There is one thing I can assure you: Don’t mix too much sugar and an Owning Rails master class. You might experience side effects like brain numbness, a mayor headache (a good one that is) or spend a night deprived of sleep thinking how are you going to use your lately acquired super powers.
About my background
I’ve worked on Web development and Business Intelligence for the past 5 years. Most of the coding I do is written in PHP, javascript and SQL. I started using frameworks about 2 years ago and though Rails is my framework of choice, I still use other flavors more often for customers who aren’t ready to enjoy the sweet ride on Rails yet.
What was I expecting from the class?
Most of what I wanted was to get a better idea of how Rails works. I’m positive that if you understand things to its core, you have a better chance on using them the right way and increasing your productivity. Marc was very good at explaining this by showing us how to develop a mini framework that models RoR on the first day of his class.
How was the experience?
Marc provided us with a cheatsheet, some pdf’s with his presentation, videos of the actual class we saw live and a super special gift (a copy of his book). All of the material was very well prepared and accurate. His explanations very professional and his coding top notch. He would kindly resolve all of our questions and never rushed anything in the class. We had to put in practice everything we learned and got to see him solve all of these problems line by line.
Why I think the class worked for me?
It simply defied me. I think there is no better class than one that forces you to think. Even though all of the exercises were very simple, they all forced me to think on how to improve my programming. There were also very good tips and most important my expectations were met.
What I liked the most about the experience
One particular reason that made this class very exciting for me is that I see programming the same way I see playing an instrument. You enjoy it the most when you get to jam with other players that are better than you. When you see another player/programmer do something pretty cool, you get inspired and if you loose yourself enough you get to go with the flow and do some pretty neat things yourself.
Conclusion
If you want to perform better and increase your Rails productivity I definitely recommend Owning Rails by Marc-André Cournoyer, can’t wait to repeat the experience!