Lightning Talks & City Pitches

Ruby

Renato dos Santos Cerqueira

1 talk

Mohnish Jadwani

1 talk

2 more speakers

See all speakers

#command-line-interface-cli

#questions-and-answers-q-a

#developer-experience-dx

Lightning Talks & City Pitches

by Renato dos Santos Cerqueira, Mohnish Jadwani, Hans Schnedlitz, and Hana Harencarova

The video features lightning talks from Euruko 2022, highlighting several relevant topics in Ruby development alongside pitches for host cities for Euruko 2023.

Key Points Discussed:

Takeaways:

The importance of transitioning to more supportive frameworks like Grape in software development.
Understanding the crucial role of open dialogue and questioning in team settings.
The collaborative spirit fostered within the Ruby community, both through events and individual contributions to the broader programming landscape.

00:00:04.860 Welcome to our lightning talks! While it's always great to have an audience, we have four lightning talks today, each lasting exactly five minutes. I’ll introduce each speaker by their first name, and they'll share who they are and what they will be discussing. After their introductions, they will have exactly five minutes to present. To clarify, five minutes is precisely that—we're not regarding any other interpretations. I'll be timing them with my smartphone and will signal the five-minute mark by ringing a gong, which is an important ritual for our event. Once the gong rings, the speakers will have 15 seconds to finish their thoughts before I make an appearance to wrap things up. Regardless of any emotional speeches, I will have to stop them to respect the time limits. We want everyone to have a smooth experience, so we’ll ensure that all speakers are connected with their laptops before the timer starts.

00:02:04.460 Our first speaker is Renato, who will discuss how we're migrating from Sinatra to Grape and why this change is necessary. Renato has been working at Uptrick since 2019 and has been using Ruby since 2016. He has experience with Ruby on Rails and has contributed to various open-source projects. Uptrick is an ASO2 and a recognized leader in the market, with offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Bangalore, and San Francisco. Our development teams use Ruby primarily, except for data science, which employs Python, and the front end which utilizes React. The decision to move away from Sinatra was due to the challenges we faced with documentation for our API endpoints. Initially, using Sinatra, we had no established documentation, making it difficult to relay information to our frontend teams. We looked for a better solution and discovered Grape, which has been around since 2010 and is designed with APIs in mind. Grape provides a better API for parameter validation and documentation exports, making it a fitting replacement for Sinatra. One of Grape's gems, Grape Swagger, allows us to bundle validation and documentation together. Moreover, since Grape is inspired by Sinatra, transitioning to it felt quite natural for us.

00:05:55.460 We explored Grape further and set up internal tests, which confirmed that it met our migration needs—allowing for parameter validation and documentation export. However, we realized we could not migrate all endpoints simultaneously due to the volume of our existing Sinatra endpoints and the inadequate documentation we previously had. So, we opted for a strategy using 'wreck Cascade', which allows us to migrate endpoints gradually without disrupting our operations. This solution enables us to comment out old Sinatra endpoints, which will default to the new Grape API. This process allows us to proceed in a progressive manner, transitioning one endpoint at a time. In conclusion, I know this was a quick overview, but if you have further questions, we would be happy to engage with you at our booth later. Thank you!

00:12:37.800 Thank you so much, Renato. The gong has not disappointed, even if we didn't use it the first time around. I can feel the energy in the room, and it’s clear everyone is excited for the upcoming talks. Now, let’s move on to our next speaker, Mohnish, who's ready to share his insights with us. Hi everyone, my name is Mohnish. I’m just waiting for the slides to load. Alright, my talk today revolves around the concept of questions. Recently, I facilitated a team meeting where I asked everyone, ‘If you were a superhero, what special powers would you want?’ Some responses were quite creative—like one individual wanted to be a mind reader, while another expressed a wish for better communication between people automatically. Another engineer mentioned that he desired the power to collaborate seamlessly with his coworkers and to eradicate poverty with his abilities. The manager shared that he really enjoyed the meeting and found the answers to be wholesome.

00:19:28.059 This led me to contemplate what transpired in that meeting and what it was about the questions and answers that resonated with everyone, especially the manager. Fundamentally, an icebreaker is essentially a question. Albert Einstein’s perspective on questions highlights their importance: he stated that questions are about solving problems rather than simply finding answers. I recently read a Danish philosopher, P.R. Lauritzen, who conducted two decades of research on questions and answers, elaborating that our relationship with questions reflects our culture. In one of her TED talks, she pointed out that questions have the power to connect people with one another and the world and that the journey from ignorance to knowledge is paved with questions. This is significant because during our meeting, both the manager and the engineer acknowledged communication as a critical issue for the team. It’s a vital skill that often goes unrecognized in the software industry.

