 Good morning Hopefully you all enjoyed the keynote and the break that we just had We are continuing today with our panel's track And really excited for this session on Ruby's killer feature. I'm gonna introduce Chris who's the moderator Chris is the VP of engineering at Radius Networks where he builds mobile proximity tools and services He co-founded the Arlington Ruby group and helps organize both Ruby Retro Session and Ruby for good events. Enjoy the panel All right, so I'm gonna go through and we'll do a quick introductions and then we'll get started It's you Hi everybody, my name is Sir Hunter I am a Howard University alum of computer information systems major And I'm also the woman who code Ruby on Rails lead in Washington, DC And I am a junior software engineer at digital globe Hi, everybody. My name is Latoya. I am the founder of she no Mads an inclusive space in tech for people who want to travel While working remotely and I'm also a principal rails engineer at Daily Coast Hey, I'm Sean Marcia slides for everybody Now we go to Sean That's me Not the Sasquatch Yeah, I help organize the Ruby for good and aren't Ruby and I work for the government government Latoya already introduced herself Allison introduced me. No one needs to hear anymore about that One thing is we'd like to have your questions and I put some index cards in the front two rows up here And if if you can I'd love it for people to come up grab an index card write down a question And then you just come and hand it up to me if you'd like, please feel free to do that We'd I'd like to be able to go through some of those All right, so the actual panel So before we go into the questions, let's get a little bit of context so Can you just Probably the elevator pitch for one of the the community's organizations that you guys Organize let's let's go in reverse order from from before since Sean's holding the microphone so So the pitch I like to give I talked like to talk about Ruby for good And you've probably heard it and seeing people were in the shirts here It's a it's a long weekend long event where we get a lot of people like us together and we help Non-profits places that really need our skills, but we're never able to afford you and me and we build them software for a weekend And it's a lot of fun so As I said before she knows it's a space and tech for people who want to travel while they work remotely And I think a big part of working tech is constantly working on your skill set So we have free coding classes study groups an accountability group And we also do a remote work and wellness retreat because I think those things are also Important for us as people in tech And women who code is a global nonprofit organization Who's dedicated to Creating a community in a network for women in tech or women who will love to be join tech and for what we do Depending on the chapter but in the DC chapter what we do is we have weekly meetings across multiple subjects So Python Java Ruby and rails and front-end work and we host workshops talks And just basically give a support group for women who are interested and we're in the industry and just share our knowledge So one of the things I'd like to kind of set is originally when I pitched the idea for this panel was I Find it very intriguing folks working in like helping with the the community and you know moving it along starting more groups Spinning things off encouraging people to move up We had a wonderful panel discussion on the first day about getting involved in the community and how you can do that This is a little bit More focused on the next step You're already involved in the community or you're participating in the community and how can you step up and organize or if you're organizing? How can you? Evolve the groups you're in spin out new groups and basically Build up the infrastructure that we as Ruby is have to rely on so with that the first thing I'd like to talk about is member engagement and So the my first question is just how do you get consistent members in in the organizations that that you help with? For women who code we the way we get consistent members is of course we had start off a feedback when we first get The ladies on board so we like to figure out what topics they're interested in whether what topics specifically for our case Ruby on rails Also the content like we tried to like Put forth like the best content whatsoever So we start we go into really really home a lot into the beginners So we all as we all were once beginners So we all think of the things that beginners would like to know or don't know and just clarify it in our first time It's night and then give them foot steps I mean steps into what is the next thing that they can do to improve on this and we like go along the way with it So I think having that constant engagement with them and we use it slack We lever we leveraged slack to the hundred percent extent but keeping that constant engagement with them Outside of our events is what helps them come back more So it's really on like the leads as well as the community members to keep that going I Just pay attention to what people want and I noticed that a lot of people were leaving other spaces because they didn't have code of conduct So I got a code of conduct or I noticed that you know people were having problems getting jobs specifically at remote companies that would allow them to travel which is a ton of fun So I started a job board and we started pulling in sponsors for companies that were hiring to work in our Newsletter so I think just listening to your community and meeting their needs is super