TLDR: Sign up for free mentoring from a local programmer (or just show up).

Are you ready for some hard truth? Not hard to you, but hard to me, anyway? Ok, here it is: I am a fraud. I am not a great developer. I don’t know if I’m even a very good developer. I Google like a fiend to find the answers to questions (easy questions, jQuery questions [gasp]). I need to have people explain how we are going to get configuration management working with Drupal 8 again and again and again. I write it on the whiteboard with arrows and boxes. I scratch out all the parts I get wrong. It’s not something I’m proud of.

But I am a relentless self-improver. I try very hard, which keeps me very humble. I’m constantly trying to learn more about software and technology both work-related and not. But even with all the many, many things I don’t know, I do know talking out issues makes a huge difference when it comes to software development or even just working with software. Programmers call it “rubber ducking,” which is the phenomenon where talking about a problem to someone else helps you figure out the solution.

A few months ago, I learned from Hacker News about a project to make rubber ducking available to anybody at no cost. It’s called “Ask a Dev.” Funnily enough, despite my knowing so little, I find that my little is someone else’s a lot, which means that at work, home, or in the community, I am able to share what I’ve learned on occasion, and it really “fills my bucket.” So I reached out to the organizers to get it started in Omaha. They graciously plugged me in, so we are a go.

Starting in May, we’ll be hosting our own “Ask a Dev Omaha.” If you are stuck, want to rubber duck, and need to debug while not spending a buck (at least on the help), come by Urban Abbey, one of my favorite coffee shop/bookstores ever.

Ask a Dev Omaha
Sunday, May 6, 1 – 4 pm
Urban Abbey (1026 Jackson Street, Omaha, NE)
Free mentoring from local programmers

Also, we have one planned on June 10, 1 – 4 pm, too.