Learning Resources for Ruby on Rails

I have spent some time finding and taking nearly every Ruby on Rails tutorial I could find. Every time I go through one of the tutorials my skills get a little better and the basics get drilled in. I also gain some insight into a new aspect of Ruby or Rails, or some background piece that that particular instructor thought was important. So here are some of my thoughts and experiences with a few of the shinning gems I have found online.

Upcase

The guys at Thoughtbot are some of the most respected individuals in the Rails community and have gathered together a tremendous resource here. They have brought their workshops online and to the masses. I have just begun to delve into all the material here. Straight out of the gate these courses hit the ground running. You start off with trail maps which are simple checks lists, and additional resources that will help you learn each of the checkable skills. Not all of the resources are Thoughtbot’s, so you get exposure to additional books and materials to help your learning. The trail maps give you a good idea of where you should focus your time, once you check off all of the subjects you know and are comfortable with you can dive into the material. I found this immensely useful since it is not always clear what you don’t know or should know, but the trail maps give you a clear cut path of “you should know this”. The plans start off at around the same as other online learning resources, however the $99 workshop plan is well worth it. The intro to Rails workshop provides the deepest dive into how ruby works, and how that is combined with Rails. It really provides a great understanding of the underlying technology. I love what the guys have done at Thoughtbot have produced. If you need to level up your ruby skills, beginner, intermediate, or advanced this course suite provides something for everyone.

One Month

This is a fun course to say the least, every minute of Mattan showing you how to build a Rails app was fun. I really liked this, it’s a broad general introduction to Ruby on Rails that leaves you wanting more. I highly recommend it to any beginner and anyone who may be new to web development in general. The guys at one month have done a great job at providing a course that even my least technically inclined friend could follow. If you are looking for a gentle course that will get your feet wet, and wont seem like you are being baptized by fire, this is the course for you. I cannot say enough good things about these guys. They were the first Rails course I took that made me get it. They made me fall in love with Rails and pursue it as much as I have.

Michael Hartl- Rails Tutorial

Ok Ok, I know any Rails tutorial review could not be complete with out mentioning Micheal Hartl and his book/screencasts. This is the defacto Rails guide. I went through this book and found the material to be very well thought out, and very concise. Micheal gives you an overall picture of how Rails works and a more in depth walk through than OneMonthRails. Micheal covers topics like Git, branching and working, TDD, SASS, and provides you with a comprehensive walkthrough on Rails development practices. A definitive must read/watch for any starting Rails dev. The $149 package includes all versions of the book, so if you need to learn rails 4.0, 3.2, 3.0, or even 2.3 this package has something for everyone. After you finish with this tutorial I highly recommend you check out Upcase