important Yeah, and I'd also add that you need to make your members feel like they're part of the community Engage them have have them all speak when you have a have an event like like something we do at our meetup is all the all the people come we have them do an iceberg at the beginning tell them something interesting with themselves and If there's trapped in Desert Island, what book would they bring? Things like that and and don't just like leave when the meetup's over like engage the people to go go to coffee go to nearby coffee shop build community So kind of spinning off of that How how do you encourage people to actually? Either present at a meetup or step up and lead a project or participate at that the next more Higher level So I'm a big fan of just balling to ball and telling people to do things She's been vol untold Many times Like a lot of people really want to volunteer they want to But they're I feel all of them just self-conscious and so like just sit with them. It's like hey How about on this day? I know you've been working on this how about you come and give a talk in this cool. I know kaguri scrape scraping You've been doing and then then they do I Think for she know meds because our events are typically remote It's just a really convenient way for people to contribute to the community of someone wants to come in and teach a class or lead An AMA they can do that and then if there happened to be a bunch of people who are you know in New York? One weekend or Mexico City or Lisbon then I'm like yes, please organize a meetup and just have it under she no math And it works really well, so I want to make it a little more specific for us very So you run a lot of workshops How would you convince someone who feels like they might be too junior to? Lead or help other people out Encouragement like talk to them and be like hey you can do this You can do this we can help you we can help you put together to talk and everything But I think the issue with that is they don't have they're not confident in their skill when you actually they know their stuff Even though they label herself as a junior and whatnot, so what we do is we talk to them and like Of course like talk about over You know the stuff that they want to cover and just like guide them on that and then hopefully pushed into the next level Insetting a date and promoting it to come through so Similar question for Sean so at Ruby for good one of the problems is finding people that can lead projects Is is there a good way to take somebody who might feel like they're under qualified and Encouraged them into that sort of role. Yeah, definitely. I can something we've started doing is we've Like if you're a junior or you don't think you have the skills and if you're here You have the skills so come lead a project But we'll we'll find someone more senior in the community like a senior developer and and pair them up and say hey This is your senior mentor and they will they will guide you through the process if you have any questions and Anything at all they'll come to them and they'll help you out Excellent, so I kind of like to change the topic a little bit. So Latoya you mentioned the code of conduct So how important is it or is there any specific? Language or points that need to be made about a code of conduct when working with the Community like this. Yeah, I think there's two things number one have one number two enforce it When people start acting up or playing games you need to remove them from your community I think it's really important to provide a safe space for people And I think Ruby in general does like a great job at that, but I would love to see more communities really step up and Have a code of conduct, but I'll still enforce it So has have any of you had any specific times when you've had To actually deal with the conflict in in your organization How was that resolved a specific names would be best So far since we started we've actually had like a really great community everybody was respectful to each other, but we did recently have an incident and What how we handle it? I think was like absolutely phenomenal But first we thought we should have something like you know a strike system a three strike system So if this is your like, you know first offense and everything We talked to that person and it's like hey We would like for you to not do that Here's the reason why this is our code of conduct, you know We want to keep this as a positive open relaxed community because you know that will scare people away And if they repeat it again You just remember like you know Remind them, but the third time around we like put them on probation and like keep them away and then like explain Why but the key thing is for us is to reach out to the individual to let them know like this is not okay Here's how we can like work with each other if you're misunderstood. Let's let's like have this conversation but The really is like to have I realize that it's really good to have like a not just oh you're out the community immediately but more of like a strike system or just give them a chance or some sort so one of the questions that the counter arguments I've heard sometimes is We don't need more rules. Why don't we just Be nice or be polite to folks. Would you have a Counter to Somebody making this statement. I mean, I would say people have been fighting for equality and tech for over 50 years So obviously we haven't figured out how to play nice and when they're ready to do that Then we can maybe have that discussion, but until then I think that's the least like not having something Not having a framework