Frequently Asked Questions

Ruby for Good is an annual event where Ruby programmers globally gather over a long weekend to work on projects help communities. We work on the software year round but gathering in person gives us a chance to work together, learn, and have fun.

Probably not like you are thinking. We are a civic hackathon, focused on building software for social good. We are not a competition, and we are not focused on building a product to sell. We are focused on building software that helps people. We also work at a sustainable pace, with a focus on learning and collaboration.

Absolutely, our focus is sustainability and community. The software that we work on at our events we continue to maintain and work on year round. In fact, one of the projects we'll be working on this year was started in 2015 is now helping over 3 million children and over 500k period product recipients each year. This is all real software making a real difference in the world.

All experience levels are welcome! We have participants ranging from beginners to those with decades of experience. The event focuses on both learning and building great things. Groups are collaborative and you'll have opportunities to work closely with others and contribute code.

We need developers, designers, product managers, and anyone interested in doing good. We welcome programmers of all languages, especially those interested in learning Ruby. Frontend experts (JavaScript and CSS) are particularly welcome!

We've tried to pick a wide range of projects this year and depending on registration numbers we many include a few more.

Indicate your interest during registration. Team leads are matched with projects before the event and work with organization representatives to set up requirements, milestones, and initial setup.

You must arrive by 10am Monday for kickoff, team selection, and environment setup. You can arrive as early as 9am, and we're in the beautiful city of Ghent with amazing things to see.

We'll be having lunch at the university cafeteria.

Yes! We are looking for sponsors to help cover the costs of the event. Please reach out to us at info@rubyforgood.org for more information. We would love to be able to provide food, swag and other goodies for the attendees.

The event takes place at HoGent - Campus SchoonMeersen, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000 Gent. It's walking distance from Gent-Sint-Pieters train station and 2 minutes from E40 Highway with limited parking. The event is held in B-block and D-block buildings, with reception in the B-block entrance hall.

Yes! There is a reason that people who attend Ruby for Good events keep coming back and have the 'gooder' nickname. We are a friendly, welcoming, and inclusive community. We are here to help you learn and grow, and to build great things together.

Tickets are free but we need require registration to attend!

Anywhere in central Ghent there's a tram from downtown that stops right infront of the venue. We'll send out recommendations for hotels soon so as many of us can stay as close as possible.

Take a look at https://cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2025/ as they've graciously agreed to share some space with us!

Take a look at these blog posts from previous previous attendees to get a sense of what is in store.
https://chelseatroy.com/2019/04/02/behind-the-scenes-ruby-by-the-bay-civic-hack/
https://blog.homesnap.com/homesnap-terrastories-ruby-hack-thon
https://blog.mapbox.com/ruby-for-good-2018-61dd45a7fdb7