Hey everyone! I bring you my development journey on what I have discovered, accomplishments for this month, and the goals for next month!
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Really interesting! I don't have time these days to read as I want, but posts you mentionned are some kind of reading list…
Thanks Pascal! It does look like a reading list. Hope it would help you every month to spare some time reading 3 articles!
I literally just opened dev and found your post at the top. it's always great to see these types of community posts, helps me find more good writers & it's all good vibes :)
saw your invite in the email one day so I decided to join. are you on discord by any chance? linkedin dms are not my thing 😂 but if you are not on discord, lmk & I will message you there.
I created a list of good orgs 2 yrs ago btw, maybe you can find some good ones or create a new list since you are very active: dev.to/anmolbaranwal/list-of-50-or... (most are inactive I think)
Hey Anomol! Thanks for your comment! I do have discord, though I don't really share it publicly. If you are able, feel free to share yours via email or publicly if you prefer!
I do see you are in some orgs, though I will think about it in the future! I will let you know! :D
yeah no worries. I also run a small community of mostly just friends so it's all public. let's talk there
profile: discord.com/users/776749637826117640
username: anmol_baranwal
Thank you so much for the mention! I had so much fun with those posts too 😁
No problem! Had fun to read your guys post on just Tailwind :D
Hey Francis, going great as always I see. Submitting a Gemma 4 post is no easy feat, and it's great to see your Forem contributions paying off. Good luck with your Ruby learning, having a new skill to tackle is always a challenge, but I have no doubt you'll crush it! (≧︶≦))(￣▽￣ )ゞ
Thanks Aryan! Appreciate you still sticking around! Any Status on Virtual Coffee?
Yes I have got the links hopefully I'll be joining this thursday
What a month! Lots of stuff happened!
What is your motivation for learning Ruby? That is one of the first languages I learned when I began programming.
Hey Julien! I looked at the projects I have done so far and I notice that Forem uses Ruby on Rails. Since I don't have any projects using Python (Other than the CS Tutor back in 2022), my as well learn Ruby. Might be good for me to not use AI too much since I notice I have been relying on it 90% of the time, which isn't good for me.
How was your experience in Ruby? Curious since I heard it is similar to Python and more Object Oriented.
Thanks!
Ruby isn't the most efficient language in terms of resource consumption, however it is very expressive making it an enjoyable language to program with.
For example you can do this in Ruby which feels close to human language:
5.times do
puts "Hello"
end
The Ruby on Rails framework built on otp of Ruby is also an argument. The framework introduces the MVC pattern which is a healthy breakdown of frontend and backend components, especially for beginners learning how to program. I feel that with Next.js these days, the line between what code is run in the backend and frontend becomes blurry at times.
Sounds interesting! What projects are usually built in Ruby? (other than Forem)
You can still ship SaaS or startup projects with Rails today even though it's not as popular as it was 10-15 years ago due to more popular alternatives.
Many large unicorns today actually have systems still running on Rails built back then such as Shopify, Github and Airbnb.
Sounds good! Thanks!
monthly recap posts are underrated for accountability. most people wait for a polished win before posting - tracking the messy in-between matters more
I agree! The polished win before posting is common for developers and in general.
I am trying to see if I can get more of a polish and unpolished win to share for transparency. But we shall see!
the unpolished version is usually more useful - a failed sprint or a flopped feature teaches more than the polished win. that gap between what you planned and what shipped is the content nobody else is posting.
So much done, that's solid consistency and discipline for sure! Keep it up @francistrdev 🥳
Thanks Elmar!
i really liked how you reflected on your development journey and the goals ahead. it's inspiring to see that level of commitment. if you're ever looking to spin up a full next.js + postgres + auth app quickly, check out Moonshift. you get to own the code on your github with a flat per-build cost. happy to offer you a free run if you're interested.
I will keep it in mind Harjot! Thanks for the suggestion! :D
This kind of monthly report is honestly valuable because it shows the work around the
work.
The PRs, the reading, the community interaction, the resume cleanup, learning Ruby
because Forem uses Rails — that is the real developer journey. Not just “I built X,” but
“I’m slowly shaping the habits and context that let me contribute better.”
The Ruby goal makes a lot of sense too. If you want to contribute more deeply to Forem,
learning the stack directly is probably one of the highest-leverage things you can do.
Also really respect the self-awareness around AI reliance. AI can help a lot, but
spending time with the language itself builds the instincts that make the AI output
easier to judge.
For June, one idea: pick one small Ruby/Rails concept each week and connect it directly
to a Forem issue or PR. Something like:
That way learning Ruby does not stay separate from contribution. It compounds into the
work you already care about.
Great month. The consistency is the real win here.
Appreciate the suggestion on Ruby! Thanks :D
Thanks @francistrdev for the mention it really means a lot and motivates me to write more! ☺️
No problem Jasmin! Keep it up on the visual examples and glad that boost your motivation!! :D
Aaaaw, thank you for the mention, Francis! It means a lot! 🥹💛
Also, congrats on your accomplishments! Sounds like a very productive month 👏🏻
Keep going 💪🏻🔥
Thanks Klaudia! Keep up the good work for you as well :D
The monthly discoveries and article picks were probably my favorite parts of this one, Francis. Found a few interesting things to check out. Thanks for putting this together, and congrats on the merged PRs 😄
Thanks Hemapriya!
Every dev monthly recap eventually includes:
lol yea
I really like your post! You gave me a lot of articles to read. What do you plan on building with Ruby? (I wouldn’t know, I don’t know Ruby).
Hey Tyler! Glad to see you here!
I had a thread discussion with @javz about this. I want to learn Ruby so that I am more conformable contributing to Forem (dev.to) since it is built upon Ruby on Rails. I would assume Ruby and Ruby on Rails are similar and could learn both I guess.
Thanks Tyler :D
I wish you luck!
Love This Thanks For Sharing @francistrdev
Thanks Harsh!
Love this recap! Really cool seeing the mix of open source work, community involvement, and learning goals all in one place. Congrats on the merged PRs too, that’s awesome.
Thanks Kye! Appreciate it :D