Garden City Ruby 2014 - The Rails GIrls Summer of Code Journey

PALLAVI SHASTRY: We're here to share an amazing

Rails Girls Summer of Code experience.

It was an internship of about three months,

and we were the team Diasbits.

So Dias is the short form of the Open Source
project

we picked up called Diaspora and 'bits,'

we were trying to be the tiny, teeny tiny
bits of Diaspora

by contributing to Diaspora,

and that's how we picked up the name Diaspora.

So we are- I'm Pallavi.

I'm working as a developer in Bang the Table

and this is my coding partner Sakshi Jain.

She's a final year engineering student from
Rajasthan.

And let's say more about Rails Girls.

Sakshi Jain: So we're here to share about
the fun

we had during Rails Girls summer of code,

and so we'll be talking less technical and
more,

sharing more of the fun.

So, Rails Girls- the aim of Rails Girls is
to give

tools to women and a community so that they

understand technology and build it ideas.

So this they do by providing them

a great experience and making technology more
approachable.

So let's see more about Rails Girls, here.

[VIDEO]

Girl: We want to give the girls a chance to
build a web application from concept to code.

Boy: And we think it's important that the
girls learn to see the web as a platform for

their ideas.

[indecipherable lecture & chatting]

Voice Over: It's really awesome to see you
all here,

because I hope that you're actually going
to start building web apps and services.

Boy: So we want to get the girls to destroy
the world!

P.S.: So after connecting in a number of workshops
and meet-ups,

so the Rails Girls organizers decided to take
it to the next step

and that's how the Rails Girls Summer of Code
was born.

So Rails Girls Summer of Code-

the main idea was to get women and girls into
Open Source.

And it works very similar to Google Summer
of Code

and Ruby Summer of Code, where students will
be paid,

and the students are free to pick up any Open
Source project work on.

And like the Google Summer of Code and the
Ruby Summer of Code,

the idea of Rails Girls Summer of Code was
to expand

the knowledge and skills by contributing to
great Open Source Projects.

So you don't have to come up with a sophisticated
code

by the end of your internship.

So there were about forty applications from
about

one forty students from all over the world.

And few of them were outstandingly prepared,

few of them had their own support networks

from local community and coaches,

and few of them had their own personal stories.

And this

00:04:10.26 ??

was the teams that got selected from

different parts of the world, and we were
the team from India.

So we were a team. So team consisted of participants,

coaches and mentors. So the participants were
me and Sakshi.

It was a paired event. And coaches-

coaches are the people who you used to help
us with all our doubts,

you know, help us whenever we get stuck with
anything.

And mentors are the people who know in and
out about the project we picked up.

So we picked up Diaspora and we had Diaspora
developers as our mentors.

And these people were our coaches.

Arihant Godha, Neha, and Tejas Dinkar,

the guy who spoke about native extensions.

It was not only coding, the whole three months.

We had a lot of fun activities,

not only reporting or blogging about the work

we did or the coding we did.

We did have regular interactions,

hang-outs with our mentors, other teams,

and we met a lot of awesome people.

And we got a lot of goodies from all the sponsors.

And Sakshi will tell us more about the project.

S.J.: Yeah, so let's see about what projects
did we actually work for.

We chose to work for Rails Girls App generator
and Diaspora.

Initially we thought that we'd be working
for Diaspora

for the whole three months, but Diaspora is
a huge project,

and it was really difficult for us,

for us beginners to understand what actually
Diaspora is,

and how we should contribute to it.

And it requires a lot of knowledge of Rails
and other things.

So we chose, we started off with Rails Girls
App generator.

This project also included our visits to Rails
Girls events in Bangalore and

00:06:09.90?? .

So, what do we actually do in the Rails Girls
events

is that we learn more about Rails,

and we get to meet a lot of people and we
can meet our coaches,

we can ask any doubt we have in our mind.

And also there's a lot of chance to have nice
pictures of Friday hug.

So during this project, what we did is-

Rails Girls App generator is about adding
comments

targeted at Rails Girls students

and it removes more complicated stuff

like respond-to blocks and JSON stuff in controllers,
et cetera.

So this project also includes a

JQ 00:06:58.37 ??

based website hosted on GitHub pages,

which gives pointers to the guides and other
resources -

beginners, intermediate, et cetera.

So after finishing off with Rails Girls App
generator,

which took us about a month to figure out
what exactly has to be done,

and we learnt more about Rails, et cetera,
then we switched on to Diaspora.

Diaspora is a legacy-aware decentralized social
network,

which gives the user whole control of their
data.

And it was touted by the media as a Facebook-killer.

So, why is it called as a Facebook-killer?

Because it is completely different

and it gives the user complete freedom and
privacy.

So I should not speak much about Diaspora
because I haven't contributed to it much.

Let's see- next slide.

Yeah. So before contributing to Diaspora,

we had some doubt in our mind as to what exactly

should we know about Diaspora,

and how should we even contribute to it?

