I used to look puzzled at BASIC way, way back in computer club…

…and never thought I would be learning to code. That is for those other, smarter, stronger, talented, brave, younameit people, not this tiny village, horse farm kid from northern Europe. But that's also what I thought before I bought a loud and shiny motorcycle and learned how to take the motor out; picked up the bass, joined a heavy rock band and moved to NYC; …somehow it turned out it was for me after all, so why did coding still seem unimaginable? Well, the math thing, I failed all classes and scraped by on art and languages, like a proper lady.

Then, one day a nice person told me that Railsgirls is coming to town and that was it. I was left dizzy with an intense desire to understand what just happened: "I can build stuff with my favorite machines? Oh, it's so on…"

(and when hesitant to enter at a Ruby conference, I imagine all in black Rock T-shirts and it's just another Metal show)

Starting somewhere:

They say to build is to learn, but that means I needed to know how to change directories, commit to Git and understand why on earth the Railsgirls coaches made me hit 'Control-C' and then type in 'rails s'… I had no idea there even was a Terminal.

Here are links that got me started:

  • Frontend? Backend?
  • Don't fear…
  • HTML5
  • CSS
  • Firebug
  • Javascript
  • Javascript cheatsheet
  • jQuery
  • A List Apart
  • Smashing Magazine
  • Fronteers
  • Designs to drool over

    • ...and more:

  • Best Ruby course for me!
  • Treehouse
  • Codecademy
  • Try Ruby
  • beer.rb
  • Cartoon foxes
  • Great Ruby list
  • Skillcrush tech terms
  • Commandline
  • MVC
  • Blockly
  • Github?
  • Try Git
  • Git
  • Sublime2
  • Why code?

    • Podcasts:

  • My favorite
  • Rockin' Ruby Rogues
  • The Changelog
  • The Industry
  • Founders Talk

    • Videos:

  • Totally worth the $6
  • Therapeutic Refactoring
  • The Walled Garden
  • Ruby Intro
  • Geektube

    • Lists:

  • Nerdy resources
  • Excellent collection
  • Questions?

    • Ergonomatrix

    After all those years of headbanging I know a thing or two about whiplash, so when I say: "Do not mess with your muscles! They will win…" I really, really mean it and wish somebody would have told me to stop ignoring my body and to check out my Trigger Points. After spending years in pain and $100 and up per session (that no health insurance thing) on chiropractic, acupuncture, massages and anything else promising relief, I have found the only thing that works for me. It's not a quick fix, it does take patience, but it is amazing when you find the spots that make you cringe and feel better after working on them.

    Ouch:

  • The Trigger Point Manual
  • Pain in the neck and other rock related fun
  • Say Hi! to your Psoas
  • Roadmap for knots
  • Take breaks and move
  • Break reminder
  • Your chair is trying to kill you
  • Laptop setup
  • Touch type lessons
  • Speed test
  • Code practice

    • The surprisingly social animal.

    (don't try this all alone)

    I got myself Tweetdeck and started out following anybody related to Rails, Ruby, Frontend and reading anything that looked interesting. Good to limit the time spent there, but great over coffee.

    There could be beer:

  • Great bunch of Rubyists
  • Great bunch of Appmakers

    • Learning is popping up all over:

  • Railsgirls
  • Railsbridge
  • RG Berlin
  • OTS Berlin
  • SF Dev Bootcamp
  • SF Hackbright
  • thoughtbot's apprentice.io
  • Hungryacademy
  • Start
  • Selftaught

    • They did it:

  • Joan's Story
  • Natasha's Story

    • Food for thought:

  • Empathy?