♦️ Introduction
Ruby on Rails (ROR) is an open-source web development framework written in the Ruby programming language. Despite its popularity, new project adoption has been slowly waning over the past few years, and legacy Rails-based apps, such as Product Hunt, have been migrating to new stacks, as JS-based frameworks such as React and Angular have gained more traction.
The trend could change with some of the recent announcements made by DHH (the founder of ROR), and the Rails Foundation, which will be discussed in more detail in the future of Ruby on Rails, section of this post.
In this article, we will discuss what Ruby on Rails is, its history and the history of the Ruby language. We will also review its design philosophy, the future of the framework, why developers should learn RoR, and references for learning Ruby on Rails. We will also cover RoR jobs, demographics, and salary expectations.
⚙️ Table-Of-Content
👾 What Is Ruby On Rails❓
Ruby on Rails, also known as Rails or RoR, is an open-source object-oriented (OOP) web application framework written in Ruby. RoR can simplify the full-stack web development process by providing boilerplate code and eliminating some of the dependencies required by many other frameworks.
With the simple command, Rails New “Project Name” you have your view layer, model layer, and controller layer, which are pre-configured out of the box and can be built on top of depending on your unique needs; allowing you to write less code while accomplishing more than many other languages, and frameworks, out of the box.
💎 History of the Ruby Programming Language ❓
The Ruby programming language was created by Yukihiro ‘Matz, a Japanese computer scientist who also wrote the first Ruby implementation 0.95, which was released in 1995. Ruby 1.0, December 1996 and, Ruby 1.8.7 was released in 2003, and was finally deprecated in 2013. Ruby was written in C and was inspired by languages such as C++, Basic, Lua, Python, and Smalltalk. The Ruby programming language supports a wide range of coding paradigms, such as object-oriented, functional, and procedural. Simpleness and developer productivity were the pain points Ruby was designed to solve.
🖥 History of Ruby on Rails
David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), a Danish programmer and entrepreneur, developed Ruby on Rails in 2004. As we previously discussed, he was inspired by the Ruby programming language and the MVC software architecture. His goal was to create a framework that would make web development easier(DX), faster, and more efficient.
In 2005, Rails was released for the first time and quickly gained popularity among web developers - BaseCamp (DHHs company), Shopify(OG Rails contributor), Airbnb, Github, and Twitter, were some of the adopters, as well as many other enterprises to high-growth and startup companies alike.
📳 The Ruby on Rails Design Philosophy
Ruby on Rails’ design philosophy is based on the concept that software should adhere to a few guiding principles, including "don't repeat yourself" (DRY). In other words, all the code in your application should be as concise and maintainable as possible. Throughout the Rails framework, from the directory structure to the syntax, this philosophy is reflected.
Model View Controller, or MVC, is an architectural pattern used to build websites and web applications. The framework divides an application into three interconnected sections - the model, the view, and the controller - and is one of the most common tools used by web developers. Data is managed by the model, the user interface is handled by the view, and communication between them is managed by the controller. The MVC framework allows developers to create a maintainable codebase and keep it clean and organized.
Rails also represent persistent data management, or how ROR interacts with a database, through CRUD, or create, read, update, and delete. Rails can be a good option if your project or initiative requires CRUD functionality.
Another design philosophy of RoR is REST, or Representational-state-transfer. Using REST architecture, users can access web resources uniformly. It also makes applications more secure since it requires a secure connection between the client and server. In terms of technical components, REST consists of HTTP methods, URLs, and status codes. These components can be used to interact with the server and provide a successful response.
👨🏻💻 What Is The Future Of Ruby On Rails❓
Ruby on Rails’ future looks bright if DHH and the Rails Foundation are able to reactivate many of the developers who have churned from RoR for one of the javascript-based frameworks. There is still a highly active community around RoR despite Javascript becoming the go-to choice for many web developers.
DHH, as he is commonly known on the interwebs,recently published a post on LinkedIn highlighting plans to reactivate or re-invigorate the Ruby on Rails community. DHH and a group of companies and individuals have collaborated to achieve this goal through the Rails Foundation which we’ll unpack in the next section with more brevity – Through a series of initiatives such as updated content marketing and marketing campaigns, revised developer documentation, learning material and tutorials, and other resources; the goal is to either reactivate Ruby on Rails developers or introduce the framework to new developers who are currently exploring new frameworks.
