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Destiny Aigbe
Destiny Aigbe

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How to Learn Ruby on Rails in 2021

Hello there, this is my first blog and it is a step by step guide to learn ruby on rails in 2021. Hop on and enjoy the ride. I am going to list it out level by level with references too. Also note that before you start learning rails, it is always advisable and good to learn ruby first. So I am going to give you both. But before then, I want to give you some tips

  1. Get a mentor. I think this is the most important tip. Before you start, I strongly recommend looking for a mentor in places like codementor, etc. Being thought rails by a mentor is easier than self-thought. What's the need of searching on google and stack overflow for 4 hours, when you can ask your mentor in 5 minutes. Also, you are reading one of the e-books and you see a term you don’t understand, you can ask your mentor what it means and you will get a thorough explanation of it. Getting a mentor will really help you on your learning journey and will make it easier and faster to learn.

  2. Also, try group learning. It is a very good way to learn cause you know you are learning with other people. It can be used as an alternative if you can’t find a mentor. You can also do it if you have a mentor.

  3. I also don’t recommend Michael Hartl’s book for beginners, it may spin your head a little. But if you know more will be super awesome for intermediate level.

  4. Also join the ruby on rails slack link where you can see other ruby on rails devs and ask questions when you are stuck. You can also find opportunities there and get to know people.

  5. If you are a beginner to coding, make google and stack overflow your friends, cause you can get stuck anytime and might need help badly. Even the most experienced developers go there. Don’t be scared to ask for help when stuck.

  6. Join #100DaysOfCode. This is one of the best ways to hold yourself accountable for what you are doing and also share with people your daily progress, what you learnt, challenges faced etc.

  7. Commitment. Try as much as possible to be committed to learning and make learning a habit and make it what you love. Put about 3-6 hours every day (normally), but if for a reason you are not able to meet that time frame, no problem at all. You can do about an hour or none if you have pressing issues. Be committed, but make sure you adhere to tip number 8.

  8. Don’t overwork. As you are learning, don’t overstress yourself. Once in a while, read a book not anything programming related. It will give you ideas. You should play a video game, do fun stuff. All work and no play can make your brain slower. Also, don’t let learning be a barrier to doing other things (over-commitment)

  9. Time Management. I advice you should do a maximum of 8 hours a day. Under no circumstance should it be more than that so as to increase productivity and make you enjoy it.

  10. Share what you learn. This is exactly what I’m doing know and it is amazing. I urge whoever is reading this to share what they learn as they learn.

Okay, those are all the tips and now, let’s go in to the main business of the day. Here are the steps to learn ruby and ruby on rails …

All Levels (Beginner To Professional)

Youtube: You can find ruby and ruby on rails courses for all levels here.
Web-Crunch’s Let’s Build with Rails: This is an all level rails series, because they have over 20 web apps built in rails and 91 episodes ranked in order of difficulty from the easy ones to the crazy ones. So you can get almost everything here.
Udemy: You can find mostly paid ruby on rails courses here and few free ones for all levels. There are some all in one courses from beginner to professional , while some are separated.
Step 1 (Beginner)
Ruby
Learn to program With Ruby: This is a very good place to start with and it’s free.
Codecademy: Codecademy is a good place for novices to ruby. It is also a good place to start with and also free.
The Odin Project Ruby Course: This is a free ruby course
The Pragmatic Studio Course: This is a paid ruby course, but it’s definitely worth it.

Html and Css

Before you start learning ruby on rails, learn html and css on these sites:
FreecodeCamp: It is a great place to learn html and css.
• Lynda
• Coursera
• Udemy(udemy.com) and lots more. They are all free.

Ruby on Rails

Codecademy: Their paid ruby on rails course is totally worth it.
The Pragmatic Studio Rails Course: They also have their ruby on rails course.
The Odin Project Rails Course: This is an amazing course for ruby on rails beginners.
The Lynda Rails Course: They use mysql database which might be confusing.vcvc

Step 2 (Intermediate)

Now, it’s time to dive deeper into ruby and ruby on rails

Ruby

Learn ruby the hard way: This is a paid ruby e-book. You can get it on amazon and it’s one of the best e-books

Ruby on Rails

Michael Hartl’s Rails Tutorial: This is one of the best paid ruby e-books, and it’s definitely worth it. It has so many good reviews.
And you will find more intermediate tutorials in the All Levels Section.

Step 3 (Professional)

Entering god mode…

Ruby

Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: Learn the basics of Object-Orinted Programming with Ruby and begin to understand how to solve complex probles, build large applications and write smart maintainable code.
Eloquent Ruby: You will learn the ruby way of thinking and solving and develop a more complete understanding of ruby
Metaprogramming Ruby

Ruby on Rails

The thing in becoming a master is by current practice. If you are able to put in at least 4 hours a day, and finished all the resources above, you will be a pro in 3-4 months (based on your commitment and seriousness).

Conclusion

So that is it guys, the guide to learn ruby and rails from beginner to mastery with some bonus tips. Hope you enjoyed it. If yes, please share cause you don’t know who might be in need of it badly. So, remember that during your learning journey, don’t be scared to ask questions and share what you learnt.
Bye, see you in my next post.
For any thoughts or anything missing , please post in the discussions. Thank you.

Top comments (1)

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Asaju Enitan

Found your blog when trying to see if Ruby is worth learning in 2021. I am now more encouraged to learn it. A question please, can you share your Ruby IDE set up?