Thanks for the input Panagiotis. =A0When I figure out how = to use Github, I will definitely use it more. =A0The only problem with the = theory of "something useful" vs. "something for the sake of = doing it" is that to do useful things is incredibly difficult for some= one who can't run the simplest ROR example application after so many tu= torials and walk through videos which teach me nothing. =A0

One thing about joining a project is that I have no idea wha= t others are doing. =A0Checked out Gnome, Mozilla, etc. and again after hou= rs of reading found nothing that would actually help me start doing somethi= ng useful as a beginner (yes I'm on the Gnome beginner list). =A0Coding= has never been my problem. =A0I can probably code in any language easy eno= ugh (logic is logic). =A0It's integrating thousands of libraries, packa= ges, dll's, plugins, environment b.s., etc. with my code and deploying = it that seems impossible to me at this point. =A0If I ever found someone wh= o could explain what is necessary to deploy a ROR app - meaning no assumpti= ons about requirements - and it actually worked on my computer, I would pro= bably just die of shock. =A0(Lynda.com's walk through of rails doesn= 9;t work, the tutorials on the main rails site doesn't work, etc.) =A0I= recently followed Google's tutorial on how to make a simple ruby scrip= t to create a file on Drive (literally copy/paste .rb code, a couple gem in= stalls). =A0Didn't work. =A0Tried for almost 2 hours to figure it out t= hen gave up. =A0Same old story time and time again. =A0The only thing that = does work is running standalone ruby file, or the Gosu package mentioned ea= rlier in thread. =A0

Maybe after switching to Linux, some problems will go a= way.

Eternally Frustrated with Programming E= ducation,

Colby

On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Panagio= tis Atmatzidis <atma@convalesco.org> wrote:
Hello,

On 31 =C9=E1=ED 2013, at 20:15 , Colby Callahan <colby.callahan@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have started learning Ruby this past week and have down the basics o= f loops, filters, strings, arrays, hashes, functions, etc.
>
> Since I have no professional experience with the language, I figured I= would complete a few projects on my own and see if I can get hired somewhe= re.
>
> What kinds of small projects might a beginning Ruby programmer take on= that would demonstrate enough skill to get hired? =A0Is Ruby code enough o= r would it have to be an actual Rails app?
>
> p.s. =A0I have no idea how to deploy a rails application - environment= seems impossible to set up - yes I have followed more than 5 tutorials exa= ctly. =A0Prob doesn't help I'm on a Windows 64 bit machine as it se= ems certain dll files and other things get messed up easily.
>
> Colby

Mind you, I'm not an expert. Actually, I'm a newbe/amat= eur programmer and I've received 2 job offers just because I put some l= ines of code with sinatra and sqlite on github. Of course I didn't take= the job because I'm *not* a programmer.

However, in my view apart from your own projects, it would "pay a lot&= quot; to get active and involved with current "hot projects" like= octopress (instead building your own static website generator), nokogiri (= ruby gem), ROR, spree (e-commerce solution) and so on. As for your own proj= ect, I'd do gladly something *I need* not something just for the sake o= f doing it.

best regards,

Panagiotis (atmosx) Atmatzidis

email: =A0atma@convalesco.org URL: =A0 =A0http://= www.convalesco.org
GnuPG ID: 0xE736C6A0
gpg --keyserver x-hkp://pg= p.mit.edu --recv-keys 0xE736C6A0
--
The wise man said: "Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to = their level and beat you with experience."