David Hill: 0:00

Shout out to GoRails for sponsoring Ode to RailsConf. If you or your team wants to learn the latest Ruby on Rails features Hotwire Ruby and more check out GoRailscom. Use code ODE2RAILSCONF at checkout to get 10% off. You're listening to the Ode to RailsConf podcast, where we reminisce about RailsConf over the years. I'm your host, david Hill, and joining me today is Erin Pintosi.

Erin Pintozzi: 0:29

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited that we were finally able to get together for this.

David Hill: 0:34

Yeah, so towards the beginning of the podcast, I had Andy Andrea on the show and you were one of the people that he connected me to to come and be a guest on the show, so maybe we can start there, yeah.

Erin Pintozzi: 0:47

Well, I'm flattered. I made enough of an impression for him to pass my name on. I met Andy at RailsConf in Detroit last year. He was a guide to a scholar and the scholar happened to be a former student of mine, so I just kind of hovered around that group a little bit, but it worked out. No one kicked me out and we I don't know tucked shop, I think, like most of us do at these conferences. And he is a big reason why I chose to apply for the Scholar Guides program as a guide for RubyConf later in 2024. And it turns out he also had served as a mentor for the school where I was teaching at the time years ago, and so we had a couple of these connections that I was kind of unaware of, but it was really nice meeting him and getting to know him, so I'm thrilled that he connected us.

David Hill: 1:35

So yeah. So you mentioned the Scholars and Guides program, which is an aspect of the Ruby Central conferences that I'm a huge fan of. Tell me about what your experiences have been like working in that program.

Erin Pintozzi: 1:47

So I was selected as a guide for the first time for RubyConf25 in Chicago and unfortunately my scholar was unable to attend. So I served as kind of like a floating guide, meaning I hung out at the scholar guide tables and just sort of chatted and helped connect where I could. I hadn't really heard of the scholar guide program prior to the call for applications for Detroit last year and when some of my former students were in that and I met Andy I was like wow, this sounds really cool. And it made me think of the very first conference I went to, which was RailsConf, minneapolis many years ago, and how nerve wracking that was and how much I would have just done about anything to have someone kind of hold my hand and walk me through, just like what to expect at a technical conference and just kind of be a shoulder to lean on, I guess. So that's how I heard about the program.

Erin Pintozzi: 2:44

I wasn't a guide in Detroit but I shared an Airbnb with two scholars so I called myself their honorary guide and I was their teacher.

Erin Pintozzi: 2:51

So I don't know, maybe they felt like they had to be nice to me and so when I applied for Chicago I didn't have a person. So I applied again now for Philly and I have a person we've met multiple times thinks she's going to be there, so I'm really excited to see what it's like to actually have a paired scholar at a conference. I don't actually know what to expect. I have what I've built up in my imagination, but even just our conversations so far have been exciting. I know you've talked about this on the show, so there's the whole like mini project that they do and we've been talking about what her project might be and the lightning talk that she's going to prepare and like how we can kind of get her psyched up and ready to go for that. So that's kind of the breadth of my experience, which is a little bit of everything and also a little bit of nothing at the same time up to this point.

David Hill: 3:36

It's arguably more experienced with it than I have. I was a guide once, and that was before the program evolved into what it is now with the project and really encouraging the scholars to do stuff, and so, yeah, sounds like you've got a pretty good and solid base for it already.

Erin Pintozzi: 3:54

I'm thrilled about it. I've been teaching at a boot camp for about four years now, and so it feels like it's just such a natural thing to slot myself in and be like here, let me mentor and guide and coach. It's what I've been doing for years, so I'm really excited to have an actual human, physical person to work with.

David Hill: 4:13

I got to interact a little bit more with some of the scholars just because I was friends with their guides at the last RailsConf and so yeah, that was. It was super fun and interesting to seeing these first time attendees really just kind of get immersed in this very different experience and seeing them get engaged with it was really fun to watch.

Erin Pintozzi: 4:35

Yeah, so we'll see I'm pumped.

David Hill: 4:37

So you mentioned your first RailsConf was Minneapolis a number of years ago. I don't even know when that one was.

Erin Pintozzi: 4:44

I'm going to guess 2019, because I know I was pregnant. So not only was it my first conference, but, like there are all sorts of things going on, it was a very nerve wracking experience.

David Hill: 4:54

Oh, wow, okay, yeah, I could see that why that would be a different kind of experience.

Erin Pintozzi: 4:59

So your experiences with RailsCon for relatively recent then Yep, so I had the RailsConf like five, six years ago and then kind of getting myself back into it now in the last year and a half.

David Hill: 5:10

Okay, so do you have any kind of fond memories from your first RailsConf other than being pregnant?