for people to reference is like the least important part of that discussion. I think I Agree All right, so changing changing to more diversity and culture So just in general, how do you encourage diversity in the organizations? I'm black. So I literally just show up You know, it's really not a problem for us. I think when we first started she know Mads We really wanted to make sure that everyone was either already a part of an underrepresented group in tech or an ally to that group And I think because of that we turned off a lot of people and our growth was very small But it ended up serving us really well because we don't have those issues And it's been a really great experience We actually just had a conversation about this like the leadership team of our meetup and We recognize that we're not the most diverse group and one of the things we're we're gonna do is we're going to add more Organizers to our meetup more people of different that don't look like us So when people come into the meetup and they see the person running it looks like them They're more inclined to to stay and take part for other than the people who just look like us For women who code like clearly is all women, but we do come from very different diverse backgrounds One thing we we've been like really noticing or like trades We keep in mind is like the area of where we host our meetups as well as Certain barriers that would prevent a certain particular group of women from attending So that would be like, you know people from different Economic backgrounds who don't really have a car and they need like public transportation to get to our to our to our locations so we try to you know put together events or talks and workshops that will eliminate those barriers for those people who for those women who have that type of backgrounds and Like hopefully you can see you haven't like that various background from there so Sean since Ruby for good isn't aimed specifically at a Group that might be underrepresented it. It's more of a general thing. Are there any steps that you take to? Encourage the the diversity other than you know organizers that might not look the same No, definitely definitely and you know before registration opens. I am I'm always reaching out to two diverse groups and If you do come to be for good, you'll notice that it doesn't look like a typical tech technology event We have a very diverse like this year I guess not including sponsor tickets because we have no control of who those go go to but 44 percent of the I guess 56 percent is male and 44 percent is female So it's a pretty good mix for a tech event So are there any specifics for anybody are there specific? Suggestions for if so somebody here is a meet-up organizer and they like to become Encourage more diversity What's a concrete example of something that you can do that would help encourage that? I feel like um If you see somebody that's like, you know, doesn't really typically show up to your events Like reach out and talk to them and try to bring them under your wing or on board with what you're trying to do I like when you like talk to them and it feels like they're more Included even though they're like oh why you're talking to me? I just want to know like around see what you're doing But I feel like if you reach out to them and let them know like hey I see you I will like more people like you to come to our event that will really help Encourage them make them a little bit more comfortable and like change the whole dynamics of your your meet-ups So I'm gonna chime in even though the moderator not supposed to but specifically about this panel I wanted to find You know somebody that wasn't a white dude like myself and The the way we went about that was I talked to Allison who helps with the conference and I knew that she had connections and kind of like Marco was saying the keynote You know, I know a person that knew a person and then that that was able to come through And in the end I was super psyched and happier With how the panel turned out then then what would have happened if I would have just gone out and tried to find somebody My myself, so I think relying on those connections is is a good go-to Okay, so we talked about diversity of the people inside the meet-up I think there's also an important thing about diversity of Meet-ups or groups that you're involved in how do you encourage your members to kind of expand Out to other parts of the community or things that you're not even necessarily involved in We usually like organize Meetups to crash other meet-ups But that's a way of how we do it like Say I think I think it was Arlington or I think there was something a meet-up Not too long ago that We decided to lay area instead of like having our own little one Let's go and attend there is and we just show up in a group And we do the same thing for DC tech events to like a whole bunch of ladies for women who code will come to the event and Attend it and hopefully that like encouraged them to feel comfortable in environment where they don't have to come with us but That's our way of like trying to branch out outside of just the women who code organization so Like even though we're a Ruby meet-up like we like one thing we do is we we encourage other Other disciplines to come give talks in our meet-up. Maybe talk about licks or talk about One of the 600 JavaScript frameworks Or something because then you know they people come they get introduced to to these different things and and a lot of times It's like an organizer a member of these other meet-ups and they give them the resources to then go and take