Farewell, Summer of Code, farewell
Unfortunately the summer is over and we have to move on. Those were an amazing three months that completely changed our lives. At least we hoped so!
First of all, we wrote a lot of code.
Working on our training apps:
Anna: 89 commits / 4,350 ++
Basia: 75 commits / 7,692 ++
And working on RubyClerks:
Anna: 38 commits
Basia: 29 commits
in total: 221 commits / 352,287 ++
What’s more, we’ve been to two great conferences, seen 30 talks and we’ve met many amazing human beings.
What we were working on?
RubyClerks is an e-commerce web application built from rails engines. Before RGSoC, we had no idea how to build an engine like that. But now we have our contribution into open source, we succeed in building our own engines as well as adding one to the RubyClerks. The engine that we made is named Stripe Clerk. It’s a payment module for charging money with Stripe app. We also added some features to the RubyClerks, like a rake task for adding an English sample database and buttons for invoice printing. We also learned Test-Driven Development and Behaviour-Driven-Development, which was rather something new for us. We are very proud of ourselves when we see that our changes will be used in the app. It makes us sing:
Like an engine, built for a very first time!
Like an e-e-e-engine, when your app runs next to mine!
What we gained?
When you study alone at home, you know nothing about working on a project, collaboration, git or code reviews. Rails Girls Summer of Code was a great opportunity to try work on a real project, but in a very friendly environment and with great support. We couldn’t imagine a better start into IT. That was a very intense time, we’ve learned a lot. About rails, html, css, js, rails engines and testing. We also used a lot of gems and spent long hours on stackoverflow. During the first month we’ve learned more than during half a year of self-study. This is an invaluable advantage.
What we feel?__
This feeling when you see your contribution in an open source project is really good, and we want it more. We are also very impressed with the energy of the organizers. We want to thank the whole Rails Girls Summer of Code Core Team and all of the grantors. We are super super grateful for this amazing time and commitment of so many people. Without them it wouldn’t have happened. Our roots are in the Rails Girls movement and we will support this initiative as much as we can.
What we are doing now?
Ania: I am preparing some apps for my portfolio and started looking for my first job as an intern or junior developer. When I look back, I can see all the things that I learned, but I can also see all these things that I don’t know yet. That’s why I keep on learning. But if I failed, I can always continue writing IT-pop songs… ;)
Basia: I was lucky to get a job without a break after RGSoC. I was lucky but I worked hard on this for 1,5 years. This is it, this is my place, this is what I want to do: constantly learn new things and build interesting software with great people.
Summary
Being part of Rails Girls Summer of Code was a great adventure. We strongly recommend to try it. Just get involved: as a student, supervisor, mentor, coach or sponsor and give the best of yourself.
