We’re in a golden era of email newsletters, especially curated collections of links to useful information for software developers. I love that newsletters–especially those published by ethical, trusted sources–let me keep up-to-date on what I need to know, without dealing with the data overload and inherent toxicity of social media or online discussion boards.
My advice: Subscribe to lots of newsletters pertaining to your field of interest, and its periphery. Don’t feel the need to click every link–but if you notice a particular item shared in multiple lists, maybe it’s worth checking out.
Here are my favorite subscriptions for keeping up with Rails, Ruby, and my world of software development. Oh, and you’d like a good way to keep up with Everyday Rails, I’ve got a newsletter of my own, too!
Peter Cooper’s Ruby Weekly helped kick off the popularity of newsletters, and as I write this recently celebrated its 500th issue! This is a must-subscribe for all Ruby developers, and I always look forward to spending some of my time each Thursday perusing it.
Cooperpress publishes a number of other newsletters, too, on Javascript, front-end-development, databases, mobile development, and more.
Kale Davis finds the best content from Hacker News and shares it in Hacker Newsletter. While still heavily tech-heavy and software-focused, Hacker Newsletter also shares ideas about career growth, learning, society, and design. I typically spend time each weekend with this list, and always learn something from it.
When you sign up for an account with the DEV online developers community, you’ll be invited to subscribe to their weekly newsletter. Do it! The DEV Newsletter highlights community-created content, and helps spread the knowledge of independent tech writers.
You may be familiar with the Changelog podcast, but did you know they also have newsletters? Changelog Weekly includes links to the latest episodes of the many podcasts currently in their stable, as well as curated links and editorial commentary on the latest open source and software development news.
Unlike the other newsletters in this list, Changelog Nightly is published–wait for it–on a nightly basis. It’s also not human-curated, but based on GitHub’s public event data to share trending open source repositories. I give it a quick skim each morning, and often learn about my new favorite command line tool or library a week or two before it hits other newsletters.
If you liked my series on practical advice for adding reliable tests to your Rails apps, check out the expanded ebook version. Lots of additional, exclusive content and a complete sample Rails application.
Ruby on Rails news and tips, and other ideas and surprises from Aaron at Everyday Rails. Delivered to your inbox on no particular set schedule.