🖥 What is the Rails Foundation❓
✴️ Our Mission
“To improve the documentation, education, marketing, and events of our framework to the benefit of all new and existing Rails developers, and to ensure a prosperous ecosystem that continues to improve for decades to come. Read our announcement for more details”.
✴️ Our Work
“The foundation will commission freelancers and firms to work on better written documentation, more compelling screencasts, exciting events, and much more. We’ve only just gotten started, so more detailed plans are still to follow”..
“We will also be administering the Rails trademarks through an exclusive licensee from the trademark owner”.
✴️ Our Members
“In alphabetical order, the eight founding core members of the foundation are: Cookpad, Doximity, Fleetio, GitHub, Intercom, Procore, Shopify, and 37signals“.
“The foundation is open to new contributing members, who may apply for membership by writing to foundation@rubyonrails.org for more details. If your company has been benefiting from Rails over the years, but not sure how it might give back to the ecosystem, now there’s a clear and obvious choice”.
In light of the Rails foundation’s plan to boost the framework’s ecosystem growth, it is highly likely we will see a significant increase in new and experienced developers choosing to use the framework for their new projects and services, as well as a large influx of companies seeking to donate to the foundation and use RoR for their companies, or at least, that is the goal. RoR’s adoption rate and the number of new projects created on GitHub using RoR are two metrics that can be used to gauge its overall health. Many teams, companies, and individual contributors have been using Rails for quite some time prior to the foundation and will continue to do so.
The two technologies can benefit from co-existing and thriving in the same ecosystem for many years to come. With the introduction of tools such as Stimulus (JavaScript libraries for Rails), and Hotwire, or HTML Over-the-wire, Rails applications can now compete with React, Angular, and Vue when it comes to speed, developer experience, portability, and other key areas to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of a framework or technology.
Ruby on Rails is in great demand as web applications continue to grow. Ruby and its associated web frameworks are continually evolving and being improved, and the Ruby on Rails community is active and vibrant.
With the introduction of HTML over-the-wire and Stimulus, a Rails-JS framework, there’s no reason RoR can not continue to be a relevant choice for web development in the coming years.
📚 Why Should I Learn Ruby On Rails❓
Ruby on Rails is a great language and framework to learn if you want to get into web development or launch your next startup or project that requires CRUD functionality and is web-based. It’s easy to understand and has powerful libraries (GEM) to make web development much faster and more efficient than other languages and frameworks. As a Rails developer, you will often find yourself wondering, how did Rails accomplish that, since ROR handles much of the configuration that would otherwise be required, like routes, and other dependencies.
ROR has you covered when it comes to optimizing for developer experience(DX). The extensive options when it comes to gem libraries and a passionate community to help you when you find yourself dealing with a challenge, make development very beginner friendly and will allow an experienced developer to get up to speed in a short amount of time and deliver on a deadline.
Additionally, the ruby language syntax and rails framework simplifies complexity, making it an effective tool based on your unique needs or the needs of your business.
👩🏫 How To Learn Ruby On Rails❓
As a result of the internet, learning has become more accessible to society. Regardless of what you wish to learn, there are almost endless resources available to you if you want to pick up or learn a new skill set or start your journey toward a new career.
In order to work effectively with Ruby on Rails, you must have a thorough understanding of the Ruby programming language and web development processes in general. Several online courses, a BS or MS in computer science or software engineering, as well as tutorials, books, and boot camps, can help you get up to speed quickly.
In order to launch a new career or gain all the necessary knowledge to begin building with ROR, it may require a combination of each of these options. Over the next year and beyond, I will continue on this path.
We will not cover BS or MS degrees in this post, and will instead focus on alternative learning options. There will be many beginner-level courses, programs, degrees, etc., that cover each of these steps, so fear not, my friends, and hack the planet 🌎.
✅ Learning Option 1: Books
A good starting point would be to choose a good book that covers the basics of the Ruby programming language and Rails framework. One such book is called the Well Grounded Rubiest, which can be purchased here from Amazon. Reading the book while working your way through a course on Ruby on Rails can be an excellent two-punch combo when it comes to learning a new programming language, or framework.
✅ Learning Option 2: Online Courses
The other option is to explore one of the many online courses or tutorials. This step depends on your level of commitment and prior knowledge of programming and web development, as well as your personal goals. It’s important to choose a course or program that matches your experience and long-term goals.
Check out this list of courses through Udemy as a cost-effective solution to beginning a course on Ruby on Rails.
