Friendly Show

Ever wondered how a simple Dutch treat became a beloved symbol in the Ruby and Rails community? Join us as we chat with Wes Oudshoorn, co-founder of AppSignal, who shares the delightful story of sending stroopwafels to conferences and customers since 2013. From nearly 500 kilograms of sweet goodness shipped this year alone to our serendipitous meeting in Thailand at Bangkok RB, Wes takes us through AppSignal’s journey of blending tech, community, and stroopwafels. We also dive into the core mission of AppSignal—providing developer-friendly application performance monitoring—and the logistical challenges of shipping these treats internationally. Plus, we get a taste of the vibrant Rails World 2024 atmosphere in Toronto and the fun activities at the AppSignal booth, including a Dutch game called schulen.

In this exciting episode, we also explore the latest innovations at AppSignal, such as the introduction of the Check-ins feature for monitoring Chrome jobs and continuous processes. Wes underscores the importance of customer feedback in driving continuous improvements, with a target of enhancing the product by 10% each month. The dynamic conference setting is captured, showcasing how attendees’ ideas and feedback play a pivotal role in shaping the product. We highlight AppSignal's dedication to supporting the Ruby and Rails community through event sponsorships, demonstrating how even small contributions can significantly impact the community's growth and success. Join us for a compelling conversation that intertwines technology, community spirit, and a shared love for stroopwafels.

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After a busy conference season Yaro & Adrian take the time to talk about ongoing projects.

AVO Black Friday deal: https://avohq.io/deals
SupeRails Black Friday deal: https://superails.com/deals

0:00 Conferences
1:49 Avo Guest Blogposts
4:07 Rails 8
8:38 Avo Registration Flow
13:16 Avo Office Hours
15:25 SupeRails Office Hours?
16:47 SupeRails PRO
19:10 Hotwire Native
24:15 Moneygun
28:50 Avo Directory App, Avo Demo websites
32:00 Black Friday
34:00 Yaro is available 🦄

Join us as we explore the vibrant world of tech events through the eyes of Yarrow and Adrian. After an electrifying series of conferences, they’re ready to share stories of community connections, memorable encounters, and future plans, including a much-anticipated appearance at the Ruby Banitsa Conference in Bulgaria. Hear about their collaboration with guest author Exekiel, who brings fresh insights on tools like Active Storage and meta tags, and reminisce with them about meeting a favorite gem developer at the Rails World Conference.

The episode takes an exciting turn as we tackle improvements in user registration flow and engagement. Hear firsthand how overcoming the initial hurdles with Devise led to a groundbreaking approach to user experience, far removed from the frustration of magic login links. Discover the crucial role clear communication plays in fostering strong user relationships, and how sharing behind-the-scenes insights builds a welcoming community. We promise you’ll come away with a new perspective on creating frictionless registration processes and the power of open dialogue with users.

As we steer into the realm of modern app development, the potential of Hotwire Native and multi-tenancy applications unfolds. Get ready to rethink mobile app creation, with Hotwire Native paving the way for Rails developers to venture into app development without needing deep expertise in Swift. Listen closely as we reveal the journey of developing a mobile app for a FinTech platform and the nuances of managing multi-tenancy with tools like Money Gun. With Black Friday on the horizon, discover creative strategies for promotions and exciting personal projects. As we wrap up, there’s a sense of anticipation for new adventures and future conferences, leaving you inspired and ready to explore new opportunities in the Rails community.

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Tom Rossi runs HigherPixels and Buzzsprout - the best podcasting app.
We actually use Buzzsprout for this podcast!
Buzzsprout has a very professional podcasting booth at Rails World. We are recording this episode from there!
Buzzsprout also recently launched a mobile app using Hotwire/Turbo Native!

