This month, Fiona visits trained ecologist and author Becky Searle. Becky has been showing the world how to garden organically via her Instagram account (@sowmuchmore) since 2018. This year, Becky embarked on a new journey with the release of her first book “Grow a new Garden.” Fiona and Becky spoke about what ignited her passion for gardening, the…

Becky Searls is a teacher-turned-trainer, but her true passion is learning and continuous growth. She shares everything she learns through her business, Better with Becky, which recently launched its first product: a strength-training app called Build with Becky (which she built in collaboration with her husband Justin using Ruby on Rails) Show Not…

Benedikt used to be a freelance software engineer and co-founded Userlist in 2017 as a side project with his co-founder Jane Portman. They went full-time on it in 2020. Benedikt enjoys database query optimization just as much as pushing around pixels on the front-end Show Notes https://userlist.com/ https://slowandsteadypodcast.com/ https://bsky.ap…

Today we’re continuing our series of highlighting startups building with Rails. Every app eventually runs into scaling requirements. Whether that’s from a spike in traffic or persistent growth. That’s why we have autoscaling. Judoscale is a tool to make autoscaling easy. Adam joins us to talk about building Judoscale with Rails Show Notes https://j…

Good Enough is a company that makes Rails apps. They have quite a few products and all of them are built on Rails. Today James and Cade join the show to tell us about building a small software company with Rails. Show Notes letsjelly.com/rails https://goodenough.us/ Sponsors Hosting for The Ruby on Rails Podcast is provided by Fireside.fm. If you w…

This month, Fiona visits author and garden writer Kate Bradbury, at her garden in Brighton. Kate shared her passion for wildlife-friendly gardening and the power of small actions to create meaningful change. Fiona and Kate discussed how connecting with nature, whether by planting pollinator-friendly flowers, creating habitats, or simply observing t…

If you enjoyed our previous podcast with Åsa Gregars-Warg from Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens, this extended version is well worth a listen. Join Fiona and head gardener Åsa Gregers-Warg as we take a deeper dive into Beth Chatto's pioneering approach to gardening in harmony with nature. From plant choices and soil care to adapting to climate chan…

Nick dropped by the (virtual) studio to talk about how things have been going in the ruby community. Sponsors Hosting for The Ruby on Rails Podcast is provided by Fireside.fm. If you want to start a podcast and are looking for hosting, visit fireside.fm/rails to get started. Alright, let’s talk about deploying code without having a full-blown panic…

This month, Fiona speaks with Tristram Stuart, award-winning author and campaigner, about the positive trends in reducing food waste and his unique approach to sustainable farming. Hear how his cattle are "enhancing the wilderness," and discover his perspective on the global food system. Tristram also inspires us to connect with nature, whether thr…

Today's guest is Joe Masilotti, who wrote Hotwire Native for Hotwire Developers. Joe is known as the Hotwire Native guy - he helps Rails developers build web-powered iOS and Android apps with Hotwire Native. He joins the show to talk about how Hotwire Native can help you build mobile apps out of your Rails apps. Show Notes Hotwire Native For Rails …

In this month's episode, Fiona and Anton spoke with Eddie Bailey. Eddie has spent years studying the soil during his career as a geologist and now shares what he's learnt with gardeners and growers through his company, Rhizophyllia. "In my garden, the effect I had when I stopped digging was instantaneous, the following season, germination rates jus…

This year, I want to expand the show in a new direction. I want to hear from startups and companies that are building with Rails. Today's episode feature John Nunemaker and Garrett Dimon who recently acquired Fireside.fm, the podcast hosting platform we use for this show. We talk about what it's like taking over a Rails app that was under different…

In this episode, Elise responds to listener submitted questions on everything from her career journey to how cooking relates to coding. With special guest host, Rachael Wright-MunnBy Elise Shaffer

Join us as we recap an interesting year in organic gardening. From persistent rainfall and slug battles to delightfully late harvests, we've faced it all with a dose of humour and a lot of resilience. In this month's episode, we're looking back on your most intriguing questions from 2024, exploring everything from suspicious strawberry piles to the…

This episode is a little off the Rails, but it was still fun catching up with our co-host, Nick Schwaderer.By Elise Shaffer

This month, Fiona visited River Cottage, to chat with Author, Chef and Fermentation Expert Rachel DeThample. Rachel breaks down how eating organically grown vegetables can have a positive impact on the gut microbiome, and dives in to how fermenting the produce from your garden can lead to better nutrition and a stronger connection to nature. “We’re…

In the last few years, there’s been more awareness about ADHD in adults. We’ve learned that it’s more than hyperactivity and it’s not a deficit of attention. Many working in tech have ADHD and because we have a world built for neurotypicals, there can be unique challenges for those working in tech with ADHD. Today, Chris Ferdinandi joins the show t…

