how to prepare for a Ruby interview in just one weekend [closed]

Question

I'm a seasoned web developer but only have a modicum of Ruby/Rails experience. I just got an interview Monday at a Ruby shop, they do realize I don't have much Ruby experience. Besides 2 or 3 Ruby books I have lying around, what other resources might I avail myself of for a weekend crash course in Ruby. I do have a bare minimum account on hostingrails by the way though I've never used it.

I don't see any other exact duplicates of this searching for "ruby interview". I did find what Ruby knowledge should I have? but I'm not sure that that's not overkill or too much for one weekend.

Answer 1

You have no time. If you flop around reading potentially outdated blog posts you're just going to get confused and make no real progress. The Pickaxe book is too broad to really push your knowledge in a short time.

If you only have a couple of days, I'd suggest reading the first five chapters of Metaprogramming Ruby. It's not as intimidating as it sounds, and it will get you up to speed on the things that make Ruby very different from languages you may have used before. The first five chapters would be enough to give you a solid base. You can cover them in a weekend.

If you have time after doing that I'd suggest reading up on RSpec or whatever testing setup your potential employer uses. The RSpec book is a good resource to learn how a Ruby/Rails shop is likely to work.

Others have suggested Agile Web Development with Rails. I wouldn't bother "reading" it at this point. Run through the tutorial if you have time to get an understanding of the Rails vocabulary. Wait to digest the book fully until later.