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What I have found gripping

• Learning from underrepresented folks with decades of experience in the field and a deep understanding of what can be done and the skills required to meet challenges (technical and otherwise)

• New niche challenges exist, and addressing them with a small team is a starting point

• Reviewing sandboxes

• Being able to explore new ideas and run experiments

• Organisations where underrepresented folks have long tenures are worth studying

• Identifying the kinds of problems I’m keen to solve next

• Seeing the creativity of folks around me

• Striking a balance between showing and telling

• Knowing where one’s skills and experiences are valued

• Understanding how one might add value remains essential

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

• What is relevant at any given point is highly dependent on the context

• Search results can be irrelevant

• What makes quality information is changing

• Migrating from one service to another after a few informative attempts

• Understanding the limits of tools at our disposal matters

• Connecting across difference remains essential to problem-solving and reducing dead angles

• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer is still a helpful resource

• Showing one’s appreciation for others can take many forms; some might be part of habits and others less so

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

• Getting to learn more about a niche sector

• Asynchronous learning when one is unable to attend a live learning session

• Synchronising new coded tracks to new visuals for a visual album

• Creating the CI (Continuous Integration) of a new application

• The sanitize method which is part of Sanitize Helper methods in Rails can help sanitise HTML input

• Hearing about new projects and the problems they aim to solve

What I have read

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

• Learning new things from different folks

• Instructions from day 9 of Advent of Code 2025

• Creating a richer texture with two sounds using code

• Making small changes to a codebase

• This short clip about silence in international meetings from Erin Meyer’s talk

What I have found gripping

• Going over the code of a new project and its RSpec tests

• Thoughtful and actionable feedback

• Ruby does not include a library for handling inflections e.g. pluralization, singularization etc. One needs to install a gem called activesupport for that purpose. Once added, it is possible to run the code below:

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

• Picking a problem to solve, then investigating ways to solve it with the understanding that prioritising it over others still leaves room to address those afterwards

• Context continues to matter when it comes to technical solutions and ways of working

• Connecting across difference remains necessary, as this allows for broader perspectives on just about anything. In my view, it takes effort and humility, but it’s worth it

• Finding where you feel welcome and genuinely included, still matters

• Communities of practice making it possible for folks of all backgrounds to join, learn and contribute are worth getting inspiration from

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

What I have found gripping

• Planning a code walkthrough

• Finding what’s helpful in doing so

• Synthesising what I have learned through small experiments and projects

• Making do with a heatwave leading to some school closures locally