part I absolutely love linking up with other meet-up organizers and just combining and doing events I don't think I do it enough actually I try to do it quarterly, but for example we linked up with Chicago Pie ladies and we did an event with them called a hundred days of commits And we had them come in and teach a class for us to unbuilding Twitter bots, which was really cool So I think just Joining forces is a great thing so I Definitely, you know, there's a certain amount of Overlap between different meet-ups or maybe similar meet-ups within the same geographic area So a couple of us are from DC and we have an amazing tech community there However, I remember it was something like six years ago this month I'm just guessing that Arlene to Ruby was started which You know, there was already DC Rug Ruby users group and there was Nova rug and so Arlington is kind of both of those so Obviously Sean was vindictive trying to take away from both DC and Nova and crush them and take over the whole area How do you feel like how did you feel when Reston on rails started and and decided to do the same thing to Arlington Ruby No, I was I was happy when rest and launch their their inferior meet-up I'm joking. No, no, it was like I was happy like it's it's like just shows the community is growing There's there's more people and like I was really excited because like more talks like more chance for me to learn and Just more people coming in the community and like in the reason we started We started Arlington Ruby was like DC Ruby at the time was was always full people couldn't get in and so we were like well Let's you know, let's start around and we all live in Arlington. We don't we didn't live in the district and so just made sense So sorry, I know that there are some very similar groups in DC also doing things Do you feel like that more options are is better, of course, of course There's certain topics that there will probably cover that we don't get a chance to cover So the more options the better so we can have like the ladies explore what they want to like be interested in But yeah, the more options the better and obviously Latoya you want to be the only Online I want to be the only online meet-up. Yeah, never travel ever for anything. No, I mean, it's the same thing For me, especially I would love more help actually There's so many people that are like on the other side of the planet who want to do things and I'm sleeping at that time or vice-a-versa So like I would love to be able to say hey, I have these like 10 users on your side of the world. Here you go The reason I you know, I'm asking these hilariously worded questions is Just want to impress upon the folks here that as Organizers we're thrilled when somebody else opens up next door doing the exact same thing It's the more groups the better and the more we build out the community It's gonna be slightly different for different people And they'll just click with other folks and then they can work together Right now. There's lots of overlap as you know with Arlington Ruby in Silver Spring Ruby in the DC rug and rest on rails and then you know it can all come together for local conferences and other events crashing meet-ups, which is fantastic Super fine. Yeah So if you're like thinking I'd like to do this because I really don't want to drive for for 20 minutes to go to meet-up You should start one And highly encourage that All right, so I Have a let me go through a couple of questions. So I'm gonna start with Latoya So Tino Mads is online virtual meet-up But somehow you ended up doing a co-located event where You brought a lot of people to Mexico How did that come about? So when I first started traveling while working remotely, I didn't I found that I couldn't find community, right? It's like if I'm in New York or something There's a ton of meet-ups I can go and meet people and I just found that a lot of people who are having We're having the same problem, you know It's like you want to get out of the US and work somewhere else where it's cheap in the food I mean hello Mexican food just amazing, right? So you want to go and have that experience and still be able to get your work done How do you find community? So I kept going down to Mexico City and then I kept trying to convince my friends who are working remotely to come with me They kept saying no So finally I said you know what screw you guys I'm just gonna like throw a website up and see if anyone wants to sign up and no one showed up And then like a ton of people ended up applying which was great And then I ended up hiring a yoga instructor who taught us yoga like twice a day And we got to explore this amazing culture and get to know each other and we all worked as well so So did you find there was a lot of value in that actual co-located FaceTime? Absolutely, I feel like I've gotten to know them a lot better and it just energizes the community. I think as well so this is for Sean so Originally you organized a Ruby Retro Session and Somehow you were able to parlay that into Ruby for good So first can you kind of give a little background of what Ruby Retro Session is and then how you use that to evolve into a Much more complicated thing to organize Sure. So like Retro Session, it's a one-day Unconference so which means we just all get together day of which side of the topics are going to be and then we just talk about it It's a lot of fun. It's great for community building and I'm not quite sure how that evolved into Ruby for good like something to do with my kind of like efficient brain and like hating inefficiencies because you talk to the like You