So here we are. After excitedly preparing for all of this since November last year, it’s done. Finished. Over. We are no longer RGSoC students. How has this time gone so fast?!
Rails Girls Summer of Code has been a life changing experience. I don’t say that lightly either, in April I was still a kindergarten teacher. Now, not only have I completed Summer of Code, but I have a real job as a real programmer! Watch out for my skills with exit [live] :D
It’s so hard to sum everything up, but I will of course try! This summer would not have been in any way possibly without the help of so many people.
The core orga team from RGSoC.
Your countless hours, your unfailing enthusiasm, your ability to keep quiet all that day where teams were being announced and not let slip to us, even a second before the emails were sent out while we hung out together at JSConfBP. You cruel and wonderful people! <3
Our coaches and supervisors.
Ramon and Igor were roped in because of their connections to us and we appreciate the fact that they were so happy to help us figure out databases and javascripts. Clemens and Aaron, total strangers (to me at least!) this time last year, they answered our yelling at vienna.rb one night and hopped on board as coaches. Thank you all for helping and for always being there if we needed the help!
Markus and Laura, you were assigned to us so it’s not exactly like you had a choice in the matter but you helped so wholeheartedly and were always available to us! While we didn’t call on all of our coaches as much as they might have expected, or more than they might have expected (as might happen when you live with one of your coaches waves at Igor) the fact that you were all there willing to help us as much as we needed, was a massive boost in and of itself. Thank you for believing in us enough to dedicate time to us. <3
Our Hoodies.
While Jan and Ola were the “official” mentors on our application, it was so wonderful to see every one of the hoodies help us at different points throughout the programme. We learned so much from everyone, and from what we have worked on over the course of the summer! Our daily standup calls made everyone (even Gregor all the way in Boston!) feel so much closer. When we were confused or frustrated with things (which happened often for me admittedly… Damn HapiJS) we knew that we could yell for help in the hoodie slack, and before long there would be someone who at the very least would point us where to look for the answers.
Jan, Ola, Gregor, all of our hoodies, we want to thank you from the very bottoms of our hearts for helping us to learn all that we have learned this summer. We learned more than just coding. Thank you for welcoming us into your family <3
Sektor5.
Thank you for providing the Tessies with a home this summer! Sektor has been a special place for team tessie - it’s where we were first introduced and where we began to plot our world domination plan for summer of code. You haven’t seen the last of us now that summer of code is over (especially now that the AC is installed!) but even more so because thanks to the sektor slack (and networking using giphys), Shelly has a job as a real programmer! Actually by the time this post is published, Shelly will have had this job for a few days. <3
The Sponsors.
If it hadn’t been for the people and companies who donated to the fundraiser, I would never have been able to dedicate so much time to learning how to be a developer. I am not the only one to whom this applies. I hope you all realise what a real difference you have made to the lives of the many people who took part in RGSoC 2015.
The Other Students.
It was lovely to chat to you all on Slack and Twitter, sharing cat gifs and frustrations! Also sharing super handy tips and tricks that you also learned <3
We weren’t just helped by the people I listed above. People were also so fast to jump in with help whenever we were stuck and yelling in frustration on Slack or Twitter. It is very humbling when so many people come together just to help us reach our end goal.
I’m looking forward to next year when the next batch of students begin, and when I can be that old cat lady who comes along to dispense advice and reminisce about “back in my day”.
Pilar:
I always find it a bit hard to list out all the people I’m grateful for, not because I’m not grateful, but because of the worry that I may forget to list someone and hurt their feelings! There are so many incredible people who I have to thank for everything this summer, so I’d like to do that here:
Thank you. Thank you so much. You’ve changed my life, you know that? Before this summer I was kind of a mess. There was a lot of personal stuff going on and there was a lot of growing up I had to do. I needed this summer, and I’m so grateful you were there with me.
If you read that, chances definitely are that I’m directing that to you. You may not know it but even just by being your awesome self, you were there for me this summer.
Team Tessie:
It’s been such a fantastic summer. We definitely plan on continuing our work together so keep a look out for awesome Team Tessie projects in the future! We’re extremely excited for our journey ahead and we’ll never forget all the amazing people that made this possible!
It is incredible that three months have passed already and this code summer has ended. It seems like it was yesterday when we decided to participate in RGSoC and the moment that our small great adventure began feels even closer. However, when we recap these months, we realize how many things can happen in such a little time.
