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Content Tagged with group + community
TYPO3 Bug Day coming up on July 25th
1st TYPO3 Bug Day a Success!
1st TYPO3 Bug Day a Success!
MySQL Focuses on Community
Post Summary: An apology with a lesson.
When Steve Curry contacted me just after the MySQL Conference and Expo asking me if I’d be interested in a community roundtable, I was excited. Not just because Steve Curry brought me an inflatable pink dolphin after I squee‘d that I needed one, although I never forget when someone does me a favor.
However, a few weeks ago it seemed like the event was more of a PR gathering than a community roundtable. I was disappointed, and told Steve as much.
And then, one of two things happened:
1) My concerns were brought up, discussed and folks decided a roundtable involving community was a good idea;
or
2) I had come up with two different pictures of the event in my mind, based on my expectations of “community roundtable” at first and “event with businesses and PR, to include community” as the final description.
Now, last night was an excellent opportunity for me and also a lot of fun. A lot of the questions were really implicitly asking, “Is open source better? Why?” More on that in the next post, I promise.
So I wanted to say to MySQL that I was wrong.
I am sorry.
Sure, MySQL did not know what I was thinking. And certainly the event could have turned out to be one I did not enjoy.
The lesson to learn from this is that sometimes we get upset at our perception of reality, and not reality itself.
And to follow up on my cranky post where I was annoyed at the MySQL’s website’s lack of functionality at http://www.pythian.com/blogs/1016/mysql-website-a-reflection-of-values, I feel I should note that I got a call later that day from MySQL’s web designer telling me that my concerns were valid and MySQL was actively working on them. Indeed, www.mysql.com has added a “Documentation” link in the orange submenu (first is “Products” and second is “Downloads”, so I completely agree with their prioritization as well).
The other lesson: Always trade business cards with people, so they have your contact information when they want to contact you. A phone call was so much more powerful than an e-mail ever could have been.
Neighborhoods and Communities
Recently I acquired Sesame Street Volume 1, and on the third DVD in the set I came across one of my favorite Sesame Street songs: “Who are the people in your neighborhood?”
Here’s a sample of one such skit, if you are not familiar with it, or if you want a bit of nostalgia http://youtube.com/watch?v=B9lpUjQvToY (note, play will likely start automatically, so tune your volume appropriately before clicking).
The refrain is “Who are the people in your neighborhood? The people that you meet each day!” I live in a city of 34,000 people just 6 miles northwest of Boston, MA. I know exactly one neighbor, across the street, whom we met because I sent my husband over to get her live band to stop playing loud music at her party at 2 am. I do not know many of the local business owners. I do not know who lives in my neighborhood, yet people live around me. Saying I live in a “neighborhood” might be true, but I have no ties or links to it.
Calling a group of people with common interests “community” is just as meaningless as saying I live in a “neighborhood”. There has to be a bond there. I am proud to be a part of the MySQL Community, which actually has forged bonds. Much like Sesame Street, with dentists and bus drivers, our community has many different types of people in it.
In fact, I know that there are many who “only” read and perhaps comment. Remember that every single child (and adult!) that watches Sesame Street is a valuable part of the community — after all, a bus driver is useless without people to drive around. Similarly, folks who develop tools would be doing useless work if there was not such a need for these tools.
The MySQL Community is very real to me. If I were to “move away” from this community, I would experience a loss. There are so many folks whom I will be glad to see and spend time with at the upcoming MySQL Users Conference, and if they are not there, I will definitely miss them.
I blog about MySQL because I enjoy helping others. More importantly, I’ve enjoyed helping out the MySQL community a lot. I have been a part of other “communities” that did not have very much momentum and I was the only or one of the only contributors. I have also been a part of communities in which I’m mostly a lurker, or a learner, and while I gain a lot from it, I much rather prefer a more balanced give-and-take (that’s just my personality).
Speaking of personality, I’m human, as is everyone whose blog feeds to Planet MySQL (organizations excluded). This means that when folks e-mail me or find me in person and say “I love your podcast!” and “Your blogging really helped me.” and “Thank you for all you do,” I feel really good about myself.
If you are new to the MySQL community, feel free to come up and talk to me (or anyone, really) — during the conference, or otherwise. Even if you feel you have nothing to say, just say hello.
And I must end with a disclaimer: I won last year’s “Community Advocate” award from MySQL, so I guess all in all, I’m still a community advocate. Long live the dolphin!
Core-development mailinglist now open for community involvement
Rails Business: "Weekly" Review #4
As I mentioned in my last review, I wouldn’t be updating on a weekly basis, which is a shame because there are so many fascinating discussions going on that might benefit you if you’re running a business that uses and/or relies on the Ruby on Rails framework. I’d like to highlight some of the discussions that have been taking place over the past month or so.
First off… wow! As of this morning, there are 650 members!
Some Recent Discussions
Obtaining Ruby Gigs
Johan Pretorius started a discussion with the following…
“I’ve been lurking on the group for a while now, the time has come to participate … What strategy would you recommend for somebody that wants to break into the Ruby (on Rails) market?”
On a related topic, Jose Hurtado started a discussion asking for tips on how to get a reputation in the Ruby on Rails community for you business.