Ever wondered how a tech company thrives by prioritizing teachability over experience? Higher Pixels' commitment to Ruby on Rails reveals the magic behind their rapid and successful app development. Learn about their trust in Rails conventions and their exciting adoption of Hotwire Native, which led to a seamless, native-feeling mobile app in just nine months. We also explore the dynamic partnership between designers and developers, akin to architects and engineers, pushing each other toward better product outcomes. Join us as we celebrate the exceptional organization of the Rails World conference, making it feel like a festival and leaving us eagerly anticipating next year's potential venues—Berlin or Spain, anyone?

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What if you could transform your entrepreneurial dreams into reality with just a few strategic moves?

Join us as we sit down with Andrew Culver, Chief Product Architect and Chief of Staff at ClickFunnels, during Rails World 2024 in Toronto 🇨🇦

Discover the inspiring journey of how Andrew transitioned from creating and eventually selling Churn Buster, to developing an open-source SaaS boilerplate, Bullet Train, which paved his path to becoming a key figure in the Ruby on Rails community.

Not only does Andrew discuss his impressive career trajectory, but he also shares the personal side of his life, balancing his professional responsibilities with family adventures around the globe. 

We (Yaro & Adrian) first met Andrew Culver at Rails SaaS in Athens 🇬🇷
Andrew has an amazing positive energy aura, one of the friendliest and most inspiring people in the community!

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Cirdes Henrique (@cirdesh) is the organiser of Tropical RB in Brazil 🇧🇷🌴

This year Adrian visited the first edition of the conference where met Cirdes and gave a talk. From the moment they met, Adrien knew Cirdes has that FRIENDLY DNA!

Anyway

What happens when a beachside tech gathering moves to the bustling urban landscape of São Paulo? Join us as we sit down with the dynamic Cirdes, co-host of Tropical on Rails, live from Rails World 2024 in Toronto. We share the electric atmosphere of the event and discuss how Tropical on Rails has not only survived but thrived in its new urban setting. Cirdes sheds light on the transformative journey that has invigorated the Brazilian Rails community, from local meetups to shining a spotlight on emerging junior developers and dedicated community organizers. Inspired by our Friendly Show, Cirdes hints at a future brimming with inclusive and captivating conference experiences.

Moving to a new city can be overwhelming and emotionally taxing. On this episode, we dive deep into the host's personal journey from New York to an unfamiliar city, sharing the poignant struggles of homesickness and the mental fatigue of adjusting to a new environment. We explore the emotional toll of engaging with large groups and express heartfelt gratitude to community stalwarts like Cirdes, whose work on initiatives like TropicalRB and RBUI keeps the tech community vibrant and forward-looking. Join us for an intimate and inspiring discussion on the power of community and the resilience needed to thrive in new surroundings.

Visit Tropical 2025: https://www.tropicalonrails.com/

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Discover the inspiring journey of Caleb Porzio, a pivotal figure in open source innovation, as he reveals the secrets to balancing a career fuelled by passion and financial stability.

Transitioning from a conventional full-time job to a flourishing career centered around open source projects, Caleb underscores the significance of financial readiness and the autonomy that freelancing affords.

His journey sheds light on how this path may be more attainable for younger individuals, who often have fewer commitments.

Caleb's strategy of intertwining free open source tools with paid projects not only ensures sustainability but also fosters continuous innovation.

Tune in to learn more about his latest project, Flux, and how he maintains a healthy balance between supporting the open source community and commercial pursuits.

Caleb also shares his ambitious vision for 2025, focusing on enhancing current endeavors and venturing into new territories within the open source realm.

With plans to expand and refine Flux, he aims to push the boundaries of its capabilities, while also contemplating a new iteration of Livewire with core improvements.

Caleb is also considering the development of an open-source library for front-end elements, targeting the non-React ecosystem.

His commitment to both advancing existing projects and exploring fresh opportunities offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of open-source tools. 

Join us to explore Caleb's strategic approach to innovation and his unwavering dedication to the community that supports him.