They have been three very intense months, with a lot of new apprenticeship and knowledge, in which we met great people, grew in many aspects and dove into the fascinating world of programming.
What started for us as curiosity a little over a year with the “Codificadas” girls, converted into reality at the moment in which we were selected to participate in this summer of code, and now that the experience ends, we’ve realized that it has become a big passion and we want to do this in our profession.
A brief answer would be an infinity of things, but we believe that it is worth to expatiate for you so there can be a general idea of the effect that RGSoC has had and still has in our lives.
TEAM
We have turned into a great unit team. One that is not only shaped for both of us but also:
Fanxhe Team (left to right: Jonathan Tapia, Ignacio Galindo, Alejandro Espinoza, Gilberto Villa, Anyelina Moreno and Estefanía Cano) =)
Our coaches Nacho, Tapia and Gil that have had a great patience, they have dedicated us their time and they have put all their efforts, determination and desire to teach us everything that was possible and they have become an example to follow and they’re both great teachers.
Our mentor Nico, that despite the distance, the time difference and all the work that had to be done, he has supported us and have found the way and the right moments to be present, and the Content and Media Chief, Jen; She was always willing to help, cared about us and was always smiling.
Our supervisors, the great Katrin and always cheerful Ramón. They both are amazing people attentive professionals who were concerned.
Our coaching-company “Magma Labs”, that has provided us with all the possible resources, people have believed in us and they showed support in everything they could.
And for all those people who have been there when we have needed help or support, not only speaking professionally, but also personally.
US IN A NEW WORLD
The summer of Rails Girls has transformed us, and when we think about the moment we arrived at the office, this comes into our minds:
A new world opened in front of us, and it was inevitable that we felt insecure, they were hard times… we even thought that all of this was too much for us.
But as after the storm comes calmness, we had to make a great effort: practice, study, more practice and more study… and more of the same thing over and over again. Bit by bit we gained confidence and fluency, completing our tasks, getting familiarized with the gem code and developing our logic; the time we got rid of the nervousness, everything passed by inadvertently.
The summer of code hasn’t only made us grow as programmers, but also personally. We both have learned more about ourselves, and also about the other; we have won more confidence and we have noticed that perseverance and tenacity, before or after, everything is possible. So we just think that we have been transformed after this summer.
RGSoC supposes a continue learning that starts from the very first minute. They are team apprenticeship, about how it is worked within the programming world, the basic process to do it, new tools, good practices and, above all, of code that is shown in different languages and under different logics, so there are diverse visions and ways to solve the same task.
RGSoC also has helped us to overcome barriers. We have to confess that when we decided to start our adventure in the summer of code, we were very scared of our English level, and although there are still many obstacles to bring down that barrier, we have already jumped the first one by losing fear and we feel safe that soon we’ll be done with this big barrier.
During this time, we have studied, investigated, read, attended courses and workshops, talks, we have done hundreds of questions and received hundreds of answers or explanations, we have practiced and written many code lines. We have improved our knowledge about JavaScript, Ruby, HTML, CSS, Git and Markdown, we have taken our first steps in Rails and we have learned to use Sinatra, Sass, SCSS, HamL, Jekyll, RSpec, Minitest, as well as the composition and performance of the gems and, in depth, about the structure and logic of the gem which we are working on: Living Style Guide.
In our first blog post, we already said that since the first moment we believed in the potentiality of this gem bit by bit, as we have been analyzing its code, searched in order to do our task and complete it, we have confirmed and, in point of fact, it has allowed us grow and learned so much about different areas of programming and also, it has turned us aware of what we have been and are able to do.
There have been hundreds of learning experiences, but the major revelation has been programming as profession and way of life.
OUR PROJECT: LIVING STYLE GUIDE
Ended our summer of code, we can say that we worked and we completed the tasks that we had proposed and that had been accorded with our mentor Nico. Some of them were more simple and some were more complex that took us more time, effort and study than we expected. But, this was precisely what we wanted it: to grow with the project.
What functionalities have we included in the gem?
We included the functionality to be able copy the hexadecimal codes or the variables in the colors examples through a Click event or Alt + Click with vanilla javaScript.
We worked on a button that allows copying your style guide code blocks.
