Why Every New Rubyist Should Volunteer at RailsBridge

My experience as a TA at RailsBridge Boston

Six months ago the terms ‘Ruby’ and ‘Rails’ meant something much different to me than they do today. I remember my introduction to Ruby through Codecademy’s free online tutorials. I think the image of that shiny red gem was more inviting than the python, and that was really all it took to make my decision on which language to learn first. Before long I was hooked on earning my Ruby badges as I progressed through the course, and then looking for new ways to learn more. What was most reinforcing, though, was the feeling of how empowering learning to code can be. There’s that moment where you realize ‘Hey, I can do this!’ I’m not saying that there haven’t been many moments since then where I was stuck, frustrated, and questioning my ability to become a developer. Learning to code is a marathon, not a sprint, especially for someone with no prior programming experience. But the point is that it is doable if you are willing to put in the work, and there is an amazing community of people who are happy to provide support when you need it to help you reach your goals.

Which is where RailsBridge comes in. RailsBridge is a 1.5 day workshop which introduces women with little to no programming experience to Ruby and Ruby on Rails. Volunteering as a TA turned out to be a really rewarding experience for me. The organizers were trying out a new curriculum which focused solely on Ruby fundamentals. Being fairly new to coding myself, it was hard for me to imagine that I could have the skills to give back to the development community in any way, but I was excited to be involved none the less. The truth, as I’ve learned, is that you do not have to be some expert programmer or someone who’s been coding for years to contribute in some small way.

As I looked around at all the women who attended the workshop, it was like looking at myself six months earlier. There were a lot of very unsure faces at first. Throughout the course of the day, I watched as everyone became more confident in their skills. It was so exciting to see the lightbulb moments happening throughout the room. I was also surprised at my own ability to provide help when it was needed. I did my best to explain concepts such as how Ruby handles math with integers versus floats, what the difference is between using a symbol or a string, and why we use variables to store information. For the first time I began to realize just how far I had progressed in such a short period of time. My favorite part of the weekend was speaking to all of the participants about what inspired them to come. Some were looking to make a career change, and some were just looking to learn something new. I was really impressed with how much they were able to accomplish in one day, and I hope they continue to learn on their own with the resources that were suggested.

So get out there and volunteer! Even if it’s just heading to a meetup and helping someone who is a month or two behind you in their learning. You might just be surprised with how much you know.