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coxandrew/what-next.md

Created July 31, 2012 02:19
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What Next? Talk notes
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what-next.md

Title

  • What's next
    • or: What I wish I knew 10 years ago

Target audience

  • Someone who has just attended their first conference

Background

  • Ok, so you're inspired, you've met some people, you want to take this energy back with you - maybe where you work, where you go to school, or your own business.
    • Stop. Take a deep breath.
    • What do you want to do? Why are you interested in Ruby?

What to do

Get connected

  • Local
    • Start going to local user groups
    • Start a local user group if you don't already have one
  • Twitter
    • Start following people you respect
    • Unfollow negative people; optimize signal vs. noise
  • Form an opinion
  • Go to at least one conference a year
  • Start your personal brand
    • Start a Blog
    • Start a Twitter account
      • No, seriously, do it now. It's easy. I'll wait.
    • Invest in yourself
      • Focus on improving your skills
      • Create a side project
    • Talk at conferences
  • Start listening to Ruby Rogues
    • This will give you ideas for projects to check out and people to follow on Twitter

Get involved

  • Start a brown bag lunch at your company
  • Give talks at your local user group
  • Contribute to open source

Get inspired

  • Learn
    • Set aside time for deliberate practice
  • Attitude
    • Be positive
    • Have fun
    • Smile
    • Follow @CoreyHaines ... and @Tenderlove ... and @Gorbypuff

A word of caution

  • Now, how not to drown from the firehose
    • Start a project
    • First things first
      • Twitter is not more important than your project or your goals
    • Set intentions, not goals
      • Get up each morning and put some time toward what will move the sticks
        • Constantly ask yourself, "Is this getting me closer to my goal?"
    • Calendar About Nothing
      • Don't break the chain
  • Smile

Theme ideas

  • Trainspotting (good for both the intro and outro - music would be killer)
    • Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.
    • Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends.
    • Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing ga me shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.
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