So how- should we start reading

?? 00:08:16.29

books from starting to end,

or should we start learning all the languages:

Ruby, Javascript, et cetera.

So, this was the answer which was given to
us by the Diaspora developer.

He said that, "Never try to learn everything
up front,

that doesn't work. Better pick upa little
task and learn what you need to solve it."

So this, we formed as a principle

and so now we use this concept whenever

we start contributing to any Open Source project.

Also, one important thing that what prior
knowledge

should we have before making any contributions.

He said that git workflow is the most important
thing,

and learn everything else as you go.

So this is a concept which helps you to save
your time.

Just pick up one task and research about it
and try to solve it.

If you have less time, that means you should
not start

the reading whole of the languages.

It is good if you know everything, but,

if you have less time that means you set about
a particular bug,

which you want to fix.

So we picked up some issues from Diaspora
issue list,

and these were the few issues from the beginner's
category,

and these are some of the issues:

Blocking people from the profile page, fix
commenting,

comment still displayed after a fail posting,
et cetera.

So let me explain to you about the blocking
feature,

which we introduced into Diaspora.

So as you can see in the image,

first we had to design what,

where should the block icon be placed on the
profile page in Diaspora.

So we went through a series of design steps.

As you can see, we had the block in the drop-down,

and then a little finishing was required.

Finally we came down to one design, which
was accepted by most of the people.

So through all this we learned about how to
communicate

in Open Source projects, what,

how to ask Diaspora developers how do they
review, et cetera.

After fixing our design, then we,

what we did was, we had to figure out what
exactly,

where exactly the code should be placed.

So we had to figure out which files will be
effected.

So all this we could do with the help of Diaspora
developers.

So, Pallavi, what did we learn?

P.S.: Rails, of course, and the Git workflow,

and we had this oh-my-god situations when
we had much conflicts.

So, how do we branch out? How do we fix it?

And then how do we send a poll-request?

And how do developers review it? And how they
comment?

The whole Git workflow basically, and working
remotely.

So Sakshi's from Ajmer. I'm from Banglore.

So for the first few days, in the beginning,

it was difficult for us to communicate.

And also the developers are from Berlin,

and coach is luckily a developer from Banglore.

And most of the time it was through pinging

or email or IRC we could communicate with
each other.

And not only fixing the bugs, we also,

it was a test in development.

So we learned a lot about RSPEC or 00:11:53.15??
and all that.

S.J.: The impact.

The impact is that we are standing here and
speaking in front of you.

So the whole Rails Girls Summer of Code journey

had a great impact on our life and career.

So we know, like, what exactly we want to
do now, and what is our destination.

Though we still have to learn a lot and,

it made us realize that we too have the capability

to implement our ideas and we got to meet
a lot of

people from all over the world.

We understood the learning strategy of different
people

from different countries. We realized that
we too have the,

fortunately we too have the chance to make
things,

to change the world and make things better,
and happen.

Thank you!

Thank you to the coaches, to the mentors,

to the organizers of Rails Girls Summer of
Code journey,

to the Garden City Ruby Conference organizers

for giving us this opportunity to speak here.

Thank you all.

P.S.: Any questions?

V.O.: We do have time for questions, yeah.

QUERANT: Just wanted to say, good job and
all the rest.

P.S.: Thank you.

Anyone, any questions?

QUERANT: I just want to ask like, what are
the

00:13:42.7 ??

challenges that you faced with this? I see
a lot of-

I'm not engend- I'm gonna not engender women,

or something like that, but I see a lot of
fresher sort you know,

people who are just doing their college

and are finding a real tough time basically

to learn technology and things.

Like how do you break that ice, how did you
guys do it in specific?

P.S.: So, we do have that feeling, like,

we felt timid sometimes because we don't have

the required technical skills, but then once
we got into it,

we eventually picked up. We slowly picked
up.

And I think the best thing would be to just,

just don't feel timid, just pick up,

eventually you'll pick up everything.

S.J.: And yeah, the Rails Girls Summer of
Code

organizers were so welcoming.

Anything you can ask them on IRC just ping
them,

they'll give you an answer, you can research,

you can talk to your coaches.

So that's how we got to learn a lot of things.

QUERANT: OK, so I wanted to ask you,

have you followed up in your college

and have you told them about it?

What steps did you take to make people aware?

Because I did my GSub this summer and I've
been trying to do stuff.

So what are you guys doing in college?

P.S.: Yes, we did have a similar talk in college,

we introduced the rest of the girls to this.

And I'm not very sure when it's gonna happen
again,

but I make sure some of my juniors will take
part.

QUERANT: All right, that's great.

P.S.: OK

QUERANT: Again, I love your confidence.

This was a great talk. So my question is,

the learnings that you've had in college,

how much was it applicable in this experience?

The useful stuff?

P.S.: Yeah, we got to know that we didn't
learn anything,

and we have to start learning.

S.J.: Exactly.