We added a search-box that allows searching any word inside of your style guide. This search-box is a filter, so that the user of the gem can decide whether to put it or not in his style guide, putting @search-box, as well as personalizing its placeholder:
@search-box placeholder: I am search …
We did a button to hide the code blocks that appear in your style guide, and same as the former one, this is a filter that can be included or not, depending on the user:
@toggle-code
We included a menu of navigation that is automatically generated with the style guide in function of the titles and subtitles that the user includes in his own. This means, that is personalized and suitable to the style of each user ( in process of getting merged).
We added before and after filters so that the users can place content before or after the main container, and we also added tests for all the filters that we created. ( in process of getting merged)
The ultimate task in which we have been working and that we started from scratch is a live editor. This editor allows you testing the functionality of the gem, learn to use it and see small examples of what is possible to do with the gem.
There are many things in such a little time, it is a very intense experience, fun, enriching, great and highly recommended. It is something that we wouldn’t want to finish, but the ending of this great stage has come, so we’ll continue learning, contributing and fighting to achieve a job, because there is nothing better than to convert our passion into a profession. We will be always grateful for the big experience that RGSoC left in our lives, for everything they taught us and the world that they made us discovered. Because, definitely it exists a before and an after in all levels.
Our team will tell you about our experience in this video
And last but not least, to thank. To thank for each second of these three months that marked and changed our lives. Thank infinitely our coaches Ignacio Galindo, Jonathan Tapia and Gilberto Villa, for supporting us, teaching us so much, for being the best teachers and yet best people. Thankful to Living Style Guide for having opened us so many doors, to Nico Hagenburger for allowing us work with him, helping us in this process, and letting us collaborate in his gem. To Jennifer Geacone-Cruz, for being a huge support and a person with whom we can always count.
Always thanks to Katrin Kampfrath, so dedicated, so watchful, so patient, so nice. Thanks to Ramón Huidobro, for his time, dedication, happiness and contagious energy.
We’d also like to thank our coaching company “Magma Labs” and Víctor Velázquez as representative of the company, for always being attentive to us, following our process, supporting us and putting all the necessary tools at our disposal for this to be possible. Thanks to our coworkers at “Magma Labs”, specially to Alejandro Espinoza for helping us always we needed.
Thanks to all the students and partners of this RGSoC edition for sharing their knowledge, for being always willing to provide help and support and for the sweet and funny GIFS that made us laugh every morning =).
Thanks to our dear “Codificadas”, our big teachers that initiated us in this: Viviana Palacios, Erika Mejia, Ana Castro and Selene Flores; also to all the partners and friends that supported, motivated and believed in us.
Thanks to the sponsors for contributing to make this possible.
And of course, thanks so much to all the team of RGSoC and its organizers to make this possible, for all the attention, support, dedication, for the great job and for making this experience simply amazing.
We say goodbye but only for the momentarily, because this isn’t a goodbye, it is a continuity. We hope to keep on learning, contributing to open source, finding a job soon, writing many lines of code and follow on telling how we’re doing in our blog or in Twitter.
Summer of Code was amazing. Not only in terms of what we learned but also in the amount of support we got from our amazing coaches, the diaspora maintainers, our hosting company, our mentor, our supervisor and the whole RGSoC orga team!
What we did this summer:
We started with a plan with all the issues we wanted to work on to improve diaspora. And somehow this plan worked out. Here you get a short summary of how it went:
show geo-location on a map !!🎊📅
use chunking to upload photos 😖⚡️
create new role: moderator 😊😎
export to tumblr 😆
For our most complex issue, the implementation of a map to show geo-location data we prepared a small screencast to see the results:
If you want to get used to test-driven development (TDD) and like playing, try out a TDD approach to implement Conway’s Game of Life through this tutorial. Attention: this tutorial uses the old RSpec Syntax - we translated it to the new one.
If you want to get a deeper understanding of git, this tutorial is a great resource.
Pull requests are a good discussion base. So open it early and ask for feedback and help if you need some. It is good to name the pull request with WIP in the beginning which stands for Work In Progress.
Pair Programming - if you have the possibility to do pair programming do it. Even if it feels a little bit weird in the beginning (no checking of mails or twitter in between, the other person always looks on what you are typing and corrects it) it is a great way to learn from each other and together. We almost paired the whole time, interrupted from pauses for email checking and hours or days of reading and going through tutorials individually.
