[deliriousferret]

I've been in this situation and also wanted to learn Ruby on Rails. I did Michael Hartl's tutorial and then built my own side project. This side project was never completely finished and never had any user but it helped me learn and get my next job as a Ruby on rails developer. Learning things on your own is a great way to start but the best way to improve is to work in a team with people you can learn from, on a real live project. So in my opinion, learn as much as you can now, build things that you can mention on your CV, and move ASAP to a better job where you can improve.

[TurkishPoptart]

I'm doing the same ruby on rails tutorial! I finished chapter 3 today and it was pretty fun, and satisfying to run the test and fix the simple bugs. I'm curious, did you or did you not use your side project/portfolio to get your job? How did you demonstrate your skill and technical prowess sufficiently to get a job doing it? Thanks.