We all love Ruby on Rails. You may remember that my first episode on this show was about whether Rails was still relevant. In the last few years, there’s been so many exciting things coming to Ruby and Rails. I have felt that excitement in the community. I’ve felt it at conferences and in my conversations with many of you. Today, Irina Nazarova joi…

This month, Fiona meets Åsa Gregers-Warg, head gardener at Beth Chatto Plants and Gardens. They tour the gardens, and reflect on Beth Chatto’s legacy, discussing how we can adapt our gardens to promote resilience and withstand changing environmental conditions. “We haven't used any herbicides or pesticides for the last few years. And we all have to…

Nick and I recorded an episode at Rails World with Robby Russell. This is a test of new format we're running where we discuss Rails News. Robby joins us to talk about the Rails Developer Survey that ran this summer. WE also chat about all the new things announced at Rails World. Sponsors Thanks to Buzzsprout for sponsoring our Rails World coverage …

Ruby Central has been a foundational part of the Ruby community since 2003. They organize Ruby Conf and Rails Conf and maintain critical Ruby infrastructure like rubygems.org. With Ruby Conf Chicago just around the corner and new initiatives at Ruby Central, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with our friends at Ruby Central. Marty Haug…

It's safe to say the weather has been incredibly unusual this year. A wet cold spring was followed by a slug-filled summer. And here in the Midlands, we’ve already experienced our first frosts! Sally Morgan, author of the Resilient Garden Handbook, has been tackling these challenges head on. She speaks with Fiona about what makes a resilient garden…

Large language models are everywhere now. They’re changing the way we work, from tools code completion tools like Copilot, to audio generation apps like Suno.ai. Apple recently announced huge updates with generative AI for all of their platforms. Adobe, Canva, and Google have all added AI to their products. It seems like every vendor is building th…

Our illustrious cohost Nick is back from parental leave! We talk about life as a parent and coder, committing to Ruby on Rails, being coworkers and finding time for hobbies. I'm looking forward to recording with Nick again.By Elise Shaffer

As the nights draw in, Chris sits down with Nick Dunn, professor of urban design at Lancaster University. Nick is also the founding director of the Dark Design Lab, exploring the impacts of nocturnal activity on nature. Nick enlightens us about the role darkness plays in our gardens and artificial light's impact on the wider environment. “What ligh…

A recent focus of many in the community has been expanding the community. We all love Rails and want to create the best community possible. Part of this focus has to include early career devs. We need to expose them to Rails and mentor them into the senior developers and tech leaders we need in the future. Adam Cuppy joins the show today to teach h…

EuRuKo (European Ruby Konferenz) is the largest and longest running annual Ruby conference in Europe, since 2003, that brings you all the good news about Ruby and its friends. Every year it takes place in a different European city, the location being chosen by participants. Today's guest is Muhamed Isabegovic, who has taken over organizing Euruko t…

Fiona chats with Nick Mole, Policy Officer from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK who shares why pesticides should be banned from use in our urban spaces, and how communities can be affected by pesticide use. “Knowing that there are alternatives to pesticides that do work, pesticide use in our towns and cities is completely unnecessary. France …

In our last episode, we talked about Web Accessibility. But, did you know that there are accessibility concerns on the backend and in our interactions with our teams. Hilary Stohs-Krause joins the show to tell us more about how we can be more accommodating to our teams. Show Notes Simple writing "Disability Impacts All of Us" (CDC) - https://www.cd…

Joel is a staff software engineer at GitHub, working on user interface architecture and strategy. For the last several years, he has been part of the team working to improve the accessibility of GitHub.com. He also leads development of the ViewComponent framework. Today, he joins the show to teach us about Web Accessibility Show Notes Joel's RailsC…

What do bed sheets, hessian and bacteria have in common? They might help us reduce the amount of plastic we use in our veg plots! Award-winning author, gardener, peat- and plastic-free advocate Sally Nex shares fascinating advice for reducing, reusing and recycling the 500 million pots, seed trays, and other bits of plastic we get through in our ga…

While at Rails Conf, I caught up with several attendees and organizers to discuss their experiences. These quick interviews have been collected for this episode. Our Guests: Trevor John https://github.com/trevorrjohn Joshua Paine https://github.com/midnightmonster/activerecord-summarize David Hill https://github.com/Esmale Alex Mitchell @a_mitch on…

At Rails Conf 2024, I gathered several of our favorite ruby podcasters for a giant crossover episode! In this episode we have: Drew Bragg from Code and the Coding Coders Who Code It - https://podcast.drbragg.dev/ Julie J from Ruby For All - https://www.rubyforall.com/ Jason Swett from Code with Jason - https://www.codewithjason.com/ Joël Quennevill…

We’ve got a double bill this month to help you save more water in your garden over the summer. We’re joined by Jo Osborn from the charity Waterwise – who tells us that in England alone, we face a potential water deficit of close to 5,000 million litres of water every day by 2050. She shares how crucial it’s we conserve more of it in our homes and g…

