RoR and Ruby Developers

[beley]

Where would be a good place to find RoR and Ruby developers? I have a couple projects for '06 and I think I might be able to afford outsourcing them to a qualified RoR developer, if it would speed up the development substantially by going with RoR.

None of the applications are groundbreaking as far as function goes.

Anyone know of a website that lists RoR or Ruby developers for hire/outsourcing?

[Brak]

Look no further than the wiki: http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pa...ailableForHire

[Luke Redpath]

qualified RoR developer

What exactly do you mean? There aren't any RoR qualifications.

You can try posting on http://jobs.rubynow.com/

[beley]

Well, there aren't any "web designer" qualifications either - but that doesn't mean there aren't people who aren't qualified doing the job.

What I meant to express was that I wanted someone who is somewhat experienced building Rails and Ruby apps, which is probably rare if for no other reason than Rails just hit 1.0.

Thanks for the link though - that's a good site.

[bonefry]

I would hire a medium Java developer or an experienced PHP developer, and make him learn Ruby on Rails.
If the developer is proeficient enough in design patterns, and has a good understanding of OOP concepts, he will certainly learn Rails quite fast.

I would actually go by this route, because ... how can you tell a developer is proeficient with Rails ? Nobody can have a portfolio with Rails applications big enough to satisfy our needs, because Rails is fairly new.

[beley]

True, but from what I can tell Ruby is quite different from PHP and other popular scripting languages. Would I not be better looking for a Ruby programmer and having them learn Rails?

[ezmobius1]

Yeah there are plenty of rails developers already. Its a bad idea to hire someone who doesn't know rails and make them learn it for your project. You would be paying them to learn rails on your dime no?

Post to the jobs.rubynow.com site or make a post to the rubyonrails mailing list and you will find someone to help you. Or even get on the #rubyonrails irc room at irc.freenode.net. But don't just hire some random programmer and make them learn the ropes on your tab, thats just asking for trouble.

[Brak]

Don't underestimate Rails infancy. It may only be 1.0, but it's been used in the public for a year and a half now.

I would strongly recommend hiring Railis developers. Why? They're generally passionate about what they do. Those on the wiki are a great start - they show involvement in the Rails community.

[bonefry]

And a year and half is enough ?!? Hell, no.

And do you meant to tell us that PHP, Java, C#, Python, Perl developers are not passionate about their jobs, and/or are not involved in their community ?

[Brak]

And a year and half is enough ?!? Hell, no.

And do you meant to tell us that PHP, Java, C#, Python, Perl developers are not passionate about their jobs, and/or are not involved in their community ?

A year and half is PLENTY to learn a framework or a language. If it takes a developer longer than that to learn a language, he should consider changing professions.

Please don't be childish with your other comment. I will not take the time to respond to it and fuel a fire you're trying to start.

[xmitchx]

If a year and a half is not enough why are you even posting here? Rails has only been out since Feb 2004, how could anyone have any more experience when it didn't exist?

And Brak is right, a year and a half should be more than enough to learn a framework and have experiene with it.

[ezmobius1]

Actually it has only been public since July 2004. I have been using rails since August of 2004 and I have already built many applications that have stood up to a lot of traffic and I feel I know the framework very well. I had 5 years of php experience before starting rails and that is why I am saying not to hire someone who doesn't know the framework. Of course you want a programmer who has been developing for longer than 1,5 years. But if they haven't tried rails yet, why hire them to do a rails gig? Thats just stupid.

[samsm]

Hey, if proximity is a bonus, I could try take a couple names and/or urls at the next Atlanta Ruby usergroup meeting. No guarantee, but I can think of at least one guy from the last meeting who might be a decent match (just my impression).

You can go yourself if you would dig a bunch of mixed-ability Ruby-related geek stuff. Fair warning: The group is also somewhat new and there isn't the most ironed meeting flow yet.

[beley]

Thanks samsm... I'd love to go to a meeting! I have been playing around with Ruby and Rails for the past week and I've come to the conclusion that if I'm ever going to really "grasp" a programming language, it's going to be Ruby. I can hold my own with PHP but I really like Ruby and Rails so far. It'd be great to both go to learn and also try to make some connections.

My workload keeps increasing for 2006 and I know I'll definitely need someone, either contract or on staff, to help.