Resources I used to become Rails Developer
25 May 2016 Books Learning TutorialsWhen I was researching on how to learn RoR, I got one good advice from the community is to learn Ruby first and then Rails. Its absolutely true and it provides a strong base for crafting a new web development skill. There are many benefits if Ruby is learnt before Rails. Entire focus would be given on learning Rails magic than learning Ruby and Rails together which could be daunting. It helps to save ton of troubleshooting time upfront. Also developer would be in a better position to understand when he encounters any issues. Thus learning Ruby is the number one step in learning Rails.
The following books/tutorials I have used to learn web development in whole.
Ruby resources
1) Learn to Program by Chris Pine
Best book to get familiarized with Ruby and programming in general.
2) Learning Ruby the Hard Way by Zed Shaw
This book got plenty of exercises to practice. I loved those challenges and solved them.
Its an online tool. Each tutorial in the site has good details of Ruby. It has exercise sessions and tracking system which helps to track the progress of learning. Also it introduces Metaprogramming of Ruby.
Its another online tool I have used. Its simple yet powerful tutorial to start off with. All the content is up to the point.
5) Lynda - Ruby Essential Training with Kevin Skoglund
It teaches the fundamentals of Ruby and also object oriented features.
Rails resources
1) Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl
I agree its a bible for learning Rails. It has got intense content about Rails. This is the first book I started off with. While reading this book, I was referring other resources like Rails Guide, the odin project, Rails casts and of course some youtube courses to get good grap of the book.
2) The odin project by Erik Trautman
Its best online free tutorial to get to know about the complete web development curriculumn. In every single topic, I can see Erik’s devotion about this project. Hats off to him for providing the details explanation on all the topics right from getting started to getting hired.
5) Lynda - Ruby on Rails 4 Essential Training by Kevin Skoglund
This course explores best practices on building apps and I learnt a lot on routing mechanism and RESTful actions.
HTML5 & CSS3 resources
Codeacademy has got HTML and CSS track. I had no prior experience with front end technology. So I started here to get used to HTML5 and CSS3 terms and concepts.
2) Learn to code HTML & CSS by Shay Howe
Free online book to learn HTML5 and CSS3. This book provides detailed explanation of every concepts and terms especially I loved learning box model from this book.
Javascript resources
As usual, Codecademy has got JS track too. Its a good place to start off with.
2) JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts by Anthony Alicea
Its a udemy online course. Had good exposure to Javascript and its internals. I highly recommend the course for anyone who wants to learn Javascript well.
JQuery resources
Codecademy has got JQuery track too. Its a good place to start off with.
2) Learn to use jQuery UI Widgets by Marie Taylor
Its free udemy course that teaches to use tabs, accordion, datepicker and more widgets. It was fun exploring the UI widgets and building a site with them.
TDD resources
At last, I learnt TDD from the following udemy courses which I highly recommend.
1) Ruby on Rails 4—A Test-Driven Approach by Emmanuel Asante
This course helped me to understand the importance of the TDD which is to have clear workflow and to think of every step to implement a feature.
2) BDD with Ruby on Rails using RSpec 3 and Capybara by Mashrur Hossain
Learnt to write apps with BDD through this course.
Game Changer
The Complete Ruby on Rails Developer Course by Mashrur Hossain
My last stop was here and used this course to rebuild my apps using TDD (learnt from other udemy courses) for my portfolio. During taking this course, I was helping fellow students to troubleshoot their issues and eventually the course instructor Mashrur Hossain offered me TA opportunity to help out the students to succeed in the course.
Things I learnt along the way
1) Mastering any skill at first attempt
I was in total awe the way GOD designed our brain. When a man starts to learn a new skill, he has zero neurons associated with the skill, hence he will definitely fail. So attempting to master a skill at the first attempt is merely impossible. ‘Practice, Pause, Practice’ is the key to grow the neurons and to master the skill which definitely needs time and devotion. If I give my time and put my heart, I can be anything I want to. What a great lesson!
2) Embrace the errors and bugs
Errors and issues were the ones which pushed me to next level. Initially It was really hard to encounter the problems but later realized those are the ones which had taken me to next level in my understanding. So started embracing them.
3) BREAK is important
Realized taking break will definitely reset my brain to think in different prespective instead of just looping around in same thinking.
4) Asking for help
I am kind of person who figures out the things on my own. Sometimes I felt asking for help is also equally important. So I used codenewbie slack channel and stackoverflow.
5) Last but not least, my googling skill
I don’t know what I have done without google, stackoverflow and good blogs. My googling skill got improved.
I take this place as an opportunity to thank everyone in Ruby, Rails community who made web development process awesome.