IndieRails

In this episode, Jess and Jeremy chat with Radan Skorić, a long-time Ruby and Rails developer and team lead, co-organizer Ruby Zagreb, and author of the forthcoming book: Master Hotwire. We talk about Radan’s background in software, his discovery of Rails in the mid-2000s, technical blogging, writing a book, and technical aspects of Hotwire.

Related Links
Radan’s Blog
Radan’s Twitter
Book: Master Hotwire

This week, Jess and Jeremy get into the nitty-gritty of resource allocation for indie makers: how to make the most of your limited time, energy, and capital. As solo and small-team entrepreneurs, we constantly have to make tough calls about where to invest. It's not just about money; it's about what will actually move the needle.

They talk through the realities of running lean: how to balance building, learning, and staying sane along the way. From daily reading habits and favorite podcasts to managing information overload and keeping personal playbooks, they share the unpolished, behind-the-scenes strategies they...

In this episode of IndieRails, co-founders Ben Curtis and Joshua Wood share the origin story of Honeybadger, an application monitoring tool for Ruby on Rails applications (and many others).

They discuss their motivations for starting the company, the challenges they faced in the early days. The conversation also covers their approach to product development, marketing, pricing strategies, expanding into new markets and the lessons learned from their journey.

Honeybadger

Ben Curtis
Mastodon
Bluesky
LinkedIn

Josh Wood
Mastodon
Bluesky
LinkedIn

Our guest for this episode is Garrett Dimon. Garrett is a developer, author, conference speaker and multi time business owner. With some partners, he’s recently formed a company called “Very Good Software” where they own and operate several SaaS apps.
 
Garrett Dimon is a seasoned software developer and entrepreneur with a passion for front-end development and Ruby on Rails. His journey began in 1998, experimenting with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before earning a Computer Science degree from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000. Over the next eight years, he honed his skills in front-end development and informa...

Our first-ever IndieRails guest returns to the podcast just shy of two years later. Joe Masilotti shares about niching down on Hotwire Native, changes in the related open source libraries, the direction of his consulting work, his parental leave last year, and the process of writing his forthcoming book, Hotwire Native for Rails Developers. (Special discount for listeners in the episode!)

Related Links
Twitter
Bluesky
Website
Hotwire Native for Rails Developers
Pragmatic Bookshelf page
Hotwire Native docs
Rails World 2023 Talk: Just enough Turbo Native to be dangerous

In this episode, Jeremy & I are excited to share a mic with Jim Remsik. Jim is the Founder and CEO of a digital agency called Flagrant. He is also a conference organizer…he created and hosts the popular Madison + Ruby conference. Jim has held many roles:  MC, speaker, developer, CEO, conference organizer, writer and many more, but I imagine most people know him as someone who is an all around awesome human.

Jim Remsik shares his journey through the tech industry, from his early days in software development to his transition from government work to agency life. He...

Jess and Jeremy kick off the first recording of 2025 with a recap of 2024, and a look at their plans and goals for the new year. We chat about the importance of celebrating milestones, time management, financial planning, scaling development with business growth, and the cycles of sowing and reaping in our work.

Paul Campbell is a Rails developer (since v0.13), conference organizer, and the CEO and co-founder of Team Tito. Paul joins us to talk about his career building software, companies, and events. We chat about Paul's journey into programming, the risks and rewards of running conferences, finding his co-founder, and the opportunities that led to building Tito, Vito, and most recently, IO.

Relevant Links
Paul on BlueSky
Team Tito
Tito: event registration
Vito: online communities
IO: bespoke RSVPs

In this episode, we are joined by Barry Hess, James Adam, and Matthew Lettini from the Good Enough team to discuss their journey in creating a self-sustaining business built around meaningful, user-focused software. We explore the inception of their company and their latest product, Jelly—a shared inbox for teams. We dive into their experimental approach to business, their year of experimentation known internally as "Cosmic Maelstrom," the rollout of other products like their blogging software, Pika, and the decision to offer free tools. The team shares their insights into maintaining a human touch in customer support, navigating marketing ch...

In this episode, we're excited to introduce our guest, Becky Searls. We recently met Becky at Rails World and learned about her business, Better with Becky—a fitness training program focused on people with a growth mindset. Over the past year, she worked with her husband Justin to build her first product, Build with Becky, a personalized workout program and fitness app built in Rails, which launched publicly during the conference! We chat with Becky about her professional journey starting as a K-12 educator, becoming a fitness instructor, building her own business, and now moving into the product owner ro...

