Talk Notes: "Self-Care on Rails" (RailsConf 2021)

Sylwia Vargas - Apr 13 '21 - - Dev Community

What is this post about: As a part of my professional growth, I make time to watch conference talks on Ruby, Rails, JS, React, tech writing, and tech trivia. Previously, I'd just watch them but now I will take and publish notes for future reference. This talk was a part of RailsConf 2021 that I'm participating at the time of writing.

Talk: 'Self-Care on Rails' by @bengreenberg , or Ben Greenberg

One-paragraph summary: This past year has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory. The pandemic has taken a toll, including on children. Adults used their professional skills to help make the year a little better for the kids in our lives: Therapists counseled, entertainers delighted, teachers educated... and Rails developers developed!

Impression: I appreciate the human-side of the Rails community that Ben represents; the talk was inspiring and also grounding


Table of contents:


Notes

  • "...citizens of a democracy are collectively responsible for what their society allows; they have a special duty towards those it systematically fails, and this burden falls most heavily on those most rewarded..." (Chiala Cordelli)
  • a new initiative in the Open Source community: Hippocratic License
    • "...we are starting to realize that the software that we create has a real and lasting impact on the world in which we live" (An Ethical License to Open Source - how will your code be used? will it be bettering the world at large?
  • "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?"
    • self-interest can mean asserting yourself among others and that's not a bad thing!
    • your interest is among others and it matters
  • We are facing mental health crises (loneliness, etc.) and it's affecting all of us: adults and youths alike
  • webRTC: real-time communication
    • open web standard and available as regular JS APIs in the majority of browsers
    • it supports video, voice, and generic data to be sent between peers
  • Ben mentioned two apps he built:
  • the more you help yourself, the more you help others

Side notes:

  • I love Ben's attitude, kindness, and jokes
  • "You can't escape JavaScript ;-; " - Ben 😹

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