Be a coach yourself - we are so happy to have this very empowering and patient network of coaches. And we try to give something back by also coaching beginners. Two very important effects of this coaching: you suddenly realize how much you have already learned and you even learn better while explaining it to others.
Whoops. There it was. Yesterday: The last day of Rails Girls Summer of Code 2015.
It came so silently and just crept up on us that we are just overwhelmed that today it’s actually here. Our heads are still buzzing with organizing conference tickets, answering questions via email, Slack or scheduling out last hangouts, doing Friday-hug pictures, collecting Feedback from everyone involved in the program and sending off keep-on-coding packages to our teams all over the world.
In the midst of our excitement and exhaustion, the three-month program that we started organizing in January this year is coming to a close. This is the end. We still can’t believe it. Good thing that this is actually not true: This is no more an ending as it is a beginning of a brand new span of life and careers for our teams.
Our 40 students - 32 sponsored, 8 volunteering - from 17 different countries have worked for 592 incredible hours on 19 different Open Source Projects. Their amazing supervisors have lead and accompanied them through these three months and deserve a huge round of applause: Alexandra, Benedikt, Markus, Adam, Lieke, Katrin, Sara, Magda, Qian, Alex, Verena, Cathy, Vyki, JZ and Kasia.
We want to especially thank Carsten, Ramon and Katrin for being not only supervisors and coaches or mentors but also organizers of the program.
A round of applause as well to Claudi, who prettyfied our website and designed our stickers this year. We had an amazing team.
All in all we’ve had over 140 people in the program - students, coaches, mentors, supervisors, organizers, designers, helpdesk coaches and trust committee members. We would like to take this chance and say again how very humbled and amazed and eternally grateful we are for each and every person who is donating time and efforts to make this program happen.
We’d also like to thank our wonderful sponsors, who made it possible for us to sponsor 6 more teams this year! It’s so amazing to see how our mission is appreciated and backed by so many companies. A special Dankeschön to Travis CI through Travis Foundation as well as GitHub who are partners of RGSoC. Forever grateful we are for the support of Mandrill, Liip who were our awesome platinum sponsors. Thank you as well to our Gold Sponsors, SoundCloud, Basecamp, Elastic and Google Open Source.
There are not enough emoji hearts in the world to describe how happy, honored and humbled we are to have been able to work together with you to change the future of Open Source! Because we are. We are writing history here and are going one step further to make our communities more diverse, more inclusive and open. We are all part of this amazing time and bringing change to a world that needs it.
Cheers to a truly brilliant Rails Girls Summer of Code 2015! Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible.
We are so happy to have shared this summer with you! It was a-ma-zing!
P.S. No need to fall in to a post-RGSoC-blues! After RGSoC is before RGSoC: You can already sponsor the 2016 edition. Or get involved with organizing: drop us an email!
A tradition of the Rails Girls Summer of Code is to gather swag from our wonderful sponsors and send out care packages to our hardworking, dedicated participants.
In our global program, student teams scattered around the world might feel a little isolated from the organisation HQ, based in Europe. With the swag packages, we try to give them the feeling that they belong to something bigger. It’s also a way to let our sponsors have “direct contact” to our students and last but not least: some objects can last a lifetime! Notebooks or t-shirts will always remind our teams of their very special Summer of Code.
This year more than ever, with the highest number of students we’ve had in the last three years, the task of hand-packing every gift box is a big one, but Katrin and myself made some fun from it by doing a swag packaging day. From morning till night, we carefully folded and curated the packages, hand wrote the addresses (don’t even get us started on the online postage payment system; #sessiontimeouts), and ferried every last one down to the post office.
Step 1 get boxes
#intermediate step: drink coffee
Step 2 put stuff in boxes
# this step took quite some time... and more coffee
Step 3 ferry boxes to post office
# note: stretch/warmup next time
Step 4 wait for reaction tweets (see below)
Many thanks go to our wonderful sponsors who sent us swag! The contents were so diverse – from stickers and t-shirts to bottles and battery packs – that we think it made every single one of our students happy. The gift packages were the biggest ones received by any batch so far: We take that as a good sign ;D
A special mention goes to Offscreen magazine, who donated past copies of their magazine to be sent to students. We are big fans of the periodical, and were so grateful they wanted to support our program somehow. We’ve loved each package sent to us by sponsors, and think our students enjoyed the surprise, too!
