We do work for some companies with their own in-house development team. They often don’t have much Ruby experience. Others are startups. They need to hire developers but don’t know how to interview potential Rubyists. Neither want to delay development of their projects while they wait to build their team.
In response to their needs, we’re pleased to announce our new consulting service:
In a nutshell
- We begin work on your Rails app immediately.
- We help hire (if needed) and train your in-house team.
- We pair program with your team at our office or yours.
- When your team is self-sufficient, you take the reins.
Hiring
Software is a team sport. You need good people whom you trust and whose company you enjoy. Additionally, the ideal Kickstart client understands the value of pair programming. Your team members should be willing and able to pair regularly.
We will help you hire by pairing with interviewees on real Ruby code. This even works with developers coming to Ruby from other languages. In this case, the interviewee dictates what should be done, and the thoughtbot developer implements it in Ruby.
Training
We are experienced trainers of Ruby, Rails, and related software practices such as refactoring, version control, and Test Driven Development.
Transitioning to a new toolset can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. Internally at thoughtbot, we have a proven track record of making great Ruby developers out of Java, .NET, Python, or PHP developers. We all came from other technology backgrounds and know how to take you down the same path.
Programming
We have consulted on dozens of Rails projects for the last three years. We’ve made the mistakes your Ruby team is about to make.
Imagine your developers sitting at their keyboard, source code in one window, tests flying by in another, with a thoughtbot developer sitting right there, stepping in immediately when a mistake is about to happen.
Self-sufficiency
We believe this is the fastest way to impart Ruby skills to other developers. Our greatest triumph will be when you say:
We don’t need thoughtbot anymore. We have a maintainable app with clean code that works. We have an expert development team with a unified vision of where to the app goes next.