know work with nonprofits or meet nonprofits and you hear about like the horrible way they're doing things and we You know suffered developers we have this amazing ability to help and doesn't require us to do much like just for how little little help they need and so that Kind of it's okay. We can help these people and probably a little bit of guilt in there too because you know as software developers We have it pretty good. We make a lot of money and Everyone's trying to give us jobs But it's not everyone's so lucky so Siri I'm kind of curious what the secret sauce is and taking someone that's like a total beginner and Helping them through all the way to like getting their first job The secret sauce is sugar spice and everything nice. I'm kidding Honestly, it's really encouragement and boosting their confidence. So Really figuring out what they really want to do do they want to do front end or back end or you know Do they want to do for Ruby on rails and then from there just guide them check in on them It's slowly almost like, you know a micro mentorship going on So, you know like hundred percent like interface every week But just like doing checkups to figure out like where they are they come across any issues And just really guide them and push them and encourage them and then like have them come out to more meetups Have them actually become a Ruby on rails lead. So So far we like have people who become leads with them who code who started off like coming from a different industry or who started off as like self-taught on developers and We watch them grow we watch them give their talks and everything and we encourage them and then from that point on They're able to build that confidence and then like they start applying to jobs and then boom They're finally in the industry But I think when you bring them more involved in the community It helps really put them to the next level within their tech career or get into the tech industry so Really just having that constant connection monitoring, you know Encouragement the network like really the network really help us out a lot To help bring them into the next level. So that's our secret sauce So that sugar and spice and everything nice. So it seems like you get a Fair amount of control over their beginners. You help them level up. You can kind of help them to become a lead And get more technically savvy But that last step is really hard going from you know, or even just getting the interview and then You know starting the job and and the the terror that can sometimes go through people's minds as they feel like they're jumping in into this big commitment How do you handle that? It's really it's like the constant reminder to let them know We are here for you if you need to vent if you need to talk about like your first day or the interview process We are here like this is what women who co was for like we are we are here for you to communicate to Really boost up your confidence be your cheerleaders actually. So that's how like we really like tackle that and What else yeah, we really like tackle that part I really went blank Little toy, do you have a similar? Do you ever work with that first interview? So the interesting thing is that I think because we're so focused on People who work in tech who can travel we get a lot of mid and senior and like director level people on our community So when the new people come in I don't have to do much work to be perfectly honest I can kind of sit back and we have a lot of people that are often willing to help them mentor on the fly I mean you can you know screen share you can use tmux to SSH into somebody's computer And we definitely encourage that so So Sean I know it at Arlington Ruby We've definitely had folks walk in the door, and they said I don't know if I'm even supposed to be here And we've watched them move all the way up It just in watching those folks Do you think there's something specific that organizers should be doing to help or or encourage those people? definitely mentorship trying to find members mentors try to Like just encourage them and just be there for them like one thing one thing I know a lot of the organizers of our meet-up. We do is we do a lot of mock interviews with the people I probably do one one or two a month with different junior people before they're going out for their first interview or their second And so just like help them any way you can So changing changing gears a little bit to talk to mentorship, which was fantastic segue. Thanks, Sean so how Do you go about finding people to be mentors? John so So news can talk about mentorship, so I had So so the first thing about mentorship is like it is a relationship And you have to understand that and maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't because it's two personalities and and I Was I was talking to my mentee and she said to me She said I knew you were the mentor for me because all the great advice you've given me and I've given great advice and then she she clarified and I wrote them down because I want to share them at some point and The advice I've given is don't be nervous about speaking at RailsConf. Just get drunk first if that seven-year-old lady at the nonprofit you're You work at is bugging you just fight her when interviewing Tell whoever's interviewing you that you're good luck to hire you Tell them how every person who hasn't hired you has had a house fire afterwards So obviously I there's a particular sense of humor and we match up, but but yeah So it is a relationship and you need to find the right person So as far as mentorship goes I would not be here