Congratulations to Scott Barron for pursuing the life of the independent consultant. Especially so, of course, because he’ll be doing it as a Ruby on Rails specialist. We already have a good handful of people following that round with great success. People like Tobias Luekte and Jeremy Kemper are overloaded with requests for work.

So basically, we need more warm bodies to follow up on all the leads we’re seeing. Now is definitely a good time to build a name for yourself in the Rails world and start staking your claim to the many opportunities bubbling up.

The best way to demonstrate your skills as a Ruby on Rails consultant worth his salt is to get intimate with the source, start contributing patches (we have lots of faults to hunt down if you need an easy way in), and create a fully functional showcase application.

Scott is doing Elite Journal, Scratch, Recipe Box, and Elite Album. Tobias is cooking with Hieraki and Typo. Sam is behind the Javascript-engine Prototype for the new Ajax stuff.

In other words, it’s a brave new world of opportunities. The streets a covered with gold and honey is raining from the sky. Fortune and fame awaits. If we had the tech for it, there would be a flying billboard saying:

A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure

The time is now!

(How’s that for an enthusiastic rally cry)