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We meet with the hosts of "Indie Rails" & "Code and the Coding Coders who Code it" in the Rails World podcast booth to share our emotions about the conference & what's coming in Rails 8

What happens when the best minds in the Rails and PHP communities come together? You get an unforgettable live recording at Rails World, Day 2! We're joined by Jeremy and Jess from Indie Rails, Drew Bragg from Code and the Coding Coders who Code It, and Adrian and Yaro from The Friendly Show to celebrate the groundbreaking announcement of authentication in Rails 8. Feel the festival-like energy as we navigate the thrilling dilemma of choosing between insightful talks and vibrant hallway networking, giving special shout-outs to DHH's keynote and Justin Searls touching farewell.

Wondering which deployment tools are making waves in the Rails community? We've got you covered! Listen as we reminisce about the evolution from Capistrano to modern solutions like Kamal and Hatchbox while expressing our enduring love for Heroku. We brainstorm the future of deployment, discussing the need for a beginner-friendly Rails playground and the exciting potential of default Progressive Web App (PWA) support in Rails 8. Our conversation takes an intriguing turn as we compare deployment paths with Laravel, spotlighting the tools and strategies that cater to diverse developer needs.

Ever thought about how technology could simplify bike rentals and save on data roaming costs? We explore this and more, imagining how a PWA or Rails-based system could revolutionize user experiences. Plus, don't miss our anticipation for Rails 8.1's features like Active Record Search and service worker enhancements, with a sneak peek at what Rails 9 has in store. Join us as we wrap up our lively discussion and look forward to catching Eileen's keynote, promising you a blend of insightful tech talk and community vibes that you won't want to miss.

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Ever wondered how one of the most popular PHP frameworks came to be? We've got you covered with an exclusive conversation with Taylor Otwell, the mastermind behind Laravel, recorded live at Rails World 2024. Taylor takes us on a fascinating journey from Laravel’s early days, inspired heavily by Rails, to its unique path with game-changing innovations like InertiaJS and Laravel Livewire. We discuss the evolution of Laravel's ORM, routing systems, and its impressive event-based system, job queues, and real-time functionalities. Taylor also shares his excitement about Rails 8's innovative approach to using databases by default, a philosophy mirrored in Laravel 11. This episode is packed with insights that highlight the mutual inspirations and differences between Laravel and Rails, all aimed at enhancing developer productivity and ease of use.

But that's not all—Taylor gives us an exciting glimpse into the future of Laravel. He shares his anticipation for Laracon Australia in Brisbane, where a groundbreaking new product will be unveiled. We also get the scoop on the highly awaited release of Laravel Cloud, expected to roll out later this year or early next year. Looking ahead to 2025, Taylor teases additional projects set to launch in the spring, keeping us on the edge of our seats. Wrapping up, Taylor expresses heartfelt gratitude and leaves us with a powerful message to keep innovating. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone keen on the future of Laravel and the ongoing evolution of web development frameworks.

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We talk about:

• Adrians' worldwide conference tour in the first half of 2024 (Tropical RB, Singapore, Sin City)
• Yaro & Adrian spending time together at the French Riviera
• Upcoming conferences (EURUKO, Rails World, FriendlyRB)
• FriendlyRB plans & speakers
• Avo future plans (marketplace, no-code/low-code)
• Hiring for Avo

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Since the first moment I met Genadi I felt “this guy is great to be around“!

In this episode he talks about the 🇧🇬 ruby community, organising conferences, his current work and open source history.

Find Genadi http://gsamokovarov.com/
Balkan Ruby https://balkanruby.com/
Join Sofia local ruby meetup https://rubybanitsa.com/

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Nick is one of the most fun exciting people to be around!

He has a few superpowers:

1. Developing unique Ruby tools way ahead of their time

He created Trailblazer as a better way to structure business logic in Rails apps than Services. Way ahead of DDD! https://github.com/trailblazer/trailblazer

He created Cells that inspired ViewComponent https://github.com/trailblazer/cells

2. Presenting on stage. So far he did over 100 conference and meet-up appearances! He has a natural charm and can always make you laugh.

3. Heart of the party. Find him on a Rails conference and learn for yourself!

His only social profile is https://github.com/apotonick

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One more cool cat from BalkanRuby!

