“Certainly one of the best training experiences I've ever had—three days of hard core concepts and coding. I already had some Rails experience going in and I got a ton out of it...Non-railers could easily go from knowing nothing about the framework to a really solid understanding in that time. The materials are good, the guys are experts and the entire thing was fun—which is hard to say about any training program. I STRONGLY recommend anyone looking for Rails training to give these guys a look. Top notch stuff.”

—Hunter Hillegas

“I was extremely impressed with the training from beginning to end. The registration and setup process was super easy, the facility was first rate (food was awesome), Mike and Dave are outstanding teachers and the subject material was very interesting.”

—Chris Bischoff

“Dave and Mike were a lot more entertaining that any book! Also, it was good to hear about pitfalls that I should avoid.”

—Mark Laidlaw

“Everyone came back very excited about the possibility of developing Rails apps. I had people running over to my office during the workshop lunch breaks to talk, and we've already set about identifying a couple initial directions for developing production-grade applications. At least 3 people separately told me it was one of the best training they've been to. I think everyone appreciated the way that Dave and Mike work together. Even our most experienced Rails developer said he got something valuable out of each day of the training.”

—Gregg Hartling, Director of Web Applications at EarthLink, Inc.

“The Rails Studio is a unique opportunity to gain insight into the power of Rails for developing database-backed web applications. Mike and Dave are captivating and inspiring speakers who can deliver both the 'big picture' view as well as implementation details. At the end of the session you will be excited about writing in Rails and have the knowledge you need to be productive right away. If you are interested in or just curious about Rails, the Studio won't disappoint.”

—Gavin Stark, VP of Product Development at Real Digital Media

“Dave and Mike were excellent — knowledgeable, helpful, and approachable.”

—Andy Akins

“At the studio, I learned not only Rails, but also many topics you covered, such as unit testing, deployment, DB stuff, MVC, configuration, etc. It was really worth flying to Atlanta from Korea.”

—Jee-Haeng Lee

“The live coding sessions were great! Sometimes more helpful than the labs. We got to see the experts' techniques.”

—Brian Sweigard

“This was my first group training seminar and it was pretty awesome.”

—Jared Joven

“I just wanted to thank you all...I truly enjoyed the course, learned a lot in that interactive setting, and I'm extremely motivated to start building killer Rails applications. The course simply had a GREAT balance of theory and practical application to enforce the learning of the material.”

—Conrad Taylor

“I was extremely impressed by the quality of the training we went to last week. I have never been in training — including MS-sponsored training — with so few typos or glitches in examples.”

—Ron, Technical Lead at CHAMP Software, Inc.

“Thanks to the Pragmatic Studio, Mike, and Dave for their outstanding class, which let us learn how to build this (app) quickly and, dare I say, pragmatically. It's been fun using the knowledge we gained in Reston to develop this fun project, and now I'm more comfortable pitching Rails as a development environment to consulting clients (especially since they can see firsthand how powerful Rails allows web applications to be).”

— H. Wade Minter

“Dave and Mike have a good teaching style. I like how they interact with each other and how they give alternative/different view points on how to do something. I like how they explain why to do something. The real world examples were useful too.”

—Shaun Ambrose

“Dave Thomas and Mike Clark do the impossible: they take forty developers with very diverse backgrounds on a journey of discovery into the Rails framework, leaving nobody behind and everybody more than satisfied. The bits used - those of Rails 1.1.2 - were less than 24 hours old when the workshop started. The material was incredibly up to date, and no question went unanswered...the workshop was filled with hands-on lab-time that made everyone feel empowered. Highly recommended!”

— Mike Sax

“...best conferences I've gone to in terms of being able to take away real information I can start using today.”

— Hitesh Jasani

“I loved just hearing Mike and Dave's experience in how they've approached different problems. That's the big win of coming to the Studio — having access to 2 very experienced Rails developers.”

—Tobin Juday

“Mike and Dave's presentation was solid, engaging, and fun. I enjoyed the crowd that the Studio seemed to draw.”

—Jared Joven

“I recommend it highly. There are three good reasons why: First, both Dave and Mike are fantastic teachers. The course is professionally put together, well practiced, well laid out, and most importantly, it produces results. You will leave the course knowing how to build a Rails application. The second good reason to take the course is that it provides some amazing networking opportunities. The strictly guarded Alumni group is one of the best programming resources I have ever seen. Finally, the third reason to take the course is that Dave and Mike both provide some great advice on how to manage successful software projects.”

—Rod Boothby

“Loved the class — good pace, covered wide variety of material. I would definitely do it again and recommend it to others.”

—Jason Mark

“Dave and Mike, you guys are a powerful and entertaining tag team. You keep your audience engaged, you present material clearly and articulately and you have a depth of knowledge that goes beyond that of the trainer who 'knows the slides'...I found the entire experience to be ultimately positive and useful, one of the best uses of my time and money that I've seen in a very long time... Keep up the great work.”

—Dan Shafer

“...Mike and Dave earned every penny. The material was thorough, very current (more so than even Dave's recent book), and very well presented. They impressed me with being both highly professional and totally down-to-earth at the same time ... [Nicole] is also there, keeping the guys focused, keeping the venue organized, and just generally making sure the whole thing ran like a Swiss watch. Good people, and the chance to be in the same room with them, much less pick their brains, won't happen very often...”

—Curtis Olson

“Everything about them conveyed quality: great skills, helpful slides, concise discussion, and genuine enthusiasm.”

—Douglas Fasching

“Dave and Mike really know their stuff and have 'real world' examples of what was easy and where they ran into pitfalls in Rails.”

— Sean Mountcastle

“What made the course of particular value wasn't the mechanical, 'this is how you go about creating a partial,' but the discussions that ensued that I found helped to discern when it was appropriate to use a partial — except that it was applied to each of the concepts that were covered and not just partials.”

— Jason Perkins

“...one of the most advantageous reasons for attending the studio — best practices. Mike and Dave both have experience and a finger on the pulse of the Rails community. They several times pointed out things that were either becoming popular or falling out of favor...I will give my highest recommendation to anyone considering going. Even if you have a great grasp of Ruby and Rails, I guarantee you will learn some new things...Their goal is to give you an extremely broad view of Rails and they accomplish it.”

— John Nunemaker

“I want to thank you again for the great course. We've all attended courses that leave you feeling like you've learned nothing, however, this was certainly not the case. It really helped to solidify many of the concepts that were escaping me as someone new to both Ruby and Rails, and getting to work with the latest version was invaluable.”

—Grant Gelinas-Brown

“Dave and Mike are great teachers, and I strongly suggest that anyone interested in Rails attend.”

— Phil Ripperger

“With all the hype about Rails, I do hope that these guys continue to feed the starving crowds with their wonderful educational methods.”

— Bob Monsour

“I liked the breadth of information, the well throughout presentations and labs, and the willingness of the speakers to field audience questions as we progressed through the presentations.”

—Matthew Henderson

“I'm happy to call myself an alumni of the Studio—as expected Mike and Dave are great—if you need Rails training, I'd highly recommend Pragmatic Studio!”

—Nathaniel Schutta

“I started a new job and want to extend my gratitude again to Mike, Dave, and Nicole for the Studio in Minnesota. I'm feeling very blessed to be able to work with Ruby and Rails full-time and I wouldn't have been qualified without the springboard the Studio provided.”

—Dan Croak

Overall, it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to attending more training courses offered by Pragmatic Studio in the future.

—Mike Naberezny