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In 2019, Justin Searls gave a talk, "The Selfish Programmer" all about building a Rails 5 app as a one-man show. Now, he is back to share how he made a new app that's twice the size but felt like half the work. You'll learn how Rails includes more batteries than ever, when sticking with omakase pays off, and why scaling back a team doesn't have to mean slowing down. Thank you Shopify for sponsoring the editing and post-production of these videos. Check out insights from the Engineering team at: https://shopify.engineering/ Stay tuned: all 2024 Rails World videos will be subtitled in Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese soon thanks to our sponsor Happy Scribe, a transcription service built on Rails. https://www.happyscribe.com/
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In his talk titled "The Empowered Programmer" at Rails World 2024, Justin Searls explores how the Ruby on Rails framework enables developers, particularly solo developers, to execute formidable projects efficiently. He reflects on his journey in software development within the context of building an app for his wife, Becky, who transformed her fitness program into a software platform. Searls emphasizes how Rails' expanding functionality empowers programmers, allowing them to take ownership and sustain projects without extensive resources. Throughout his presentation, he highlights six key principles that characterize an empowered programmer: - **Courageous:** Emphasizing the 'Cone of Uncertainty,' Searls advocates for prioritizing riskiest features first. He illustrates this with his prior experience developing a video hosting feature, where he initially faced fear but overcame it through experimentation with tools like Active Storage. - **Resilient:** Searls discusses the importance of maintaining software in the long term and describes how Rails 7 has introduced features that reduce future regrets, notably in authentication processes and usage of modern CSS frameworks like Tailwind. - **Efficient:** Highlighting his efforts to streamline user workflows, he explains how he implemented a Readiness Checker to manage production-ready programs without burdening Becky with cumbersome validations. - **Dextrous:** Searls shares key decisions in his tech stack choice, including the decision to minimize user data storage and the embrace of ephemeral data management to keep operational costs predictable. - **Disciplined:** He stresses the necessity of restraint in feature development, sharing anecdotes about limiting user interface complexity to maintain focus on key functionalities. - **Meticulous:** Searls wraps up by emphasizing the importance of detail-oriented design and code maintainability, showcasing the value of utilizing tools that naturally align with Rails workflows. His conclusion accentuates that combining these six traits with a solid understanding of Rails functionalities allows developers to create robust applications efficiently, reducing pressure while still delivering quality results. Searls hints at his future endeavors as this marks his final conference presentation, leaving a lasting message about the power of individual developers in leveraging Rails for substantial applications.
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