Over the last year, the Rails Foundation has been hard at work on several initiatives. After a successful Rails World last year, they’ve been working on the program for this year’s Rails World in Toronto. The Rails Foundation has also been working on several other initiatives that are very important to our community. Amanda Perino, Executive Direct…

I am very excited for today’s episode! Twitch is a livestreaming service where users can stream themselves to the internet. Twitch is known for video game streaming. But, people stream all kinds of things, including software development. Today's guest is Rachael Wright-Munn who livestreams Rails development on Twitch Show Notes Rachael’s Twitch: ht…

In this month’s Organic Gardening Podcast, Chris Collins chats to Nick Hamilton – son of organic gardening pioneer Geoff Hamilton – and finds out more about his gardening journey and life at his beloved Barnsdale Gardens. We’ve always had a close relationship with the gardens and Nick, a former Garden Organic trustee, and shared many planting schem…

There are so many Ruby events happening recently, that it can be hard to know which one to go to. Today we’re going to talk about a rather unique event in the Ruby community. What if you could go to an event that was just the Hallway Track? And that event happened at a summer camp? Show Notes Rails Camp West Website - https://west.railscamp.us Big …

Rails 7 and Hotwire have completely revolutionized server side Rails apps. Developers can now get much more reactivity with way less javascript, less tooling, and simpler deployments. You’ve probably heard a lot about Rails 7.1 and Hotwire. Maybe you’re even using it in production? Ayush Newatia joins the show to talk about his new book, The Rails …

Chris Collins chats to Josiah Meldrum, co-founder and owner of Hodemedods, about growing beans and pulses in the UK climate. Josiah explains how Hodemedods works with British farmers to supply pulses, such as lentils and chickpeas, in as sustainable way as possible and often using organic methods. He shares some varieties that can grow well in our …

RailsConf is coming up fast! The program committee has released the schedule and keynote speakers. Ufuk Kayserilioglu joins the show to talk about the program and Ruby Central Show Notes Kevin's blog post about RailsConf https://kevinjmurphy.com/posts/tracks-not-at-railsconf-2024/ RailsConf website & registration https://railsconf.org/ If you have …

You may have heard about WebAssembly. It’s an open standard that aims to help developers create high performance applications on the web. It’s a portable binary execution format traditionally used on the front end, but there are also other ways to use it. I am completely new to WebAssembly, so today we have a guest to talk about it with us. Show No…

Burnout is a common occurrence in the tech industry. And the recent onslaught of layoffs have left many stressed about their job search, or overworked from the increased demands of the smaller teams. I know some of my listeners have experienced burnout. I myself have had a recent experience with burnout that took months to recover from. Dr. Katy Co…

To celebrate Food Waste Action Week (18-24 March), Chris Collins and David Garrett join Fiona to bust the myths around composting. If you want to know how, why and what to compost this is a must-listen. David, our head of knowledge transfer at Garden Organic, shares the reasons he loves compost, and talks through the different composting systems at…

Recently, Ruby Central named a new executive director, Adarsh Pandit. Ruby Central has been a force in the Ruby community for years, organizing conferences and contributing to the community. The recent changes in governance have led t some exciting things on the horizon. Adarsh joined the show to talk about what's going to happen with Ruby Central …

Over the years, the performance of Ruby has improved quite a bit. One of the big recent performance improvements came from the development of YJIT inside Shopify. YJIT is a just-in-time compiler for Ruby written in Rust. Dr. Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert joined the show to talk about YJIT Show Notes YJIT Website Maxime on X https://twitter.com/Love2Cod…

If you start a new Rails project today, you’re probably going to pick Postgres for your database. And if you have a ten year old Rails app, you might be using MySQL. But Rails ships with support for SQLite, a lightweight SQL database. Can that lightweight database be used to make production-ready software? Stephen Margheim joins the show to help us…

Fito and Alan are frequent RubyConf and RailsConf speakers on topics ranging from software complexity to resolving flaky specs. They joined the how to discuss strategies for dealing with unreliable tests and complex code. Show Notes Cisco Meraki: Careers (https://meraki.com/careers) Alan Ridlehoover’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/aridlehoover)…

Our CEO Fiona Taylor visits Slimbridge to chat to Simon Rose from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) about ways to create similar habitats in your growing space. With 75 per cent of wetlands in the UK lost in the last 300 years, Fiona explores the importance of urban bluescapes and bogs as a homes for wildlife. “Wetlands are really rich in wildl…

RailsConf is coming up fast and I can’t wait to see you all there! The CFP is open and the program committee is accepting proposals for talks for the conference. Andy Croll joined the show to talk with us about the CFP process and how you can present at RailsConf ** Show Notes** Rails Conf Detroit - https://railsconf.org/ RailsConf CFP - https://se…