I arrived in Floyd, Virginia, after driving from Cleveland, Ohio, through beautiful West Virginia.
Floyd is full of friendly people. Some might call them hippies. I think they're awesome. At the top floor of the tallest building in Floyd is Entryway, a world-class software development shop run by Gustin Prudner. Although this building is just 3 floors high, the atmosphere and excellence that exudes from this place might as well be the 26th floor of the Bank of America building in Chicago's West Loop where the elite hackers of DRW hang out. I was inspired.
Their developers weren't available for pairing this afternoon, so I caught up on email, and then had a brief conversation with Jonathan Greenberg (here's one that Corey recorded) during which he suggested I look at RMU. What's RMU? I spent the afternoon answering that question. I can now tell you RMU is the Ruby Mendicant University. The success stories I've heard so far are compelling and I am encouraged. Ever since Corey started talking to me about some sort of educational program that could handle people less experienced than Obtiva's apprenticeship program, I've been thinking and plotting about how to make it happen. My initial impression is that Gregory Brown may have already made a lot of progress toward what Corey and I were hoping for. Time, conversations, and more research, will tell.
Tomorrow I'll be pairing with the Entryway developers for most of the day, which should be a great experience.
