In our daily life as web developers we are constantly faced with technical problems that can be solved with a variety of (sometimes vastly different) technologies. Choosing the right tool for the tasks is crucial for our mid- and long term success.
Our technology radar card documents what we're currently investigating either to replace or introduce to our stack of tools. Start this card by skimming over the linked resource.
Discussion
Growing Rails applications in practice
Read the following chapters from our book Growing Rails Applications in Practice Show archive.org snapshot :
- On following fashions
- Surviving the upgrade pace of Rails
- Owning your stack
Discuss each chapter with your mentor.
The Swinging Pendulum
The XKCD about the sandboxing cycle Show archive.org snapshot is quite on point on this topic. After the chuckle, read these resources:
- Pendulum swings by Mark Seemann Show archive.org snapshot
- The Pendulum Swing of Development and Technology Trends Show archive.org snapshot
- The Development Pendulum Show archive.org snapshot
Discuss with your mentor when it could be worth hopping on a hype train, and when it's probably not.
Note
After reading resources such as these, you might be tempted to just not ever use a new technology at all.
Go ahead and try out new tools from time to time! Just take a step back and evaluate its usefulness first. Also, consider if its benefits outweigh the cost of teaching and maintaining the new thing.
Being a good open-source citizen
Work through the following resources:
- Open Source is Not About You Show archive.org snapshot
- Why I'm Closing Your GitHub issue Show archive.org snapshot
Discuss each resource with your mentor.