Another excellent self-paced option is Codecademy , which offers coding tutorials on many of the most common frameworks, and languages, and even offers entire learning programs.
✅ Learning Option 3: Coding Bootcamps
If you are deeply committed to software development/ engineering, you may want to consider a boot camp - Not only will you learn the core skills required to become hired as a developer or engineer, you will also refine your core skills around aptitude, whilst learning what it takes to deliver against business objectives within a cross-functional team.
Committing to such a proggram requires a complete devotion of your time and effort to ensure success, and will not be for everyone, but the outcomes can be truly immeasurable in terms of personal growth and value, via earnings potential.
Check out the 4 top-rated Ruby on Rails-based Coding boot camps– Career Karma has also compiled a list of the 44 best Ruby on Rails-based coding boot camps as of 2022.
📢 Computer Science Distilled: Learn the Art of Solving Computational Problems
In order to solve many of the problems engineers encounter in their careers, developers and engineers should understand not only the practical side of development but also the theory behind computer science. A solid understanding of the fundamentals will aid our future practical efforts.
Regardless of what program, course, or book you decide to take on to hone skills around computer science and theory, Computer Science Distilled: Learn the Art of Solving Computational Problems, is an excellent resource – With this book, you’ll learn about many of the most challenging CompSi topics in an easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply manner.
🧐 The Future OF MVC
As a refresher, MVC, or Model View Controller, is an architectural pattern that is used for building user interfaces (websites, and web apps) by dividing a site/app into three interconnected parts — the model, the view, and the controller.
☠️ Is MVC Dead❓
There is no doubt that MVC isn’t dead, as it is still used by many developers today. It’s an incredible design philosophy that allows developers to quickly and easily produce applications while remaining organized and maintainable. In addition, the development process is continually improved and updated with new frameworks being released on a regular basis. MVC’s future, however, is uncertain in a fast-changing world.
Yet, many developers are still choosing to embrace MVC because of its power and loyal following. Therefore, MVC’s future remains to be seen, but it’s likely to remain a favorite among web developers for many years to come.
💼 Ruby on Rails: Jobs, Demographics, and Salary Expectations 💵
As of 2-1-2023, there are currently 2,147 open roles on Indeed for Ruby on Rails Developers/ and or Engineers. As a quick snapshot of the demographics for active Ruby on Rails Developers; over 40% are aged between 30-40 years(42%) the largest age demographic, followed by 40+(36%) and between 20-30 years of age(22%).
Some of the domains and industries that hire the most Rails Developers include Technology, Finance, Fortune 500, Finance, Retail, and Communication.
Since 2010, the unemployment rate for Ruby on Rails Developers has decreased substantially, hovering around 3.5% in 2019. For more information about the stats covered in this section, check out this post: Zippia RoR demofgraphics report
In terms of salary ranges for Ruby on Rails Developers, and Engineers. The average salary range is $79,000 to $161,000, but this number can easily exceed 2x this amount depending on the company, location, and the seniority level of the role itself. In fact, Staff Engineers can make upwards of $1 million per year in some of the largest technology companies as a total compensation package. For more information about the salary ranges for Ruby on Rails Developers, check out the following article, which is the same article that was referenced for the demographic information covered in this section.
👉 Click this link to view the available Ruby on Rails jobs on Indeed.
🌐 🎓 Conclusion
Ruby on Rails is an incredibly powerful and popular framework for full-stack web development. From small-scale applications to enterprise-scale products and services. It’s easy to learn, fast to develop with, and has a vibrant community of developers that are always willing to help - As we have already reviewed, the ideal outcome of the Rails foundation will be an increased awareness of the effectiveness of RoR as a viable alternative to one of the JS-based frameworks such as React, Angular, and Vue JS. Libraries such as Stiumulus, the rails JS library, and Hot-Wire (HTML-over-the-wire), developers, and teams that choose RoR will not be compromising speed, performance, or any other core metric that is used to measure the success of a web-based initiative by using ROR.
We began this post by reviewing what Ruby on Rails is, a brief history of the Ruby language, and the Ruby on Rails framework. From there, we reviewed the architecture design philosophy of RoR, the future of the framework, and an overview of the Rails Foundation. In addition, we reviewed why you should learn Rails, and concluded with an overview of resources that can be used to learn rails; including books to support your learning journey, boot camps, courses, and free learning material.
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