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Hey, good morning, everyone. My name is Dave, and this is Dennis.
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Before RailsConf, show of hands: who knew what Tuft & Needle was? Anyone? Nice! Okay, for those who don't know, Tuft & Needle is a mattress company.
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We have a presence here in Phoenix at RailsConf this year because our office is here. Tuft & Needle has some interesting elements about it, and one of them is our culture of learning. That's kind of what we wanted to talk to you about today.
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So what does it mean to cultivate learning, and why is it important? It's easy to say that growth and learning are important tenets, but what does that actually mean? How do you carry that out in your business, and how do you take that to your team as an investment in them and their collective and individual brain trusts? And why do it?
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When we were thinking about this, I considered the kind of culture we wanted to create at our own business. Three things came to mind: it gives people purpose, it allows them autonomy, and it provides them with growth. All of that kind of leads back to happiness. While happiness is hard to quantify, we think of it in terms like this: if you're working on a problem and you get stuck, that's a bad feeling. You want to feel like you have a place to go to get unstuck.
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We feel like underscoring this culture of learning helps people to realize that it’s okay to ask for help. You know, as a software developer or designer, you can’t know everything, and that’s okay. If you're here, working with us, we already have confidence in you; we have assessed that you have the skills you need to work with us. From there, it's about empowering you to know more and to share more with your colleagues.
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So as I said, we're Dave and Dennis from Tuft & Needle. A little bit about me: this is my newest daughter, Lori. She's nine months old. I have four kids; pray for me!
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I've been working with Rails for around ten years. I found it sort of at the beginning, and my story with Rails as a programmer is quite relevant to this talk. I was on my own for a long time, having done some work with the military. At the time, I was basically doing freelance consulting, not really looking for a job.
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Then, I stumbled upon some guys at a company called Hashrocket at a coffee shop I would go to work. I felt like I was doing okay at the time, but I didn’t know that I needed something more. I was a Python developer, learning Ruby; things were fine.
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I had this chance encounter with them, and they invited me down to their office through a kind of weird situation involving guitar lessons. To be honest, I don’t think I was really qualified to work there at the time. I had some Rails experience and knew Ruby, but Hashrocket was the first place where I encountered a culture that took a chance on me.
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They saw something in me that they thought they could cultivate. Ten years later, I'm still working with Rails full-time for Tuft & Needle, leading the team now.
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As Dave mentioned, my name is Dennis. I know that picture is incredibly unflattering, but yeah, I have a similar kind of experience to Dave. I actually met Dave at Hashrocket as a designer.
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It's a little weird that I came from the technology field using traditional design methods like band posters and CDs, but it's always been an interesting culture to be a part of. I've been designing for a little over 16 years. I started off like many people, self-taught.
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One of the reasons creating this culture of learning and making it a core part of our organization is important to me is that many of us have non-linear pathways to where we are today. There are probably a lot of you that had history degrees or something completely different. Many of us taught ourselves, or we went to school for something entirely different.
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Without those straight and clear paths, it's crucial to have people along the way who can guide you, give you a break, or mentor you—whether it's on one project, for a day, or for years. Those individuals are essential, and they've helped me reach my career point.
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So part of why I enjoy this is giving back and providing others with opportunities to grow and hopefully surpass me.
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One of the ways we handle growth at our company is through two different methods: mastery programs and apprenticeships.
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So let's talk briefly about apprenticeships.
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I don’t think that word is something that’s new to a lot of people in our community. It’s something we pull from other industries. What’s important for us is that it starts with the language. Across the board, whether you're a software developer or you work in customer service or at the retail store, we use a consistent language.
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We don’t label people as junior or senior developers; instead, we say you’re an apprentice, journeyman, or master. I note that it’s a personal pet peeve of mine that you can't call yourself a master; I believe it’s something that someone else should say about you.
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This speaks to a life lived versus one that’s attained. It influences my perspective on continuous growth and learning and how to prioritize my development over seeking titles and raises.
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Finding talent is challenging. Recently, I read that there were over two hundred twenty-three thousand vacant jobs in our industry, and there aren’t enough graduates in computer science programs to fill those roles. Hiring is a problem, as you often see here at RailsConf with companies sponsoring and trying to get your attention to come work with them.
