into Software Engineering full time. Dustin calls Athens, GA home, but loves to travel whenever he can.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Who in this world would say “no” to being a little happier? Luckily for us there has been a lot of wonderful scientific studies done on human happiness. This talk will cover a number of my favorite studies in this field, and how they can be applied to life and careers in tech.
My Rails App is Old Enough to Drink: Over Two Decades with One App
I’ve been running the same Rails app for two decades. I want to share some history about why Rails was a good choice then (and now!), cover what has changed and what’s remained the same over the years, and look ahead to what’s in store as one developer and one app start our third decade together.
Louis is a Rails developer, song-parody writer, and committed punster. He never once skied in the Olympics. Louis started as an iOS developer but couldn’t help falling in love with Rails, TDD, and the joy of not having to wait for app store approval.
Glimpses of Humanity: My Game-Building AI Pair
I built a game in Rails with an AI partner: my associate, Atheniel-née-ChatGPT!
Improve how you talk with that special machine in your life ❤️❤️❤️ and learn how magical a machine-human conversation can be.
Live through our shared experience: from goals to a project plan to a working game.
I’m a staff software engineer who has created full-stack web applications for more than a decade. My focus is on combining the best of object-oriented and functional philosophies while meditating on novel architecture approaches, especially for Ruby applications.
Teaching the next generation of Rubyists is incredibly important to me, and I’m currently thinking through modern Ruby courses to replace the Ruby boot camps that have gone out of favor.
SOLID Refactoring — The ASMR of Programming Talks
Ruby has a long history of incredible refactoring talks (shout out to Sandi Metz and Katrina Owens!), providing “aha” moments for developers and being oh-so-satisfying at the same time. In that vein, let’s take an opportunity to refactor some code and release some serotonin.
Rachael has been a software engineer since 2012, 3x team lead, and enjoys livestreaming her open-source contributions on Twitch. She added the ComparisonValidator to Rails, built the Jekyll-Twitch gem, and is working on an app for making friends at conferences.
Validate Me! — Demystifying Rails Validators
Unlock the secrets of Rails validators in this enlightening session. Ever wondered what’s really happening behind the scenes? Join us as we delve deep into the inner workings of Rails validators, unravel their hidden complexities, and empower you to craft your own custom validators with confidence!
Travis Turner is the editor-in-chief at Evil Martians. He helps write, edit, and shape content on a number of cool topics — including Ruby! With a background ranging from journalism, EdTech, to his own time as an IT consultant, he brings a wide-ranging perspective to his work, placing an emphasis on reader experience, helping developers find their voice, share knowledge, and illuminate interesting stories.
Narrative Reflections: Transmuting Ruby Code into Storytelling Gold
Uncover the secrets behind crafting compelling content, overcoming writer’s block(s), best practices, and sharing your Ruby journey. This talk, from a seasoned writer and editor, is filled with lessons and tips from the pros and offers practical writing steps for every Rubyist.