One of the most powerful talks delivered at RubyFringe is now available online: Damien Katz: CouchDB and Me
This was one of those “soft” talks that really made RubyFringe special. Damien got up on stage and bared his soul about what it means to drop everything and work on your dreams when you have a family depending on you. As a husband and father it hit very close to home. I want to be working on cutting-edge technologies – that’s why I moved out of the defense contracting industry and into coding Ruby for a living. But at the same time, I can’t just drop out, surf couches, and code on The Next Big Thing 12 hours a day. Every career decision I make affects four other people profoundly. Coming from this point of view, it was inspirational to hear someone speak honestly and from the heart about wrestling with the same issues. Highly recommended.