Erin Pintozzi: 5:26

of having someone to guide me would have been awesome. So it was my first conference. I was traveling, I was pregnant, sharing a hotel room with coworkers that I'd never met in real life, kind of thing. So it was very nervous overall. And, that said, I love Minneapolis.

Erin Pintozzi: 5:36

I lived in Minneapolis for about five years, up until 2015.

Erin Pintozzi: 5:42

So it kind of felt like at least there is an element of familiarity there, and so just being in an environment that felt like home kind of emboldened me to be like I'm going to go talk to someone.

Erin Pintozzi: 5:53

It is normally not in my nature to randomly talk to people, but I can recommend a place to eat or a cool venue or something like that. And then, to my surprise and delight, there were people that I had known from when I lived in Minneapolis, that I had no idea were even in the Ruby and Rails community, that I ended up bumping into at the conference, and so that was, I think, the most exciting thing. It's like wow, I didn't even know I was coming for a reunion. So that was a lot of fun, just bumping into people that I didn't think I would, getting to share some of my favorite local places and using that as the social lubricant. So, yeah, I think there were a lot of fond memories there. As nervous as I was, none of the horrible scenarios I envisioned actually played out. So, as typically seems to happen, though, right.

David Hill: 6:36

Right.

Erin Pintozzi: 6:38

How bad could this be?

David Hill: 6:40

Yeah, I'm very much the same way historically, that I had a lot of anxiety around trying to get outside of my own head and meet new people and talk to people. I've been trying to get better about that and, in particular, I think doing this podcast has helped a lot with that, because I talk to a new person every week and often it's someone I haven't met before, and so it's helped to kind of rewire my brain a little bit to be like, oh, maybe these conversational things aren't as terrifying as we thought they were. But all that to say, this is a kind of a new question I've been asking people If you were giving advice to a first time conference attendee, what advice would you give them to help them try to navigate a conference and get the most out of it, that they can really kind of get most bang for their buck?

Erin Pintozzi: 7:29

Such a well-timed question. I had a meeting with my scholar this morning and she asked me what am I not asking you? What do people need to know? So first-time attendees, this one might sound really silly, but the question that I hear most from my students and recent grads is what do I wear? Thinking back on my first conference, I know I hemmed and hawed about that. So casual is fine, listeners probably and bring a sweater because it's really cold. So easy logistical thing, off the table, More conference-based.

Erin Pintozzi: 8:02

What I told my scholar this morning, and what I wish I had known myself the first time, was giving myself permission to be uncomfortable. It's a new environment and it's okay to feel uncomfortable and you're probably not the only one, and for me, even just verbalizing that kind of lifted a weight of this is normal and this is okay, and I'm allowed to have anxious feelings about this. The second part of that, then, is giving yourself permission to be flexible. So, as someone with a lot of anxiety my first conference, I wrote these are all the talks I'm going to go to and this is the time, and I think I'm going to eat lunch here and planned everything right. I was looking for control, and I have found that, the more I like let go and just kind of, maybe there's a talk I'm not most interested in, but I started chatting with someone and so I'm going to go to whatever talk they're going to or meeting someone for lunch, even though that wasn't the place that I had written down, and just letting myself go with the flow was really freeing and kind of exciting. And when I think about what I would have missed if I hadn't given myself permission to be flexible, that's kind of a bummer. So I think the flexibility and just like owning your discomfort, that's okay.

Erin Pintozzi: 9:11

And then the third thing is whenever I talk to students who are going to conferences for the first time, I tell them to at least once sit at a lunch table with someone where you don't know anybody. I think meals are such a good way to get to know each other and also you are probably saving that other solo person from having a really awkward lunch and wondering if I should I have sat with someone, especially at Rails and Ruby conference. It's such a warm and welcoming community that, like you can be that person, you can do one meal where you sit with someone. And so if any kind of networking or just friendship building is part of your plan. I really it's like a small thing you can do in the big conference area. So those are my three things that we talked about today.

David Hill: 9:55

Nice. Yeah, I think those are all really solid pieces of advice. I think in Philly it's going to be a little bit weird about the lunches. What I've been told is that they're not actually bringing lunches into the hotel or the conference space. They're basically unleashing us on downtown Philly.

Erin Pintozzi: 10:14

Oh, so that's going to be like really going to put yourself out there to meet someone new.

David Hill: 10:18

Right.

Erin Pintozzi: 10:18

And everyone solo is going to be looking for a lunch friend. So in some ways maybe that makes it easier.

David Hill: 10:24

Right. I think it'll be a different kind of effort that needs to be put forth to find someone to go have lunch with, because it's not just going to be a big communal lunch space.

