I'm just a little over a year out of school myself, so I'm far from an expert, but happy to share some things that come to mind.

I haven't had a chance to look through it in-depth yet, but this looks pretty interesting: https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer

As far as things that have had an important impact in my learning path, I do have a few Ruby books I really like (the key here is to get your hands dirty with code as you read along): - https://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Under-Microscope-Illustrated-Int... - https://www.amazon.com/Metaprogramming-Ruby-Program-Like-Fac... - https://gumroad.com/l/rebuilding_rails

I think reading about (and looking at the code) for things you use and trying to understand how they work under the hood has been super useful: http://aosabook.org/en/index.html

Having smart people around to learn from is extremely helpful too.

Happy to chat more if you'd like. Just drop me a line: connor[at]opendoor[dot]com

Yes, the author agrees with me that it's an intellectual exercise. I just wanted to underline that.

Rubyists are a clever bunch, if you find yourself writing the same code over and over again, chances are somebody's already figured out how to refactor it appropriately, tucking away the details behind an intention-revealing module.

A better way to refactor code is in using Ruby's built-in metaprogramming abilities. Metaprogramming Ruby is the best book to show you how.

http://www.amazon.com/Metaprogramming-Ruby-Program-Like-Face...

Yup this is great stuff, just be sure to get the 2nd edition which just came out:

http://www.amazon.com/Metaprogramming-Ruby-Program-Like-Face...

It focuses on modern Rubies, so it talks about Module#prepend and such. Nice to keep moving forwards.