I just completed my graduation in computer science and working as a software engineer at OnceHub. I started developing small web apps in early 2017.
I also have a pro tip which you will find at the end of the blog. :)
I did some things here and there which helped me in getting selected for 3 international Ruby conferences as a speaker, and I in order to giving back to community here are those things:
I want to keep it short so that you can read a short paragraph and can have the actual idea without wasting a lot of time.
From my experience, I can say that people at conferences come to listen to developers experiences. When they stuck in a problem how they overcome that. They are not very much into those things which one can learn from blogs like:
- How to use a software
- What new is coming in next feature
- How to make React App
- Best practices while developing Angular app
You may find these talks some where and mostly in local meetups but I think they are not very much interesting. Rather following topics are very interesting:
- I got stuck at a point where I need to migrate a big DB withing a night
- I made a CLI application to help a big product. This is my talk :)
- VS talks are very famous. Rails VS Django, Angular VS React and all.
Ok so now lets see how I made it:
1. Doing online courses and simultaneously applying for internships
In early 2017 I was doing a lot of online courses, mostly on Angular and Rails on Udemy. If you want to know the courses I did then comment below and I will provide links.
At the same time, I was applying to many internships. You can have an idea from this: I applied to 77 internships from 2017 to mid-2018, and got selected in 5.
I don't think about they will not select me and many did not select me, but it's ok, I eventually find startups where I can contribute, and once I got the first internship then getting next becomes easy.
The key is to keep applying and learning.
2. While doing internship keep looking for content
This is the time when you will content. While working I stuck in many places. I used to spend 3-4 days on a single problem to get it to work. But during that time I learned how things work. And that is the content. Content for a talk.
Make a draft of that. And apply to local meetups for a talk. No matter how many rejections you will get, just keep applying. And do try to improve the content after every rejection, if they provide feedback.
One thing to get to know about the quality of your content is to keep attending meetups and if you can afford then conferences as well.
3. Apply for the first talk
When I was in Pune doing my internship at Coupa, I made a CLI app to help a big Rails app. It was a big thing from me, so I made a paper from it and applied to a DeccanRubyConf 2018, I was first as a backup speaker and one speaker opt out. So I got a chance to speak at my first big Internation Ruby Conference. Here is the link of my talk.
After that, I spoke at RubyFuza 2019 and RubyConf Kenya 2019
Conclusion
My journey is I tied doing a lot of internships, getting content from them and then applying to lot of conferences and meetups from that content. Eventually, I got a shot and made that work.
If anyone of you is struggling in this process then connect with me on twitter and let's see how can I help you, can how we can grow together.
Happy growing :) 👋
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