In this episode, Jess and Jeremy chat about leveling up professionally, the importance of community and personal growth, and the challenges of starting new things. Jess shares several things that have inspired him recently, and Jeremy gives an update on Liminal and shares some ideas he has around discoverability challenges in the Rails ecosystem.

Referenced

In this episode, Justin Searls (open source author, speaker, and co-founder of Test Double) joins us in-person at Rails World to talk about his career, speaking, consulting, the One Person Framework, and building a web application for his wife's fitness business, Better with Becky.

Follow Justin
Website
Twitter
Mastodon
LinkedIn

Relevant Links
The Empowered Programmer talk
Test Double
Breaking Change podcast
Fred Brooks
RubyKaigi
The One Person Framework

On Day 2 of Rails World, Jess and Jeremy join with Drew Bragg of Code and the Coding Coders Who Code It and Adrian Marin and Yaro Shmarov  of the Friendly Show to chat about the conference. Enjoy!

In this crossover episode, Jeremy and Jess join up with Chris & Jason from Remote Ruby podcast to discuss Ruby programming, indie development, and the challenges of building and maintaining software as solo developers. We dive into the origins of Indie Rails, share our individual career journeys, and explore Jeremy's project, Liminal, which aims to replace traditional forums and Slack with a more modern solution. The group reflects on the frustrations with current platforms, their experiences with indie development, and the importance of marketing alongside coding. They also compare Rails and Laravel, talk about the "one-person framework" concept, and the...

Justin Duke is the founder of Buttondown, an email platform with first-class Markdown support. Justin is also a partner at Third South Capital, where he and his partners buy and grow existing software products. We chat about his background in marketing and software development, bootstrapping Buttondown while working at Stripe, the Buttondown tech stack (Django, a cousin of Rails and Vue), and his latest endeavors with Third South.

Justin
Website
Twitter

Buttondown
Website
Twitter
Changelog
Stack
Open Source

Third South Capital
Website
Twitter

Landon Gray is a Rubyist, speaker, strategic advisor, and AI engineer. In May, he left Test Double to found Identus Consulting, where he helps companies with generative AI and machine learning. We chat about his love for consulting, how he got into AI, and how he's working with clients these days, using a blend of technical and project management skills.

Follow Landon
Twitter
LinkedIn
Ruby AI Twitter
Identus Consulting
Curious Centroid
Forecasting the future: Intro to Machine Learning for weather prediction in Native Ruby

Relevant Links
Test Double<...

Our guest will be no stranger to most of our listeners. He’s been around the Ruby community for many years. He’s spoken at conferences, hosted conferences, hosts a "pretty good" podcast, author of courses, a staff engineer at Podia and more recently the co-founder of a successful SaaS: Job Boardly. Enjoy the show with Jason Charnes!

Related Links
Personal Website

X

Job Boardly
Podia
Remote Ruby

In this episode, we are thrilled to host Nate Berkopec, a renowned author, speaker, trainer, and consultant. Nate runs Speedshop, his Rails performance consultancy, and is the author of "The Complete Guide to Rails Performance." He also maintains Puma, the most popular Ruby web server, and somehow finds time to be an avid cyclist. Nate's journey from a junior Rails developer to a leading performance expert is nothing short of inspiring. Join us as we dive into his story, insights, and expertise.

Links:

In this episode, Jeremy shares his latest product idea (Liminal, a fresh take on old-school forums) with Jess and gets his raw, unfiltered feedback. At the end, Jeremy makes a commitment to Jess to launch an MVP by November 1.

Jess and Jeremy catch up in this one-on-one episode after a short summer break. We cover a number of topics, including our latest seasons of work, reading the book Million Dollar Consulting, our mastermind group, and some realizations looking back over the last year.

In this episode, Jeremy and Jess are joined by two of the cofounders of JetRockets, a custom software development agency with a specialty in Rails. Natalie Kaminski (CEO) and Igor Alexandrov (CTO) share how the company started and how it's grown over the past 12 years. We discuss how and why they use Rails, how they hire developers, their approach to management, and the importance of strong organizational values.

Natalie Kaminski

CEO / Co-Founder

LinkedIn

Igor Alexandrov

CTO / Co-Founder

Website

LinkedIn

HackerNoon

Twitter<...

