Lately, I’ve been working on creating a podcast to help developers become better at their craft. The format will primarily be an interview with members of the Ruby and Rails communities on what they think make exceptional developers and about their contributions to the Ruby on Rails community.

My first interview will be with Gregg Pollack from Rails Envy and Ruby 5. I’d like to get some good questions both for Gregg and future interviewees, so I’ll give a license for Camtasia to the best two questions given by a Mac user and a Windows user. Please send the questions to chuck@charlesmaxwood.com letting me know if you’d like the Mac, Windows, or either version and your questions by Tuesday October 20, 2009. I’ll announce the winners on the first episode of the podcast.

I just switched my hosting from RapidVPS to SilverRack. You may have noticed the outage today as I moved the blog over. It did present a few issues, but I think I have them all figured out. Please let me know if you notice anything by emailing me at chuck@charlesmaxwood.com.

I’m also trying to get this blog claimed on Technorati, which is why I’m putting this random link in here.

When I first set up this blog and purchased the domain, I intended to post about any technology that I came in contact with. However, after owning it for a year and not really putting anything into it, I determined that I would post about what I enjoyed the most—Ruby on Rails.

Over the last year, however, I’ve had two experiences that have altered the way I view programming and have helped me learn more about what I want and where I’d like to take my career. So, after careful consideration, I have decided to shift my focus a bit regarding my posting habits.

First, I intend to explore other languages. This does not mean I won’t be posting about Ruby and Rails anymore. I enjoy those languages and mean for them to be the central language and framework in my career path. But I will be posting tidbits from other languages as well.

Second, I keep learning and hearing about Agile Development practices. The more I hear, the more I like—generally. There are some finer points on some of the methodology implementations that I don’t agree with and I’d like to explore which methodologies I like and get feedback from other people who have put Agile Development into place on their teams regarding what works and doesn’t work for them.

Finally, I’ve found over the years that there is one thing I enjoy almost as much as programming—coaching. So, I’m going to start including articles about moving from a Junior Developer level to a Senior Developer level. I’m also going to cover general programming topics. And I’m going to include resources for others who are coaching some Junior Developers at work or on their own.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing for it. I appreciate any and all feedback regarding the content or topics I choose to place here.

Welcome to my website. I’m extremely excited to have this page up where I can share my thoughts as well as tips and tricks I’ve picked up over my years as a systems administrator, technician, and engineer. I’m also hoping that some of you will take advantage of my experience and allow me to help you achieve your business and personal goals through technology.

Feel free to look through the content I’ll be adding over the next while and take advantage of anything you see that interests you. If you’d like to hire me for some specific job, feel free to email me at chuck@charlesmaxwood.com.