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Should I switch to Ruby?

5 points by devs1010 ↗ HN
Hopefully a question like this can be useful to more people than just me, basically I'm someone who likes to create, both at my job and in my own projects and to do so efficiently. I've been working primarily as a Java developer the last couple years and there are things about the language that are great and necessary for some types of projects but I can't help but think sometimes it just ends up making for a lot of drudgery and the whole culture around doing java dev is a bit stodgy, I'm fairly young, just a few years dev experience basically wondering if transitioning to Ruby may open up my career a bit, would be interested to hear from anyone who has done something similar.. More and more lately I've been finding its hard to feel, think and operate like a hacker when working just in Java

6 comments

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KoryFerbet
Judging by the roles that I'm currently working on, having Ruby is a definite plus. Another strong option would be Python, from what I can tell the syntax is similar but most clients are definitely looking for one of those two in addition to your Java.

It also depends what types of companies you want to work for. Most of the startups I work with are looking for Ruby and Python with a Java background where as most the larger older companies are fine bringing on someone with just Java.

I hope that helps a bit and wasn't too much of a ramble.

devs1010
Actually, I used Python a bit before getting into Java, I think at this point Ruby seems more appealing, it would be nice to find a role at some point after I learn Ruby to where I can still benefit from my Java experience. Just doing Java, though, I guess I'm starting to feel a bit stifled.. just reading job ads for Ruby vs. Java is such a world of difference, most employers looking for Java devs def have the 'old school' mentality
KoryFerbet
As I said, I think the most important thing to decide is what you want to work on. Research Python roles and research Ruby roles, which of the two look like things you'd want to be working with/on? That should be your decision! I know the majority of Python roles I work on tend to pick Python for it's speed so they are generally more for hosting platforms or system development. Ruby roles tend to be the focus for more web development. As I said, those are just what I've seen here in Seattle.
kls
Java is an enterprise technology, if you are going to stay in the enterprise then by all means Java is the way to go, it is not going anywhere for a long time. That being said, by your post I can tell that that is not where you want to be. A lot of people will say just use what you know, but ignoring trends does not make them go away. There is a reality and that reality is there is a lot of cool problems that are being solved and that work is not happening in Java. There are cool problems being solved in Java don't get me wrong, but what you you are looking for, is easier found in other language cultures. It is a reality whether we like it or not. That being said there are ways to leverage your Java knowledge and still move towards that culture. Specifically there are two languages that utilize the JVM and the existing Java libs they are Scala and Clojure. I recently made the full switch over to Clojure because I want to work on something else, and it has been a great experience. While it is not as popular as Ruby, the work available for the market it some of the most impressive projects I have seen. This was a big factor in my choosing it as a technology to invest my time in and it is a very valid reason to do so. Anyways point being yes you should absolutely learn Ruby if the market seems to be solving problems that you want to work on, but in saying that there are some other really cool languages out there running on-top of the JVM that some interesting work is available for, if you just want to get into interesting work, you might want to take a minute to investigate the others because your experience with the JVM and Java libs will give you a head start in moving over to them.
devs1010
Thanks for the reply.. I agree Scala and Clojure are interesting but Ruby seems to be the most in-demand so would like to pick it up first, I have used JRuby a bit and being able to use Java when necessary I think would definitely be beneficial, but overall it seems doing a lot of web apps in Java may not be as good idea as I had originally thought
kls
but Ruby seems to be the most in-demand so would like to pick it up first

One thing to remember is that almost every field is undeserved as far as developers go, so all most all languages have more jobs available than their are people to fill the roles. While I agree you have to ensure that their is a market for your interest, most of the first and second tier languages have plenty of market to not be a risky proposition.