if it weren't for mentorship I dropped out of college twice and I was bartending until five in the morning when I started to learn how to code And I was like lost for a year And then I ended up getting a mentorship at a company called a flight and I was able to take a lot of the good things That came out of that program. I think and kind of implement them and I think just because of my experience I'm just always willing to help people who want to learn So I think finding other people who have who for some reason want to help to learn is a big help Yeah, um, let me hook code up. We are so Trying to figure out like a nice formal process in doing this but more so I think it's more like people don't know that like That person's actually my mentor, but like I haven't told them yet, but I do go to them for questions I do go to them for like, you know some advice on something, but I think For us leads what we do is like we reach out to them afterwards like after events and see like hey Would you like to you know have one-on-one discussions in regards to, you know, whatever you're interested within the field And I've done that like several times having FaceTime My FaceTime yes Skype Google Hangout and I just talk with them and figure out like hey What are your goals? Like what do you want to do? Let's you know try to meet every two three weeks on like whatever subject or whether whatever project that you want to do and We get help hold you accountable for it and we can work through this and any questions that you have like I'm here for you So really taking like our extra time outside of just organizing our meetups and reaching out to our members to help Monitor them and like give them like advice is like one of our informal ways of like doing our mentorship So one more quick question about mentorship, and then I'd like to open it up to audience questions So do you hope to always have a mentor of course I will be do I hope to always have a mentor Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I have so many unofficial mentors Jenny Hendry was one of mine Ray high tower. I don't think even realize that he's been my Mentor for like five years And I'm always looking to you know grow and expand myself And I think the only way that you can do that is through mentorship Definitely, definitely. I hope I always have one for the rest of my life right Yes, everything she said Actually, of course. Yes. I hope to have mentors I also hope to like have mentors across different Realms in the industry or different topics like not necessarily always in tech But you know a career mentor or someone on like life But the I think for me like what I would like to work on and I'm sure everybody would like to work on is getting Mentors with different tricks and trades So it really will give you like well rounded advice and I will run the guide and Navigating and wherever you're going Great, so we have about five minutes left. I saw one person take a card Did you have a question? Yeah, so the question is how important are the meet-ups to maintaining a community and keeping connected? Well in this context, what is a meet-up like are you talking about meet up dot com? Actual events, I think they're really important. I think they're the The foundation so is it kind of actual that like as opposed to a conference I think the in-person like stuff really really truly goes a long long way I think that's like really fundamental because it really you see the person you see the face You we could read body language a lot better as opposed to you know doing this through text Honestly body language like it's basically close to like 90% of communication So the physical location part is like super super important and it really helps out with everything Yeah, definitely and helps set up You can create opportunities for mentorship like how have new people Bring code samples or bring code that they're working on and that they need help like we always encourage our new members to like Hey, if you're stuck on something bring it and someone will help you and oftentimes the person that's helping them that Will blossom into a mentorship situation I just want to add to that really quick since everything they do or 90% of what you do is remote I will say that like for us a meetup might be there's a bunch of people online on Saturday asking questions about github Why don't we just do a giant github review? And then there's like 10 people that are just doing it then and I feel like that works really well for us Come hang out in my community So just to repeat the question that is how can people join a more global or remote community and be involved? in that Yeah So I think when people come into the community I try to welcome them personally ask them a couple of questions You try to get people to do introductions And I just talked to them a little bit and see like what we can do to help them feel a sense of community if they're looking For anything specific and since everything's online like I said before the turnaround time is really quick if they're like I need help with my resume. Okay, then like let's throw something on the calendar for next month or next week So Ruby for good has done remote leads You need to say a little bit about that. Yeah, so so in the past years We've like one of the teams or we'll we'll do one team where we'll get a remote lead and have a remote team And we're debating doing it this year too. So if that's something really appealing to you come find us afterwards I think we have time for one more question anybody. All right. Great. Thank you so much for coming out. I appreciate it