I attended RubyKaigi in Matsumoto, Nagano. The previous month I had been away from home for about three days at the EthGlobal Tokyo hackathon, where we received a Top 10 prize from Lens Protocol. During Golden Week, one of the children at home had something like an allergic reaction involving a virus and antibiotics, and in that rushing flow I headed to Matsumoto. That said, schedule conflicts are normal, and it is simply a question of priority. Emotionally I had pure excitement, while on the train I opened my laptop and ate an ekiben.

RubyKaigi is an important event for CATAL, the company I belong to. The company fully supports ticket fees, accommodation, and transportation. Next year it will be held in Okinawa, so whether we can provide the same support is a difficult question, but first I plan to calculate the budget. We are not a large company, and we do not always have open hiring slots, so sponsorship is hard to consider. But I want to back up participation as attendees.

For members who usually work fully remotely, it is a precious place to leave daily noise, talk about ideals as engineers, and update long-term mindsets. It is hard to quantify, but even as an investment the return is more than enough. Events like this are truly precious.

Thinking about this reminded me of a blog post saying that Matsuda, the chief organizer, told Shioi, who was wondering whether to submit a CfP, that one should not assume such a miraculous place will continue forever, and if they want to speak now, they should submit without hesitation. As someone fascinated by this community, and as someone in a position to slightly influence company decisions, I want to make and act on the best possible judgment from my position.

I spoke at RubyKaigi Takeout 2021 - shioimm || coe401_ _I am Shioi. I spoke on DAY1 of RubyKaigi Takeout 2021. RubyKaigi is a tech conference I have admired._coe401.hatenablog.com

Okura’s LT was especially memorable. Perhaps that was partly because we have a connection with him as a technical advisor for the company. Beyond the content being interesting and practical, I felt all of his passion packed into those five minutes, and I was deeply moved. This reminded me of Richard Linklater’s film “Boyhood.”

I arrived the day before and went to Matsumoto City Museum of Art for Yayoi Kusama’s permanent exhibition. I had wanted to visit since Matsumoto was chosen as the 2020 venue. Many people may think of Kusama’s dotted pumpkins, but her work ranges from painting and installation to novels and poetry. I think her work was a fight to leave proof that she lived, moment by moment. Seeing the exhibition arranged chronologically from early works to the present made me feel that intensely.

RubyKaigi had been scheduled for Matsumoto in 2020, but COVID-19 forced it online. 2021 was also online, and in 2022 it was finally held in Mie. Because Ruby 3.0, released on December 25, 2020 under the Ruby 3x3 slogan, aimed for three-times speed, I think Mie needed to be prioritized. In Mie, since it was the first in-person event after the pandemic, there were no official parties. This year the Official Party returned, many speakers came from overseas, and it felt like the event had fully returned to its previous scale. The hybrid format, strengthened by knowledge from online events, was also very welcome for coordinating with family and other duties.

And next year, it will be held in Okinawa. I can only bow my head to the organizers. They teach me the importance of doing the maximum possible at each moment.

Shioi, a former colleague, gave his third consecutive talk since the first talk described in the blog above. It had real presence. In a packed standing-room venue, he explained the very difficult topic of parsers clearly. What I received from that talk was: even things that look far above the clouds can be approached step by step; at least I have come this far, so how about you? At the social gathering, as someone who knew Shioi when he was a beginner, I was asked several times how someone could become like him. I commented on what he was like back then, but looking back, I should have said: ask him directly, and if that chance is not available, watch the talk again. I think the answer is in the presentation.

At the Drink Up organized by Rizap, I was able to speak directly with Matz. Okura, who happened to be at the same event, kindly suggested we sit at the same table as Matz. I am grateful. I call myself a Rubyist because I have more than a customer’s feeling toward Ruby, but due to my responsibilities I also need to do product management, and as a programmer I feel half-finished. So when attending RubyKaigi I feel a little hesitation, and without that push I probably would not have had the chance to talk.

Matz said that the Ruby vision he presented does not directly affect everyone’s productivity and is more like a welfare benefit. Personally, I do not think so. Rather, I feel I am directly learning how Matz communicates a vision and moves people. “Matz is nice so we are nice” is direct value, and nice people seem to be at the center of RubyKaigi.

As an aside, I was also glad I could talk about something I had wanted to mention to Matz if I had the chance. With LLMs rising, I thought LangChain in Python would likely take an important position, and I wanted to think about a Ruby version. After talking, I checked at the hotel and found that a Ruby version already existed, so I want to take time to investigate it.

GitHub - andreibondarev/langchainrb: Build ML/AI-supercharged applications with Ruby’s LangChain _Building applications with LLMs through composability._github.com

Here is a symbolic line from “Boyhood.”

Nicole: You know how everyone is always saying seize the moment? I do not know, I am kind of thinking it is the other way around. You know, like the moment seizes us.

Mason: Yeah. Yeah, I know. It is constant, the moment. It is just like it is always right now.

RubyKaigi feels like a festival of people who are seizing the present. That is why RubyKaigi seizes us and does not let go. That is how it felt to me.