RailsConf 2023 and the FastRuby.io Rails upgrade workshop

As always, RailsConf was a great experience this year. For the fourth time, we gave the FastRuby.io Rails Upgrade Workshop. It was actually my 2nd time participating in running the workshop, and my co-worker, Fiona’s 1st time.

Each time we run the workshop, we like to bring in a new co-presenter, so different members of our team can have the opportunity to present at RailsConf.

Even though we’ve presented this workshop several times, we aim to always keep the content fresh and up to date. We also strive to identify pain points each time, so we can continuously improve the quality of the learning experience.

Fiona and I worked for dozens of hours preparing the workshop and practicing the steps, so we could anticipate any issues the workshop attendees might encounter. For this workshop, we upgraded the open source Refuge Restrooms project opens a new window from Rails 6.1 to 7.0.

Finding the right project for the workshop is a challenge - we want it to have some interesting problems, so participants can take on some real-life issues, but we also want to finish within the 2 hour time frame of the workshop, so they can learn the phases of the upgrade process from start to finish.

Refuge Restrooms fit the bill perfectly. In addition to providing an overview of our dual boot strategy for upgrades opens a new window , we addressed a deprecation warning, identified and updated an incompatible gem, provided an overview of the Zeitwerk class autoloader in Rails 7, and identified and resolved an issue for Zeitwerk compatibility. We had a full room for the workshop and the attendees had many really good questions.

Here are some resources from the workshop you can explore:

• A concise step-by-step breakdown of the upgrade process we followed is available in the companion page for the workshop opens a new window .

• Our slides opens a new window provide a deeper dive into each of the steps. They also explain the reasoning behind our dual boot approach, and things to consider after an upgrade is done.

• Although the in-person workshops at RailsConf are not recorded, you can see the recording of our virtual workshop from RailsConf2021 opens a new window

Our co-worker, Rishi Jain, also gave an excellent talk at RailsConf: Rails Performance Monitoring 101: A Primer for Junior Developers opens a new window . He provided both depth and breadth in presenting the many different things that can cause slow performance in your Rails app, and what to do about them.

I previously wrote about why you should be a Scholar or Guide at RailsConf opens a new window . Scholars are first time attendees who receive financial support to attend RailsConf, and Guides help them get the most out of the conference. Although I didn’t serve as a Guide this time, for me it was still exciting to see so many first time attendees making professional connections, learning a lot, and enjoying the conference!

Thank you all for participating in the Rails upgrades workshop!

If you have any questions or feedback feel free to connect with us in the hallway track or on Twitter with @Fiona4661 opens a new window and @mtoppa opens a new window #UpgradeRails opens a new window #RailsConf opens a new window #RailsConf2023 opens a new window pic.twitter.com/AUbUJ0a26C opens a new window

— FastRuby.io | Rails Upgrade Services (@fastrubyio) April 24, 2023 opens a new window

Can confirm this talk is amazing! https://t.co/7wPcRxhsLK opens a new window

— Delaney Fogarty (@FogartyDelaney) April 25, 2023 opens a new window

Thank you, Rails community, the most supportive community in the world ❤️‍🔥. That was my first RailsConf, and my head is still spinning and my heart is about to explode. #railsconf opens a new window pic.twitter.com/n1QoMbXOFN opens a new window

— Irina Nazarova (@inazarova) April 27, 2023 opens a new window

Recently FastRuby.io started offering a new service; Fixed-cost, Monthly Maintenance Services opens a new window . If your company needs help staying on top of tech debt or helping with an upgrade feel free to contact us opens a new window .