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Hello everyone! I didn't practice this before, so we'll see how this goes. My name is Brad Harmon, and I'm with Hired. The unofficial name of this talk is '5.0 / 30'.
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As you can probably tell, I'm wearing a Hired shirt that I tie-dyed for the Grateful Dead's 50th reunion concert. If there are any Grateful Dead fans out there, let's talk! Anyway, thank you all for coming. It's super early right now, at least for me. I know you’re all here to see Tenderlove, but luckily my company paid for your attendance, so I get to stand up here for 10 minutes and talk about whatever I feel like.
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It’s amazing to be on this stage after all these years. I've been part of this community for nearly 10 years now, almost nine and a half, technically. In the last decade, I've sat in the crowd and listened to my programming heroes, such as DHH, deliver inspiring talks. Now it's my turn, and I never thought I would have this opportunity.
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When I was asked to speak today, I figured I just had to give some sort of speech about what Hired does. However, I'm not a fan of selling, so I won't focus on that. Fortunately, some folks from Indeed already covered that information. So, on to what I really want to talk about today.
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This is our third year sponsoring RailsConf. We do it because we love this community and want to give back. We are a company built for engineers, by engineers, and we've been built on Rails since day one. If you visit hired.com/railsconf, you can hear from hundreds of Rails engineers who have found their dream jobs through Hired. There are thousands more who have done the same.
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On GitHub, you can check out some of our open-source projects. We have plenty, some of which are pretty cool, and while not all of them are well-tested, that's where you all come in! I’m immensely proud to be part of this community and even prouder to support it. If I didn’t love this community, I wouldn’t be standing here today on my 30th birthday.
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Turning 30 this morning feels surreal, and you all can buy me drinks later! I probably would have called in sick to work to hang out in Dolores Park, dancing at a robot dance party. Those of you who have been to San Francisco may know about that scene.
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That brings me to the theme of this talk. I don't like applying labels, but for about the last decade, I've been a Rails engineer. My entire 20s were spent building software primarily in Rails, and I've also dabbled in Ruby and sometimes Sinatra.
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While I may not have always been the best contributor to the community, I sincerely respect it due to all the brilliant, curious people — many of whom are in this room. The endless feedback, discussions, and countless hours of hard work have contributed to what we’ve built. Rails has become something even greater than I imagined when I first started working with it in its 1.1 days.
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The community is fantastic, though it can be a little annoying at times. For example, go read the CoffeeScript introduction in the Rails core comment thread, and you'll see what I mean! But I love it so much. Eight years ago, I dropped out of college, like many successful entrepreneurs. At that time, my only dream was to be like Kevin Rose. I saw a feature about him in Business Week and thought I could be him. In hindsight, I could have chosen a better role model.
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So, in 2007, I did an internship at a small company in Indianapolis where I built things in Rails. It was the only technology I had exposure to outside of some PHP. I decided to buy a book and actually learn Rails to turn it into a career. The problem was, by the time I bought the book, it was severely out of date, and I had no idea what I was doing. I had to dive headfirst into the Rails community, getting involved in message boards, groups, email lists, IRC channels, and Stack Overflow because I needed help.
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Sometimes people were unhelpful, but mostly everyone was excited to help a newcomer like me. Thanks to this incredible community and all the support I received, I was able to grow into a competent engineer. I started a company and raised over $100,000 with some friends, but we just flushed it all down the toilet, so I won't delve too much into that.
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After that, I bounced around some companies, constantly challenging myself and hoping that I wouldn't sink. The Rails community was there to support me at every turn, helping mold me into the engineer I am today. My parents, like many in the 80s, were young when they had me. I was 12 when my mom and dad were my age, which feels unreal. At 12, I thought 30 seemed like 70 until recently when I realized 30 is not what I expected.
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A continuous theme throughout our lives is growth; we continue to reshape our perspectives through our experiences. Over the last decade, I’ve personally adapted and grown, figuring out what I really value. I've also enjoyed watching the Rails community evolve. I've witnessed Rails mature and adapt to our changing perceptions of technology, our identity, and our aspirations.
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As we gather here this week, interacting, making new friends, discussing technology, and contemplating the future of Rails, I feel a sense of excitement reminiscent of when I was 20. Rails 5.0 is coming soon! Today also marks the first day of my 30s, a combination of events I could hardly have imagined a decade ago.
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In a decade, I’ve spent building products, learning, and growing alongside all of you. Observing how both the community and my own skills have matured fills me with pride. Over the last decade, we have developed a robust sense of maturity, stability, and direction within the framework.
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Ten years ago, I was simply excited to build. I was thrilled to use Rails, which was the hot new thing at the time. Now, I’m far more excited about the maturity we’ve achieved together and the experiences we’ve gained. Those aspects are what truly empower us to create great products.
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I couldn't be happier to be up here giving back to the community that has shaped me over the last nearly decade. From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for making me an engineer. I hope to contribute more in the future, and I hope Hired can continue to support this incredible community.
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I’ll be speaking at 10:50 in room 3501G, which I believe is not closed off, so feel free to check it out if you want to learn more about Hired, our features, and our development culture.
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Actually, I recommend visiting the other presentation because that seems really cool, but if you’re looking for a casual talk, come and listen to me. Here’s to the next ten years!
