---
title: 'Internbot Chronicles #5: The end'
teaser:
tags: playbook,apprenticeship
author: Nick Quaranto
published_on: 2009-08-26
---

Today's my last day here in the Boston office. At the end of the week I'm
heading back to the [great white
north](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ZvAVcBIrQ) of [New
York](http://rit.edu). I've written enough about what I've hacked on during my
time here, I'd rather wrap up with how others have made the past few months
awesome.

## The group

[![''](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3548178846_ca85145986.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hybernaut/3548178846/)

If you've got a local Ruby group in your area, go to it. The members of
[Boston.rb](http://bostonrb.org) are some of the brightest folks I know, even if
they're just learning Ruby or venturing out into bold new languages and
territory. The talks and hackfests have been immensely valuable, not to mention
the post-meeting (and sometimes pre) drinkups. Watching others build their own
Ruby/Rails projects and hearing their own war stories was fantastic. I also
managed to attend [NHRuby](http://nhruby.org) as well, which was a lot of fun.
It's tough to beat a group that can manage events every Tuesday of the month
while keeping the content fresh and the beer flowing.

## The place

[![''](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2081/1816776341_e1501712bf.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/slack12/1816776341/)

Let's just say I was used to more of a
[square](http://brotherpeacemaker.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/cubicles.jpg)
environment, and our "bullpen" was a refresh. At thoughtbot, pretty much
everyone is out in this main area of the office. This has been central to how we
work: it simply lowers the barrier to collaborate with others. It also helps
with answering [quick
questions](http://tinyrobots.thoughtbot.com/post/168213644/dan-c-dev-ruby-stocknames-rb-b-aaron)
or having impromptu meetings. The office's
[location](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=41+Winter+St,+Boston,+MA+02108)
in Downtown Crossing has also made it fun, not only for random street
performances/shouting going on outside, but it really feels like we work in the
heart of Boston.

## The people

[![''](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2549852291_275b5c60ab.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-burns/2549852291/in/photostream/)

My fellow robots were programmed to do two things: to get stuff done, and enjoy
doing it. Whether it was learning the philosophy and reasoning behind testing or
exploring the nuts and bolts of an application, these guys were stellar and
deeply cared about their work. Each day was pretty much a blast: entering with a
[theme
song](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/post/159805437/when-i-enter-the-office-the-imperial-march-plays),
getting together at the morning standup, having lunch (occasionally way too
early), and hilarious discussions on Campfire I'll never forget. The drive to
continually improve, be it patching
[Suspenders](http://github.com/thoughtbot/suspenders/tree/master) to add
commonly used tools, being
[proactive](http://tinyrobots.thoughtbot.com/post/162852353/i-wish-i-could-reblog-my-own-posts)
community bloggers, or honing our process for both clients and our internal
products has had a great impact on me. Being this professional while having so
much fun is no easy task, yet it's a daily routine here.

Thanks for the past 6 months, everyone. I'm going to miss Boston.