In this episode of the Ruby Gems Podcast, hosts David Hill and Marty Haught sit down with Evan Phoenix, a notable figure in the Ruby community. They discuss Evan's contributions in the Ruby space, including the development of Rubinius and Puma, his role in solving scalability issues for Rails developers, and his tenure on the Ruby Central Board since 2011. The conversation also delves into Evan's journey with Ruby and his fascination with how things work. Additionally, Evan shares insights on the importance of maintainership in open source projects, the evolution of Ruby Central, and the impact of the pandemic on the community and conferences. Evan wraps up with his current ventures and thoughts on the future of tech and AI in coding.

• Rubinius repo
• Puma
• benchmark-ips

In this inaugural episode of the Ruby Gems Podcast, hosted by Marty Haught and David Hill, guest Chad Fowler shares the founding story of Ruby Central and the development of Ruby Gems. Fowler, a key figure in the Ruby community, discusses the early days of Ruby conferences, the creation of Ruby Central as a nonprofit, and the collaborative effort to build Ruby Gems. The conversation also covers the rise of Ruby on Rails, community dynamics, and the importance of the 'MINASWAN' philosophy.

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:46 Meet Chad Fowler: A Ruby Central Founder

01:42 The Humble Beginnings of Ruby Central

03:03 The First RubyConf: A Small but Impactful Start

04:17 Establishing Ruby Central as a Nonprofit

05:17 The Evolution of RubyConf

09:09 The Birth of RubyGems

15:12 The Rise of Ruby on Rails

19:14 Rails vs Ruby: The Early Days

20:11 The Rise of Ruby in the Job Market

21:05 The Rails Revolution: 2005-2006

26:57 O'Reilly's Influence on RailsConf

30:16 The Merb vs Rails Conflict

32:06 The Impact of Matz on the Ruby Community

37:29 Ruby Roundup: Rapid Fire Questions

41:02 Closing Thoughts and Farewell

Get to know the people and stories shaping the Ruby community. Hosted by David Hill and Marty Haught, The Ruby Gems Podcast shares conversations with developers, maintainers, and leaders making an impact. Subscribe and catch our first episode soon!