Lots of fresh-faced young developers. Smart,  full of passion and still able to recite the design patterns they learned in computer science class (not so long ago).

And doing some mighty cool stuff.

All very good, but…

Rails ain’t bad for bringing  up boring old applications that just  work reliably and well without needing a full staff and staff meetings and arguments on where to hold the Christmas Party .

Ruby and Rails are liberating technologies, but neither can be picked up in a matter of days.  Doing them right vs merely doing them is the difference between having a tool and fighting an obstacle.  I know.  I’ve cargo-coded* my way head-on into more than a few jams.

Do it right, and Rails rewards you. Do it wrong, and it slaps your hand hard.

That’s what I’d like to write about — including some of the bone-headed mistakes I’ve made along the way.  Hope I can make it interesting.

* Cargo code: (Noun or verb) To borrow pieces of code that you don’t fully understand, but serve your need at the time.  Until, that is, something changes and you’re screwed because you don’t really know why they worked in the first place.