We are getting quite a lot of encouraging news already, even though we are only in the first stages of things.

First off was our experience with Wirsing. I’ve mentioned it before, but at the last Vienna.rb myself and Pilar got up to ask the other rubyists present if anyone would be interested in coaching us. Clemens from Wirsing was kind enough to offer, so we emailed with him the following day. Not only was he enthusiastic to coach us, but so were the other members of Wirsing! They have offered to be a coaching company for us in every aspect other than providing desks - this being that they work out of a co-working space here in Vienna. Fortunately for us, we have been offered desks in a different co-working space, so this works out quite well! Wirsing only work on projects that they love, and this is often with a focus on environmental or sociological issues. Their company tagline is “Software for a better future” which really is a great starting point to have.

We have been in contact with Jan Lehnardt, the mentor for the Hoodie project in rgsoc. A lot of things in my life happen due to fortuitous timing. At concat, I sat beside a fellow with a rather impressive beard. I was introduced to him and we briefly spoke, and then a few minutes later he got an email confirming Hoodie for RGSoC. I told him about myself and Pilar’s upcoming application and asked him all about the project, what it entails, and whether it is suitable for beginners. If I hadn’t been siting next to him at that moment I might not have ended up speaking to him about RGSoC at all. I was lucky enough to meet several other people from Hoodie that day too, they’re all really great people and I love the ethos of the company. They give a detailed explanation on their about page but the basic gist could be summarised in this particular paragraph;

The reason why Hoodie exists is that everyone involved in this project wants to help make the web a better place for everyone, and everyone of us is convinced that web development should be accessible to as many people as possible.

They have a big focus on diversity and inclusiveness, something that is so important, but not always a given.

All in all, we have quite a lot of great things going our way already. I really hope this streak continues and that we get accepted for RGSoC. It really would be wonderful to work with so many enthusiastic, intelligent, and lovely people!

Shelly