Erin Pintozzi: 10:36

Oh man, five years ago I would have had a major panic attack about that. If I'm being honest, I don't know when this episode is being released, but if anyone needs a lunch friend, you can find me in the Slack and I will be your lunch friend in Philly.

David Hill: 10:48

Good to know. Yeah, I think a few years ago. I don't know that I would have panicked about it, but I would have just. Oh, I guess I'm eating lunch alone.

Erin Pintozzi: 10:56

Yeah.

David Hill: 10:56

I would have just gone and got something on my own, and that would have been it.

Erin Pintozzi: 11:01

Yeah.

David Hill: 11:02

I'm hopeful, fingers crossed, that doesn't happen this year.

Erin Pintozzi: 11:05

Yeah, Unless you need the downtime, right. I also think that's okay too. Every now and then I have to distract myself and be like wow, there's a lot of noise right now.

David Hill: 11:14

And I think that kind of goes hand in hand with what you were talking about, about giving yourself permission to be flexible. If you have a moment where you feel overwhelmed and you need a chance to kind of take a breath and for your nerves to calm, it's yeah, like we're right there at the hotel Go up to your room, if you need to, just to take a break, and then you can come back when you're ready. I've done that Not recently, because I've gotten more accustomed to the conference experience, because it's a different experience that takes some getting used to.

Erin Pintozzi: 11:44

Or even just a quiet corner. There's something about big cities, I find, where you're never alone, but it's really easy to be alone in those environments. So even in Chicago, like as long as I wasn't in the actual conference area you can blend in so well just like sitting down and putting on your headphones, so whatever that space looks like.

David Hill: 12:03

So true.

Erin Pintozzi: 12:03

Because it's a lot, especially for a first timer. If you're not used to that, there's hundreds of people swarming around you and figuring out where to go.

David Hill: 12:12

Have you participated in RailsConf in any way other than as an attendee and as a guide at this point?

Erin Pintozzi: 12:19

I have not. I've been trying to psych myself up to submit a conference talk anywhere for years and I haven't quite made it. But I might attempt a lightning talk in Philly. We'll see. The answer is no, it's a not yet. It's a not yet. Yeah, like the desire is there, but I have not quite worked up the nerve to attempt to do more.

David Hill: 12:40

Fair, in case you're feeling brave a little bit, cfp just opened for Rocky Mountain Ruby, so it's a much smaller conference, it's a single track conference. So that's an interesting option, I think, for a little bit lower, and it also gives you the opportunity to kind of actually have the speaking experience in a slightly smaller audience size.

Erin Pintozzi: 13:13

Yeah, I saw that this morning in a Discord that I'm in. I'm like oh, is this my time?

David Hill: 13:18

Is this the?

Erin Pintozzi: 13:18

one, and I have a lot of friends in the Denver area, so maybe it's just like all signs are pointing to I should be doing this.

David Hill: 13:25

Yeah, I really like that one. Well, I know some of the people who organize it and so I'm hoping to be able to go out to it this year. But we'll see if I manage to go to Rocky Mountain Ruby this year. That would be my third conference in the year and I don't think I've ever gone to more than one before, and so I'm just like I don't know if I can swing this or not. But we'll see.

Erin Pintozzi: 13:44

What would be your second? I'm assuming you're going to be at RailsConf in February.

David Hill: 13:48

I will be at RailsConf and I managed to get a ticket to RailsWorld. Oh, exciting. I want to go, I'm excited about it. I've been out of the country before, but I've never been to Europe before, and so it's like first trip to Europe. Go to Amsterdam to go to RailsWorld.

Erin Pintozzi: 14:06

It's just like this is going to be a lot but also could be super fun. Not the topic of the podcast, but Rick Steve's books about traveling Europe are like a plus. He will teach you everything you need to know about public transit, where to eat the touristy stuff to do like common phrases in the language. So I used his book in Amsterdam a while ago. So just putting it out there if you're looking for recs.

David Hill: 14:31

Rick Steves. I'm going to have to give that a look. That will be helpful. I've been out of the country before, as I said, but it's been a number of years, so I probably could use a refresher on don't be that awful American. I'm sure it'll be great. So I want to circle a little bit back to you and a little bit less towards the RailsConf side of things. So you mentioned a couple of times that you've had students that you've been teaching, that have been scholars and everything. So you work at a bootcamp.

Erin Pintozzi: 15:02

Yes, so I have been teaching at Turing School of Software and Design, based out of Denver, since 2021. It's fully remote now and I'm guessing by the time this airs we will be officially completely closed. We announced our closure mid-April, so I am slash was a teacher. All of my students are people who went through the program. I went through it myself in 2016. We were in person back then. So, yeah, it's been the best job I ever could have asked for. I get to do the tech stuff but also get to meet so many people and interact with them and be their cheerleaders. I send the link for the Scholar and Guide program to them every single conference and like only a handful apply, but it's always really exciting then to see who from the Turing community ends up going to the conferences, because it's like our own little built-in sub community. So, yeah, I've been teaching for a while. It will be a hard gap to fill, I think.