QUERANT: So, finally, Emacs or Vin??

P.S.: Yeah, not so much. OK, he has a question.

QUERANT: What is the answer by the way?

QUERANT: So that was a good talk. Part of-
slightly different question.

What are you personal plans to take this forward,

Rails Girls initiatives and the Rails Girls
Summer of Code initiatives?

How you gonna take it forward, because I've
seen in the past,

people come up here on stage, get there visibility,

get the limelight, get into the corporate
bubble,

and disappear out of this.

S.J.: So we are standing here, that means
we're inspiring students.

QUERANT: Right now. What are you all going
to do?

S.J.: Yeah.

P.S.: OK, we're still contributing to Diaspora,

there are few peers left under review, and
now we know,

we have a fair idea of how to contribute to
Open Source,

so we'll pick up some other Open Source project.

I tried my hands on

00:16:56.77 ??

Yeah. Pretty much take it forward that way.

QUERANT: And one request.

Inspire others, please,

other girls especially to get onto the same
boat here.

Well done, thanks.

P.S.: Thank you.

So we have a lot of time for questions.

QUERANT: I have a sister, who is going to

00:17:18.20??

this year. So do you have any statements for

what should I tell her to do or ask her to
follow?

P.S.: So basically when we applied, they asked
us to show sample codes.

So I think, this was not only specific to
Ruby on Rails,

any web framework, anything that is related
to web.

I mean, there were other teams who were working
on JavaScript.

So if she's interesting, ask her to have some
sample codes,

so that'll help her to get into.

And compared to Google Summer of Code and
Ruby Summer of Code,

this wasn't so competitive.

I mean, I think it was the first time.

S.J.: Yeah, it was.

P.S.: And only a few of them knew it.

So it should be easy to get into it.

V.O.: We
do have time for more questions.

QUERENT: I don't actually have a question,

but I have a piece of advice. In India, right
now,

we have a good amount of Ruby developers male

to which we look forward and we plan to be
more helpful,

we get some inspiration from them, but there's
no female developers,

as such, where the new community which is
coming in to,

they look forward to any female that can inspire
them.

So I advise you guys to equally be active
in social media,

so that it creates a word out of it, and it
takes that,

it takes forward from there, onwards.

P.S.: OK.

QUERANT: I like your introduction, but then,
you know,

I like the confidence with which you guys
are standing there,

not that you're girls or guys standing there,

but even two guys standing there,

I would have been really happy to see two
people

come up there and do the things they're doing.

I think there enough female developers that
are kicking ass,

I think, you don't have to look beyond a girl
who can kick ass.

But, good job because, it's just the confidence,

keep the confidence going, and all the rest.

P.S.: OK, thank you.

He has a question.

QUERANT: So a lot of people, including myself,

have a issue with confidence?

But did you did mention that you went through
a period of feeling timid.

And I've actually worked with some juniors
as well,

and I do see that as a problem.

Could you explain a little bit more of how

personally you can overcome your timidness,

or any stress level of learning so many things?

S.J.: So I should thank my parents, I think,

for introducing me into a school which was
a kind of a great development...

so, should I name my school? It is Sophia
Senior secondary school from Madrid,

and I'm really thankful to my teachers, you
know,

their encouragement and their support, so
I am here today.

QUERANT: Hello. My question is how did you
come across Rails Girls

in the first place? As in how did you know
it was there?

P.S.: OK, so, that's a nice question.

I was a part of an organization called Free
Software ??

So they help students to get into Open Source
pro-

I mean, you know, introduce them to Open Source
and all that.

So I subscribed to their mailing list

and I happened to see this and I thought OK,

let me try, and then started coding in Ruby

and all that, and then applied for Rails Girls
Summer of Code.

And it's the same thing with her, even she
came,

she found out about Rails Girls Summer of
Code through some mailing list.

S.J.: In my career of engineering I,

actually I was searching for some new language
to learn about,

so I asked one coach, ??, he told me to start
learning Ruby.

So I found it easy to understand at first.
But though,

when you go in depth of Ruby, it is more complicated.

So it requires a lot of practice in implementation.

QUERANT: K, I've got one question for you.

So if you had one message to pass on to other
women in technology

or other girls who are looking to get into
technology, what would that be?

S.J.: That would be that if you want to apply
for any program,

just go for it, don't think that

you don't have that much of technical background,

or you don't know these things, that you can't
apply.

So it's better to just push yourself and you'll
eventually learn.

P.S.: And also like just look for any of these
women-centric programs.

You know they pay you money.

QUERANT: By the way there's also the normal
?? program.

P.S.: List of women-centric programs would
be,

of course the Google Summer of Code is there,

the twenty-four students, and there's ?? outreach program for
women and uh,

Ruby Summer of Code, and Rails Girls Summer
of Code.

S.J.: And the Next Foundation.

P.S.: Yeah, the Next Foundation. Oh, yeah
?? is also there.

Thank you all.