Andrew Atkinson is a Rails developer, turned Postgres specialist, turned author and consultant. He joins us to talk about his developer journey, how he found his niche with Postgres, writing his new book, High Performance PostgreSQL for Rails, and the launch of his consulting practice.

Relevant Links

Other Shoutouts

In this episode, Jeremy and Jess get a chance to connect with Tom Rossi, the cofounder of Higher Pixels. Tom's story is an inspiring one for developers wanting to build products. He and his team have been successful creating a handful of SaaS products. Tom has been instrumental in creating Buzzsprout, their flagship podcast hosting platform that's helping thousands of podcasters share their stories with the world. Not only are Tom & Co pioneers in digital products, but they are also a committed sponsor of Ruby & Rails conferences, actively supporting and nurturing the community. Join us as we dive into...

In this episode, Jeremy & Jess dive into the world of partnerships and collaboration, a terrain that's become familiar to indie developers seeking growth and innovation. We explore the ins and outs of partnering with others, sharing insights from our experiences over the past year. From initiating low-stakes collaborations to finding the right projects with potential partners, we unpack strategies and ideas to build successful alliances in the indie development space.

Today, we're joined by two remarkable individuals, Ben Wood and Nate Vick, seasoned entrepreneurs with over a decade of experience running a Rails consulting business with many successes: Hint

In this episode, Ben and Nate share their unique journey, from the highs of entrepreneurship to the tough decision of winding down their business. Despite this challenging transition, their passion for innovation hasn't waned. They're now embarking on new careers while also nurturing a budding software product, Selective, in their spare time.

Join us as we explore the realities of business, the resilience required to adapt...

Cody Norman is a Rails consultant, fly fisherman, BBQ connoisseur, and big fan of the state of Colorado. He joins us to share about getting into software development, his journey to consulting, and his mentorship work. We also chat about his product Spot Squid, his plans for Rawhide Ruby, and his upcoming RailsConf talk on Action Mailbox: Attraction Mailbox - Why I love Action Mailbox. Cody also shared post-show that he's developing a course on Action Mailbox!

Website
Twitter
Spot Squid
Rawhide Ruby
Action Mailbox Pro course

Related Links
Agency...

In this episode of IndieRails, we delve into the world of productized services in software development. Moving beyond the traditional model of bespoke or custom solutions, productized services offer a blend of consistency, scalability, and efficiency, reshaping how businesses approach service offerings.

We were prompted to look into this topic by a question from Pascal, who coincidentally just launched his React To Hotwire Migration Service offering.

In episode, we aim to explore the journey from concept to market, the strategic advantages of adopting a productized model, and the challenges developers face in this transition. Join...

Andy Croll is a Rubyist, author, and speaker. He's the CTO of CoverageBook, creator of the First Ruby Friend mentoring program, organizer of Brighton Ruby, and this year is co-chair of RailsConf. In short, he's a bit busy. In our conversation, we dive into his work at CoverageBook, discuss the hiring, onboarding, and mentoring of early career devs, and talk Ruby conferences (and why you should go).

Relevant Links
Twitter
Website
Why go to a Ruby or Rails conference?
One Ruby Thing
First Ruby Friend
Brighton Ruby
RailsConf
CoverageBook<...

In this episode we get the chance to interview Ben Orenstein: A person who probably doesn't need much of an introduction to our listeners. This episode should be special. Ben's journey from developer to entrepreneur exemplifies the path many in our audience aspire to tread. With a keen eye for opportunities and a deep understanding of the software industry's nuances, Ben's insights are invaluable for anyone looking to leverage their technical skills beyond the keyboard. Join us as we discuss strategies, challenges, and the mindset required to thrive in the competitive landscape of tech entrepreneurship.

Links:
...

In this episode, we chat with Jess's friend and fellow Georgian, Matt D. Smith. While developers may not be too familiar, Matt is widely known and well respected in the interface design community. He ran an independent design studio for many years, eventually transitioning to building products and courses. Matt is currently focused on Shift Nudge, the premiere online learning experience for designing beautiful & functional interfaces.

Matt shares with us his story of moving from client work to products, and growing an online presence. The parallels to indie development are striking, with many takeaways for those trying...

In this episode we catch up with an old friend, Allan Branch. Allan and his partner Steve were early adopters of rails and made a big splash in the tech community with their company LessEverything. They put on many conferences (LessConf), workshops, offered consulting services, created and sold a SaaS, displayed silly/witty marketing and shared a ton of what they've learned through social and open source projects, blogs and more.