Some of the responses included:
- Start a portfolio
- Contribute to Open Source projects
- Contribute to Rails through Documentation
- Subcontract through well-known developers
- Start a blog
- Write a book
Read the entire thread and please share any other ideas that you have on this topic with Johan, Jose, and rest of the list. :-)
Taking a full-time job, what about your freelance clients?
Oren writes, “I got a full-time job offer as employee (and not on as a contractor). My current client might need some help on the weekends in the next month, so I might still do contract work. Can I keep my corporation (corp S) while working full time?”
Reality Check!
Starting your own business might sound like an amazing thing to do, but it often comes with a lot of consequences and struggles, which I’m definitely not been immune to.
Michael M. writes, ”...added to having to create a company, perform customer support, continue to grow the features, marketing, and the loads of other things I haven’t thought of yet…is there any hope that one person can pull this off while still working at my current job ( with hopes of going it alone when I’m sure it can fly ), and giving time to my family, with very little up front costs. I’ve been reading quite a bit about bootstrapping lately, but to really make the time has been very difficult.”
There were several thoughtful responses where well-known members of the Ruby on Rails community, such as Joe O’Brien Ben Curtis shared through personal experiences.
Joe O’Brien wrote, “I wanted to mainly chime in on the family part. Something that has taken a year for me to figure out how to balance. I would not have been able to do any of it, had it not been for my wife’s full support. I have three kids, all of whom I love spending time with, so figuring out a way to balance it all has been very tricky. Up front though, my wife and I knew this would not be your typical job. It helped that I used to travel and now do not, but it has still been an adjustment.”
If you’ve been running your own Rails business, please consider responding to this thread and sharing your experience.
Join the Community
As mentioned, this is just a small sample of some of the great discussions taking place on the Rails Business mailing list. If you’re an aspiring Rails freelancer or business owner, be sure to join the community and share your experiences and learn from other members of the community that are willing to share theirs.
As always, have fun!
Rails Business: "Weekly" Review #3
It’s been about six weeks since the last Rails Business “Weekly” Review on here, so perhaps it’s worth changing the name to cut me some slack on not being consistent. ;-)
Since the last post, we’ve gone from around 400 members to 555 as of this morning. We’ve had 562 messages as well, so there hasn’t been a shortage of discussions taking place. I’d like to take a few moments to highlight some of the discussions that have taken place and encourage you all to consider participating, if you’re not already.
Licensing and Client Agreements
Tim Case writes,
“My client sent me this agreement drawn up from their lawyer that included the following:
(c) the Contractor shall not bundle with or incorporate into any Work Product any third-party products, ideas, processes, software, codes, data, techniques, names, images, or other items or properties without the express, written prior approval of the Company;”
Tim then goes on to ask how his applies to using Ruby on Rails, which as a MIT license and how other consultancies are handling these types of situations. Follow the discussion…
Escrow
Gustin writes, “Does anyone have any escrow experience, legal and cost? I am dealing with a client that got burned bad and we are reducing their fear with escrow on the first two iterations.”
Project Planning tools
Mike Pence writes, “So, I used to use MS Project for the composition of those dreaded Gantt charts, but it has been a few years since I had to be so formal. Anything new and exciting – and more robust than Basecamp – happening in the world of project planning software?”
Not long after, Jim Mulholland started a new thread on the same topic and brought up the open source application, redMine. Follow this discussion…
Ruby on Rails versus .NET
Michael Breen asked a big question on the list, which has sparked an going discussion about the benefits of using Rails versus .NET (and other platforms).
“A couple of months ago I decided to stop actively pursuing .NET gigs to focus on Rails. Several of my existing .NET clients have learned of this through the grapevine and have contacted me to discuss.”
Three things Tim’s learned from Freelancing Rails
Tim Case shared his experience of freelancing with Ruby on Rails and highlights three things that he’s learned.
- The non-code business aspect of Freelancing is demanding.
- It takes 10 hours to bill 6 to 8.
- Figuring out your rate is hard.
Read the rest of Tim’s observations and the discussion the followed.
Client issue tracking and documentation
Jeff Judge writes, “Hello all! I was curious to here how people are handling client issue tracking and documentation.”
Several applications were mentioned for handling issue tracking and the general consensus was that there was still a lot to be desired that current options didn’t provide. Be sure to follow the discussions…
Join the Community
These were just a small handfull of the discussions that have taken place over the past several weeks. If you’re an aspiring Rails freelancer or business owner, be sure to join the community and share your experiences and learn from other members of the community that are willing to share theirs.
Until next time, have fun!
Ruby on Rails gets down to business
It’s been a week since I announced the new Ruby on Rails meets the business world group. Already, the group attracted over 300 members from around the globe... from Argentina, Boston, Australia, Florida, Seattle, Portland!, the Netherlands, and South Africa.
We’ve already seen some great topics come up… from:
- Project estimates
- Fixed bids versus time and materials
- Pricing
- Handling code ownership with client contracts
- Incorporating (LLC, S CORP?)
- Managing money/accounting
- Contracts
I expect that many of these topics will resurface and there has been a lot of valuable information passed around. It’s exciting to see that so many people not only want to use Ruby on Rails as a platform of choice for their business ventures, but they’re also willing to share their personal experiences and knowledge to help others move into this space.
If you’re running a business that focuses on Ruby on Rails or just considering it, you should stop by and introduce yourself.
update: membership grew from 200 to over 300 in the past day!
Semantic Web Education and Outreach (SWEO) Interest Group
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