Geeked up

I did my little presentation on Rails last night. "Why Rails programmers are so smug?" in front of 30-40-odd geeks in 20/20 format.

The 20/20 was hard - for those that don't know, it's twenty slides, each given twenty seconds. It means you know exactly what you have to deal with, but fluff a single line and you lose a slide. My talk went well (I think I hit the twenty seconds every time), although necessarily, it was a bit basic. I was surprised to hear people say that "Rails was too OO for them to learn" though.

The really interesting bit came after, when Lee Strafford gave a quick five minute talk on Project Sahara (Facebook link). Basically Lee doesn't need to work since selling his ISP, PlusNet, so was looking for something to fill his days. He said that his favourite part at work was getting the geeks together and getting them to build stuff. So that is what Sahara is about - connecting the small, innovative geek companies (mainly in the North of England) with the suits with the cash. In such a way that as much control as possible stays with us. A great idea (along with Paul Robinson's Vagueware) and worth a few minutes of your time.

Beer by elkojote