This time we talk to Rado ex-producthunt head of engineering, building his own product - AngryBuilding.
 He is the only developer and has a team of non-devs doing business stuff.

He kindly reminds me that you don't always need reactivity, and full-page reloads are good. Enough for many B2B cases!

You can learn a lot from Rado about building businesses with Rails.

His new startup: https://angrybuilding.com
Slides from his conference talks: https://rstankov.com/appearances

P.S. Sorry for the sound quality on these - we are still experimenting with studio recording 🙃

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This week we are visiting Balkan Ruby in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In this surprise mini-episode we discuss making $$ on dev tools with Irina Nazarova, CEO of very very Evil Martians!

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RailsConf is happening on 7-9 of May!

And Ufuk is the lead organizer!
He recently joined the Ruby Central board of directors.
He is on the Shopify infrastructure team, working on making Ruby on Rails a better ecosystem 💪

We discuss:

• What makes RailsConf 2024 special?
• What is "RubyConf Hack Day"?
• Where does the ticket price come from?
• Why is RubyCentral so important to our community?

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Steven is on a mission to make SQLite good enough for production.

We talked about

• SQLite and Litestack
• contributing to open source
• being "the guy" in a niche, creating your own luck

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Join the dialogue with Amanda Perino, CEO of the Rails Foundation, as we unpack the intricacies and excitement of Rails World 2024. 

Amanda brings her unique perspective to the table, revealing the behind-the-scenes of organizing a top-tier conference in Toronto and how they're shaping it to be an even more engaging and community-driven event. 

We reminisce about past encounters that birthed our podcast and hear updates on both the Rails community's beloved doggo - Milo, and the technical leaps expected with Rails 8.

What's more, we take your feedback to heart, promising more networking woven into the fabric of this year's slightly streamlined talk schedule.

Our conversation with Amanda Perino doesn't stop there—venture with us as she sheds light on the electrifying atmosphere of RailsVeld at the Evergreen Brickworks and teases at the global roadmap for future Rails events. 

Imagine the potential of Rails conferences in places as diverse as Colombia and Slovakia! 

Plus, we get a sneak peek into the Rails Foundation's 2024 agenda, focusing on enhancing documentation, education, and marketing for the community. 

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Join the conversation with the serial conference organizer Andy Croll, where we talk about how he started Brighton Ruby, why he's still doing it, how he's helping organize RailsConf this year, and about First Ruby Friend and why you should hire junior developers.

https://brightonruby.com/
https://firstrubyfriend.org/
https://railsconf.org/

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Season 1 finale!

Today we talk about:

• our reflections about 2023 and plans for 2024
• Rails 8 features

Highlights:
👶Being a young father
⛵️Sailing
✈️visited 5 Ruby events together
🍻met new Ruby friends
🎙️10x FriendlyShow podcast episodes
🎬68 videos & ✍55 blogposts
🥑All-in on AVO

Will there be a Season 2? Let us know if you want one!

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Mariusz is an old friend of ours. Over the last few years, we've chilled 🍻 at many events around 🇪🇺

He works at an iconic ruby consulting shop in Warsaw, Poland (Visuality), where he was recently promoted from CTO to CEO.

Mariusz gives back to the 💎 community by organizing local meetups (Warsaw, Lodz) and organizing conferences.

In July 2023, he organized the first "Warsaw Community Conference".

Just 6 months later, he is organizing the second edition of Warsaw Community Conference on 02 Feb 2024.

It can be a great opportunity to visit Warsaw and meet old friends!

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Surprise surprise: we invited our friend Andrea to the FRIENDLY show!

We talked about:
💰 How Andrea switched to programming and became CTO
🙆‍♂️ Everybody needs a Paul in their life!
👨🏻‍🍳 who stole the Hotwire Cookbook?
💅 Rails UI libraries
🦘 Ruby Australia

Andrea on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ilrock__
Andrea on GitHub: https://github.com/ilrock
Howire cookbook: https://hotwirecookbook.com
🦊 Flying foxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteropus

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