Take an online Test-Driven Rails Workshop with thoughtbot

We’ve just opened registration for our new online Test-Driven Rails workshop, which starts Monday, November 26th, 2012.

The course is taught by Josh Clayton, the maintainer of FactoryGirl, shoulda contributor, and experienced Rails developer. Over the course of a month you will code two Rails applications alongside Josh, working directly with him to learn TDD or improving your TDD practice. This isn’t just a series of videos; it’s an online workshop where you work directly with Josh getting one-on-one and group support.

Because the workshop takes place over the course of an entire month, it strikes a nice balance between making a ton of progress and working at a pace that will work around your schedule. There will also be additional time throughout the week to explore the nooks and crannies of TDD, helped along by Josh and the rest of the thoughtbot team.

Furthermore, when you take an online workshop with thoughtbot, it doesn’t just stop after the initial month. You get ongoing support for any testing questions you may have in the future, from Josh and the rest of the thoughtbot team.

We’d love to have you take this course. You can sign up now and the course begins Monday, November 26th, 2012.

New: online thoughtbot workshops

Today, I’m happy to launch a new online version of our Design for Developers workshop.

We’ve been giving our workshops in Boston for over four years now, and we’ve since expanded them to our new San Francisco office. During that time, we’ve received requests from people around the world asking to take our workshops online. However, we did not want to offer our workshops online until we felt we’d achieved the same intensive, hands-on nature of the in-person version.

We think we’ve figured it out. Here’s how it works:

Instead of taking place in our office over two days, the online version takes place over the course of a month. You pick a project of your own. This can be anything from your personal site, to a side project, to something you’re working on at your job. Each week, we release a pre-recorded video on a design topic and give you a workshop to apply to your project. Throughout the week you work through the workshop, emailing us questions you have along the way. We then hold office hours via group chat, where we have a group critique of your work.

We believe that this hybrid approach will replicate the success of our in person workshop, and we’re excited to bring this to developers around the world.

We’d love to have you take this course. You can sign up now and the course begins Friday, November 2nd, 2012.

Boston Office Manager

About two years ago, I joined thoughtbot as our Office Assistant and now, Office Manager. I’ve decided to relocate to our new San Francisco location, so we are looking for a new Office Manager for our Boston office.

In this unique position you are an extremely important contribution to the general happiness of the entire thoughtbot team, and directly contribute to the success of our company on a daily basis.

We are looking for someone who displays the following:

• Daily punctuality, efficient coordination of office matters, energetic personality, and consistent welcoming hospitable presence 
• Charismatic creativity, outstanding communication, problem-solving, and decision making skills (for example, if a bird flies into our office window and cracks it, or say, just hypothetically speaking of course, if eleven of your coworkers get trapped in our building’s elevator)
• Experience with administrative support and daily office management; as well as event planning
• Able to work independently
• Attention to detail, ambitious attitude and eagerness to learn something new everyday
• Desire to grow with thoughtbot over the long term

As the Boston Office Manager, you will: 

• Work closely with management, as well as San Francisco and Sweden Office Manager(s) on tasks which may include: hiring, accounting, events, marketing, annual company gatherings and events, as well as human resources duties 
• Manage relationships with vendors who are essential to fluid office operations as well as other companies and resources within the Ruby and Boston tech community
• Coordinate and arrange Usability Testing Sessions
• Be able to host evening or weekend company or community event(s), at least once a month, which will be balanced with regular working hours
• Assist in booking domestic and international travel for conferences, workshop attendees, client meetings

Plus, but not required:

• Ability to use Photoshop, Illustrator, GitHub, and Twitter 
• Lives in Boston proper/Cambridge (ie: on the Green, Red, Orange lines), with excellent knowledge of Boston neighborhoods
• Secret super power and/or knowledge of Star Wars [or] Arrested Development

We aren’t looking for someone who is eventually hoping to be a programmer or designer, however ability to use a computer and the navigate internet effectively is a must.