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But I believe there are other ways to approach this, such as being on the lookout for individuals who are already in your organization. They may not have the exact skill set but share the values you're seeking. If you listen and pay attention, you can find people you can cultivate and bring into other departments.
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This is something that we really care about. Reflecting on previous jobs, I wish people were paying attention to my potential when I was starting out. I could have benefited greatly from guidance.
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So, how do we approach our apprenticeship programs? This is something we’re constantly changing and iterating on as we go. We meet quarterly with our apprentices, discuss strengths and weaknesses, set milestones, and establish expectations from the beginning.
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We believe that setting realistic expectations is essential, as unrealistic ones can throw the entire process off. People can become nervous or want to quit if they feel overwhelmed.
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We also compensate our apprentices based on their achievements. When they meet their goals and milestones, we reward them with higher pay because the more they learn, the more value they bring.
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For example, Tommy is part of our customer experience group. We have a sizable team at Tuft & Needle with around 150 employees and about 10 developers. Tommy had a unique background: he was a school teacher before he joined our team.
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He became interested in technology after searching for something else to fulfill his career. Initially, he worked in our customer experience department while branching out on his own to learn HTML and other coding skills.
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He attended RailsConf and at a certain point during the conference, we realized, 'Okay, we need to take this guy under our wing.' He showed great aptitude for development and was already knowledgeable about our business.
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One of our leading developers, Shane Reilly, was teaching a course for Launch School and Tommy had access to his material. This allowed Tommy to receive formal training, which we encourage our employees to pursue.
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It’s crucial to get apprentices involved in real-world projects as soon as possible. Doing so helps build confidence and gives them a chance to apply what they’ve learned in practical ways.
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Tommy is now a full-fledged member of the front-end team, and it's a great accomplishment. He recently released his first significant project and did an excellent job.
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I want to touch on the design side as well. Rachel, who also came from our customer experience team, had an unconventional pathway and no formal training in design.
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She knew the programs but lacked understanding of proper design principles. It became clear early on that many self-taught designers often focus only on completing individual tutorials.
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This is problematic because it can lead to a lack of fundamental knowledge, similar to knowing how to use Rails without understanding Ruby.
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We realized we needed to provide her with a much clearer foundation instead of offering a curriculum overloaded with information.
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We focused on the fundamentals and set more realistic expectations, such as deadlines for completing projects. Setting a timeline ensures that the designer does not tinker endlessly and can complete projects efficiently.
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The progress she made, particularly with typography, a vital aspect of design, was significant. She has grown to be an integral member of our design team.
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To foster this culture of learning at Tuft & Needle, we incorporate mastery programs. Continuous growth is key to increasing happiness, and it benefits both the learner and the teacher.
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We implement these mastery programs across different departments within the business. Again, we meet quarterly to identify individual learning paths and facilitate group learning opportunities.
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Currently, we’re designating specific days and times to structure our learning, such as Thursdays for our engineering team, making it intentional rather than ad hoc.
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Additionally, we engage in mob programming, where our remote teams collaborate on problems using tools like Team eight. This format allows individuals to learn from one another.
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Book clubs are another aspect of our learning culture. We assemble to read and discuss technical and soft skill books, making time for growth and awareness.
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Critiques in our design process emulate practices from design school where students receive feedback on their presentations. Our goal is to constructively critique and support our team to improve.
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This shared learning enriches our designs and supports knowledge transfer among team members, highlighting the importance of collaborative growth.
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In addition to critiques, we treat our quarterly skill plans as major goals. These goals and their due dates are tracked so every team member has something measurable to aim for.
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Realistic goals are crucial, as we have seen that vague or unrealistic objectives often lead to frustration and failures.
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By analyzing progress and results, we can also reward people based on the completion of their plans. This incentivizes learning and development while reinforcing corporate growth.
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Our founder emphasized that investing in an environment where employees can continuously improve is critical. This encourages employees to stay long-term rather than shifting jobs.
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Creating a culture where people do not get bored and are always challenged helps foster retention. We aim to provide opportunities for growth, creating a workplace where employees feel engaged.
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Let’s open the floor for questions. Thank you all for your time.