Episode 79 – Matt Darby (reloaded)

In this episode, Arsalan talks to Matt Darby from Columbus Ruby Brigade and Rackspace about his journey into software development and how he feels about the idea of structured mentorship for new and aspiring developers.
Matt’s Bio:
Matt has developed on the web for 17 years. He can configure pools of servers, architect and develop the applications on those servers, and make it all look good (and run). He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science and he leads the Columbus Ruby Brigade. He has launched projects for folks from Rackspace, AT&T, Sprint, LivingSocial and SeoMoz to local engineering and consulting firms.
Episode Highlights and Show Notes:
Matt: I don’t see a lot of companies treating younger programmers as assets. They aren’t investing in them and they are using them to fill in some holes in their staffing but they probably are aware that a certain percentage of those people are probably gonna either not fit in, not like the job – you know certain amount have to shake out…
Matt: You are going to get bruised every single time you promote yourself. Someone’s gonna laugh at you or you’re gonna fail or get punched – metaphorically – but the key is getting over there and it’s like a standup comedian. You know you’re going to get bruised sometimes…
Matt: Keep your head up… programming is a tough journey – it really is. Once you learn something you tend to very quickly forget the pain you went through to learn that… keep working to promote yourself and make sure people know who you are…

* Columbus Ruby Brigade
* Pair Columbus
* Rackspace
* Rails Casts

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