Self-Care on Rails

In the talk titled "Self-Care on Rails," delivered by Ben Greenberg at EMEA on Rails 2021, he reflects on the challenges faced during the pandemic and shares how Ruby on Rails played a pivotal role in improving the quality of life for him and his family. The presentation emphasizes the importance of self-care and the need for developers to create tools that support both their well-being and that of others.

Key Points Discussed:

- Role of Technology in Self-Care: Ben highlights how developers can use their skills for good amidst difficult times, focusing on utilizing Ruby on Rails to create significant life enhancements.

- Community and Ethical Responsibility: The Ruby community is filled with initiatives aimed at doing good through code, along with the notion that those with privilege, especially in programming, have an ethical responsibility to make society better.

- Personal Reflection on Self-Care: The speaker shares personal struggles from the pandemic year, noting how mental health issues surged, especially among the youth, and underscores the importance of self-interest and taking care of oneself amidst community responsibilities.

- Real-Life Applications: Ben illustrates how he addressed his children’s needs during the pandemic by creating applications:

- Virtual Birthday Parties: He built a Ruby on Rails application utilizing WebRTC technology for his son’s birthday party, allowing kids to connect and celebrate virtually by sharing videos and having real-time conversations. This helped alleviate feelings of isolation during lockdowns.

- Automating Health Declarations: Ben developed a Ruby gem called 'School Declare' to simplify the daily task of submitting health declarations required by schools, thus streamlining a burdensome daily obligation into a manageable automated process.

- Conclusions and Takeaways: The talk concludes with a significant message about giving oneself permission to seek ease and reduce stress, reinforcing that self-care is not selfish but essential. Ben encourages developers to remember that personal priorities matter and to create solutions that prioritize mental well-being.

Overall, this engaging talk serves as an encouraging call to action for developers to integrate self-care into their coding practices and to utilize their skills for improving lives in meaningful ways.

Self-Care on Rails
Ben Greenberg • online • Talk

Date: October 21, 2021
Published: unknown
Announced: unknown

This past year has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory. The pandemic has taken a toll, including on children.

Adults used their professional skills to help make the year a little better for the kids in our lives: Therapists counseled, entertainers delighted, teachers educated... and Rails developers developed!

In this talk, I'll share the apps I built on Rails that helped my kids and me cope, celebrate and persevere through the year.

In 2020, tech was pivotal in keeping us going, and for my kids, Rails made the year a little more manageable.

This talk was delivered at EMEA on Rails, a virtual mega-meetup which took place on June 9, 2021.

EMEA on Rails 2021