Erin Pintozzi: 15:57

Whatever, comes next because it's like a special kind of role that I think just doesn't really exist anymore, at least not in the exact same way. Right Like bootcamps are closing, left and right, markets are changing and whatnot, and I think it was the right choice for us to be closing, and I'm sad about it despite that being the case.

David Hill: 16:14

So do you have something that's kind of on the horizon for what comes next for you?

Erin Pintozzi: 16:19

Yeah, so I'm being pretty picky about what comes next for now. Truthfully, it's been a very stressful like two of the four years that I worked there have been some combination of worrying about enrollment or finances, so I'm kind of just tired, to be honest. So my plan is, at least for the summer, to just kind of do whatever I want like around the house. I got my first flock of chickens in March. I'm obsessed with them. If anyone wants to talk chickens like, please find me, and so I'm like really looking forward to just being a chicken keeper for the summer.

Erin Pintozzi: 16:55

My oldest kid is going off to kindergarten in the fall, and so then I think a couple months to unwind a little and then start looking as for what I don't know like. The things I really liked about teaching were the coaching and the mentorship and helping people find their aha moments, and so I'm kind of just what is the right blend of technical and people for me, and so it's a little bit of just kind of soul searching. I think as well you can do a lot of thinking when you have chickens pecking at your shoes. I can only imagine chickens pecking at your shoes.

David Hill: 17:24

I can only imagine. I'm not an outdoorsy person and my wife has multiple times said that one of the reasons she married me is because I did not want to go camping or hiking or live on a farm.

Erin Pintozzi: 17:36

Okay, good, well suited.

David Hill: 17:39

I'm one of those people who has no experience with chickens, so I'll have to take your word for it.

Erin Pintozzi: 17:45

For what it's worth. I didn't either until March, and it has been everything I dreamed of in war. I had no idea I could love those little buggers so much. They're solidly my pets, and if they never lay a single egg I'd be okay with it. They're just so funny. But farm animals are not for everybody, and that's okay.

David Hill: 18:01

Wow, I wanted to answer you were expecting when you asked what was next. No, it really wasn't, but that's fine. That's part of what I've enjoyed so much about this podcast is having an opportunity to trick my brain into meeting a new person and getting to know them a little bit, and most of the time that focuses on RailsConf, but sometimes I get these kind of happy little side paths that I can go down and it was like tell me more about this, cause that sounded interesting for a second there, and so, yeah, I would never have chickens, but I'm fascinated by the idea of it now and that you feel such affection for them, cause in my head, chickens have only ever been good for two things. It was like either eat their babies or I eat the other, yeah, and so I'm fascinated by the idea that you've gained such affection for this little flock of pets now.

Erin Pintozzi: 18:53

I was the same like before they arrived, so they were hatched upon arrival because I'm not allowed to have roosters, so I needed to know what I was getting. And I don't know if it's just because I've raised them since they were a day old or what, but they're silly and they have personalities and I feel like everything we hear about chickens is, oh, they're just kind of dumb, they're part of the food and that's totally fine for people for whom that is true and I have learned that I'm not one of those people and that's also okay. But to bring it back to something, the number of app ideas and little script things that I want to write about streamlining my chicken keeping process and reminders and things is just, it grows by the day. Oh, I could build an app for that. So we'll see. I might have a whole suite of chicken apps by the end of the year.

David Hill: 19:36

Chicken on rails yes, great, that's fantastic. I would love to hear about if you ever actually put something together for your chicken keeping. I would love to hear about that.

Erin Pintozzi: 19:47

I will keep you posted Absolutely.

David Hill: 19:49

Awesome. Well, thank you for joining me on the podcast today, Erin. Are there any parting thoughts you'd like to offer about RailsConf before we close?

Erin Pintozzi: 19:58

Well, thank you for having me. I'll start there. It has been a delight to speak with you. Parting thoughts, I guess I'll say I'm excited to be a part of this last one. It's a new city, which on its own is exciting, a new city for me. I'm excited to be a part of all of the talks and the history of Rails and the people that we'll meet. And going back to the advice from earlier, I hope anyone who's listening to this, if it's your first conference, you've got the nerves. It's okay to be uncomfortable and to embrace that and have a lot of fun, because I think this is a really great conference for that. I've been to a handful of others and they did not feel nearly as safe to just sort of be myself and open up, so I'm looking forward to it and I hope everyone else is as well.

David Hill: 20:41

Awesome. Thank you so much, Erin. Thank you.