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Allan has taken concepts from his dad's car wash businesses (the "Jason Fried of car washes") applied them to...

Jason Swett is well-known in the Rails community for his podcast, Code with Jason, and his book, The Complete Guide to Rails Testing. Jason joins us to talk about his recent transition back into consulting after working for companies for the past few years. He shares about various projects he's been working on, building his personal brand, and his newest coaching service.

Jason is also hosting the 2nd iteration of Sin City Ruby at the Tropicana Las Vegas! Get your ticket and come meet Jason, Jeremy, Jess and a host of other Ruby friends!

Links:<...

In this episode, we dive into the multifaceted world of technology, creativity, and storytelling. We have the honor of hosting Ayush Newatia, a seasoned Ruby developer whose expertise extends beyond the intricacies of code. Ayush is not just a maestro in programming; he is an independent developer at radioactivetoy.tech, a creator of SaaS apps like Scattergun, on the Core Team of Bridgetown, podcaster at Just a Spec and he's also the accomplished author of the The Rails and Hotwire Codex.

Join us as we flip through the pages of his coding journey!

Relevant Links:<...

Get ready for an insightful conversation as we sit down with the dynamic Adrian Marin, who has had an extraordinary year making waves in the Ruby world. From taking Avo, his custom Content Management System for Rails, to the next level, to the launching of Friendly.rb, a fresh and vibrant Ruby conference in the heart of Bucharest, Romania.

Adrian doesn't stop there; he's been on a whirlwind journey, embracing the global Ruby community by attending conferences far and wide. Join us as we delve into the intricacies of developing Avo, the inspiration behind launching Friendly.rb...

Jess and Jeremy discuss an excellent question posed by Nate Vick: What are you looking for in a new client? 

Whether you're looking for a new client, new target market for your product, or a new job, identifying the people you will be serving (or want to be serving) is a critical step to finding success and happiness in business. 

Join us as we contemplate and examine Nate's question in our own businesses. Hopefully it will get you thinking about your own!

John Nunemaker is a long-time Rails developer known for his writing on the RailsTips blog, his open source gems like HTTParty and Flipper, and his work at Ordered List, GitHub, and now Box Out Sports and Fewer & Faster. He joins us to share about his developer journey, the origins of the Flipper gem, and the creation of Flipper Cloud.

Relevant Links
Website
Twitter
GitHub
Box Out Sports
Flipper Cloud
Fewer & Faster
Speaker Deck
RailsTips
Flipper
HTTParty

Bram Jetten joins us for a special episode, recorded on the second day of Rails World 2023. (BIG thanks to Buzz Sprout for sponsoring and making this happen!) Bram is a maker of many things, but his two main focuses are an open source project Spina CMS, and the SaaS business he helped found and build called PlanGo: software for driving schools.

Links:

https://bramjetten.dev/
Twitter

Projects:

Spina Pro (currently developing) A pro version of Spina CMS

Spina CMS An open source Rails CMS

Spina...

Greg Molnar joins us for a special episode, recorded on the first day of Rails World 2023. Greg is an OSCP Certified Ethical Hacker and an independent Ruby developer. We talk about his consulting work, his Rails Tricks newsletter, his newsletter product Pombo Mailer, and his new book Secure code review for Rails Developers.

Relevant Links
Twitter
Website
Rails Tricks
Pombo Mailer
Secure code review for Rails Developers

Jeremy just recently gave a talk at friendly.rb titled "Making it as an Indie Developer". Part of the talk was about managing yourself and we wanted to do a deeper dive into that topic. As an indie developer (or could be applied to other categories like business owners or founders) , how do you manage the business, your career, motivation, goals, health, pipeline, workflow, etc??

They don't have all the answers, but Jeremy and Jess bring their nearly 30 combined years of experience to share how they make it as indie developers. 

Robby Russell is founder and CEO of Planet Argon, one of the oldest Rails development agencies, now in it's 21st year. Robby shares how he got started in Rails and how he grew Planet Argon to the organization it is today.

Some listeners might remember him as "Robby on Rails" from the early Rails era; Robby is also the creator of the popular dev tool, Oh My Zsh. In addition to these, Robby hosts the Maintainable Software Podcast, where he speaks with seasoned practitioners and shares valuable insights into navigating legacy code and technical debt. His passion...