This full-time position will have a competitive salary, that will depend on experience, and exceptional benefits, which include unlimited time off and 100% of medical premiums paid. If you know someone who might be interested in this position, please forward this along to them or have them email their cover letter and resume to resumes@thoughtbot.com

Learn Ruby, Rails, and more in Boston through Skillshare

Skillshare, a community marketplace for classes, has announced a series of tech classes in Boston from October 10th to the beginning of November.

thoughtbot is participating with three new low-cost, introductory evening classes, in contrast to our full-day, intensive workshops that we’ve been giving for more than four years.

Greenhorn Connect is participating with $500 worth of scholarships for high school and college students. To qualify, students must live in the Boston area and forward their Skillshare confirmation emails to Akaash Achreja. You will receive $10 sponsorship back via Paypal.

thoughtbot evening Skillshare classes

Designing, Developing, and Launching a Successful Web Application | Wednesday, October 10th | 7-8:30 p.m. | thoughtbot office | Chad Pytel | Non-technical students will learn the process of building a working web application.

Introduction to Ruby | Monday, October 15th | 7-9 p.m. | thoughtbot office | Matt Mongeau | Students will learn Ruby language syntax, how to write Ruby objects, and how objects interact with one another.

Introduction to Ruby on Rails | Wednesday, November 7th | 7-9 p.m. | thoughtbot office | Chad Pytel | Students will learn the basics of the Ruby on Rails web application framework.

Other evening Skillshare classes in the curated list

Photoshop Quickstart for Beginners | Monday, October 15th | 7-9 p.m. | Workbar Boston | Gayle Rosen | Students will get a hands-on introduction to the photo editing software.

Technical Decision-Making for Non-Technical Founders | Monday, October 15th | 5-6:30 p.m. | Harvard Innovation Lab | Brandon Liu | Non-technical students will learn the most important web technologies.

Illustrator Quickstart for Beginners | Monday, November 5th | 7-9 p.m. | Workbar Boston | Gayle Rosen | Students will be learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator.

UX Research for the Web and Applications | Thursday, November 8th | 6-8 p.m. | Workbar Boston | Danielle Nordin | Students will learn to connect with users when building web or mobile applications.

Why I chose apprentice.io

I’m Jason Draper and I’m a developer apprentice here at thoughtbot in the apprentice.io program. Since the beginning of March it’s been a whirlwind of tests, code and agile development.

It’s no secret that Rails developers are in high demand right now. To offset this issue, companies have turned to training developers from the ground up and then hiring them for their own work or helping the developers find a job elsewhere. Living Social started Hungry Academy. There is also Dev Bootcamp and many others.

So why did I choose apprentice.io?

Know the training methods

apprentice.io is heavily hands-on with actual client work. There are no “made up” projects. Sure, as apprentices we all work on our own side projects but during the day, I’m working on client code. Working on code for a client means you must write what the client wants and needs which may not be the same thing. The belief both here at thoughtbot and by myself is that you learn more by actual work.

In addition to hands-on development with client work, thoughtbot offers several workshops throughout our apprenticeship which complement our learning. The workshops give us a chance to go deeper into situations which would not otherwise arise during the course of working with clients. The workshops are immensely useful and an integral part of our training.

Know the code

I’ve been writing Rails code for a while but I wanted to learn better coding skills from people who knew their stuff.  If you’ve done any Rails work at all, you’ve heard of at least one of thoughtbot’s gems or projects. I’ve been using paperclip for a long time and factory_girl is amazing for getting rid of fixtures. So when I decided that I wanted to expand my knowledge, I could crack open their code and see exactly what these guys produce. I knew they had what I wanted to learn.

Know the firm

In Boston and in the Rails community, thoughtbot is well known and respected. I wanted to work for an organization that required a high level of quality in their code as well as their practices, not just a company that had a “one hit wonder” that took them to the top.

Know the program

Though the apprentice.io program is new, for years thoughtbot has had apprentices (not interns) internally and trained outside developers via workshops.

Know the community

Learning doesn’t stop outside the office. Boston has a strong tech community and groups such as BostonRB thrive with experienced and new users alike.

Know thyself (it’s a personal choice)

What I wanted to get out of the apprenticeship was going from a junior developer to the next level. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to work afterwards so I liked that apprentice.io has very loose employment restrictions. I couldn’t be more excited.