00:26:03.060 The original concept behind the stand-up question was created by Flynn, who works at Equal Experts and developed a deck of non-invasive and fun questions aimed at ensuring safe spaces for dialogue within teams. It turns out that even asking light-hearted questions can reveal significant insights about team dynamics during stand-up meetings or retrospectives. My experience has shown me that this practice fosters a sense of trust among team members and eventually creates a feeling of psychological safety in the workplace. This realization makes me appreciate the value of questions even more. You can find more of those questions linked in my slides.

00:39:25.680 Thank you for listening! Now that we’ve concluded the lightning talks, we’ll transition into our city pitches. Hello, everyone! I’m here to pitch Granada as the host city for Euruko 2023! Granada, my hometown, is a small yet stunning city in southern Spain with a rich history and beautiful monuments like the famed Alhambra. One unique cultural aspect of Granada is its tradition of free tapas with drink orders, making it a delightful place to enjoy food and drink. The city is also surrounded by mountains for skiing and has lovely beaches to enjoy year-round excellent weather. We have one of Spain's top universities, producing many computer science graduates, and hosting Euruko here could inspire them significantly. I genuinely believe Granada would be an exceptional venue for Euruko 2023, and I am confident you will love the city.

00:44:50.580 Next, I’m pleased to invite Thomas to represent Gdansk! Hi, everyone! My name is Thomas, and I'd like to pitch Gdansk, a beautiful city by the sea, as the host for Euruko. As one of the oldest and friendliest Ruby communities, Poland's Ruby community is known for its welcoming nature. Gdansk is very well communicated, with convenient access to an airport, making it easy to get there. It’s alongside the Baltic Sea, similar to cities like Helsinki, Vilnius, and Hamburg, so if you like those, you’ll feel at home in Gdansk. Plus, food and drinks, including alcohol, come at affordable prices compared to other European cities. If you haven't been to Gdansk, I encourage you to visit—it's truly a fantastic place!

00:49:57.460 Now, let’s welcome Ofo to discuss Istanbul! Hi, everyone! Before I start, my name is Ofo Kaiserilolo, and I’m the engineering manager for the Ruby infrastructure team at Shopify. The name Euruko often confuses people because they don’t realize it stands for the European Ruby conference. My proposition is that we should expand this to become a Eurasian Ruby conference, truly representing the diversity of our community. Istanbul sits at the meeting point of Europe and Asia, making it a unique host for Euruko 2023. The city boasts extensive travel networks, especially through Turkish Airlines. Historically, Istanbul is rich, with landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia, which has endured for centuries. Our Ruby community in Turkey is active and engaged, having organized remote events during the pandemic. The climate in Istanbul in June is perfect, and the cost of living is quite affordable, especially for international attendees considering their currencies.

00:57:05.720 So, I sincerely encourage you all to vote for Istanbul as the host city for Euruko 2023! Thank you! Now joining us is our representative from Lviv! Hello! Please support me as I present the beautiful city of Lviv in Ukraine! As we continue to fight for our sovereignty, we invite you to visit our city. We believe that our warmth, bravery, and hospitality, along with our delightful local cuisine, will make your visit memorable. We look forward to welcoming you all to Lviv!

01:01:25.100 Now let’s hear from Vilnius! Hi, everyone! I’m Andy! This is my first time sharing that Vilnius has an eventful 700th anniversary coming up, and I believe Euruko could be the prominent kickoff for our celebrations. Vilnius is often overlooked but has immense charm. It’s small yet vibrant, and everything is walkable. The city has a mix of cultures and local beers brewing extensively, offering an engaging experience. If you choose Vilnius, we'll make Euruko happen in one of our city's historical prisons! That might sound unusual, but it promises to offer a distinct experience!

01:04:50.600 Now, as we conclude with our city pitches, I encourage everyone to consider not just the grandeur but also the community aspect of each city. Regardless of where Euruko 2023 is held, having more conferences is vital. The network and friendships you build will enhance our community. If you’d like a mentorship opportunity, please check out Ruby Friend, designed to connect new developers with mentors. And if anyone has questions about hosting events or starting smaller meetups, feel free to reach out to me for support. Don't just wait—take action and create opportunities! Thank you!

01:07:25.060 Now that we've concluded the pitches, I’d like to thank all the contributors and organizers, especially Matthias for his dedication to bringing us together for this event. We’ll move into the voting phase shortly, where you can share your preference for the cities we've heard from today. Remember, many people work behind the scenes to create these opportunities, and voices from the community like yours matter. Each pitch had its unique strengths, but let’s make our decision together as a unified Ruby community!

EuRuKo 2022