Hey guys! I’m looking into various programs to learn Ruby on Rails. I’ve used Codecademy for their basic Ruby course and really enjoyed it, but I’m also looking at programs from Udemy, etc. Codecademy’s next steps are pretty obvious; $20/mo for yearly access to their pro level. Udemy has a number of courses for $20/ea, but there are so many that I’m not sure what’s good and what’s trash.
My end goal is possibly moving to a career in coding. With that in mind, any recommendations? Thanks!
Hey there! I do coding for a living, and here’s my 2 cents:
Languages like Ruby (with or without Rails) are seldom used in the job market, unfortunately. While it’s much more modern and expandable than traditional languages, most companies just haven’t had the time or resources to make the switch. It’d put you far ahead of the game to learn Ruby now, so when companies do finally swap to something else, you have years of experience under your belt. Fortunately, a lot of coding concepts you learn in Ruby translate easily to other languages.
However, there’s been a huge push in Devops for many organizations, since frequent patching is becoming the norm for software. Most Devops tools are built around Python, so it works very well with applications built in Python.
A large portion of new applications are moving to a web-based platform. Apache, Django, NodeJS, and a few others are super common for hosting. AWS is also a nice tool for modern applications, as it keeps you from having to maintain your own hardware.
Additionally, a lot of web back-end is comprised of C# and custom APIs. Front-end is usually HTML5/CSS3.
What I would suggest is learning the following languages, which all build upon each other and give you exposure to each stage of the development process:
Python3
C#/Java
Powershell/Bash/Perl
HTML5/CSS3
SQL/NoSQL
These will cover about 80% of the job market at the moment, at all stages.
I know quite a few of these languages, so if you ever want some 1-on-1 teaching, I’ll be happy to meet up at the Makerspace!
Thanks for the insight! I’d started on Python 3 a while back, but a few friends (mostly freelancers) said they are using Ruby more and more. I have a Python 3 course on Udemy already, so I may jump back into that.
I don’t anticipate being at a hirable knowledge level for a while, but who knows 
Thanks for the training offer! I may hit you up on that as I get into this!
We have been migrating away for RoR. I love it but not any new demand in new projects.
Why is that?
Kirk is having me study ROR bank of america and other large corps are using it, are you saying its still early?
Python and Ruby have a lot of syntax similarities, its great from Machine Learning
RoR is a pretty niche implementation in my opinion. I would absolutely love for more companies to adopt and embrace it, but many companies are in way too deep to completely change their infrastructure.
So you think django is the future?
Well in my case there isn’t new demand for RoR projects anymore. It was pretty hot when new but I see the use of RoR cooling in my business category. Kind of depends of the business culture too. Does it support a business case and what is the future of the tools and support for long term projects?
So what are you moving toward? Do you see a new trend in the industry?
It’s really unclear what the future will move towards in terms of web infrastructure. The only certainty I can think of is the use of HTML5/CSS3, as this is used by every web framework.
Fortunately, with a lot of new back-end frameworks like Django and VueJS, the core principals translate easily; it’s just a matter of syntax and advanced features. I would personally love for Django to become the standard, but it’s very unclear. It will really come down to organizations on an individual basis.
I guess any framework related to Java and C# would be adopted fast (Like Spring Boot). The issue is not the technology but the human resource needed (onshore as well as offshore). One of my friend was looking for resources with Rails skills but couldn’t find one in his budget. He ended hiring a Java coder.
Check Lynda.com…if you have a Library membership, chance are that they have already subscribed it. You would need to go to your Library and get online account activated to use Lynda.com.
I would also suggest PluralSight if you’re willing to pay a few extra bucks. It’s how I learned almost all of the languages I use on a daily basis.
My former employer paid for my membership (which expires after the new year 
), but the price is totally worth it if you’re looking to pursue a career in programming.
Many of the courses that pluralsight offer are outdated. Just search Rails and you will see they haven’t updated beyond Rails 4. I guess I would be more interested in an updated course when I am paying for subscription. IMHO paying for an udemy course (generally priced around $10 ) is better than pay a monthly subscription. Also you get life time access to those courses, which are normally updated regularly. (I should have got an affiliate link 
)
I would prefer a good old face to face or atleast a virtual class as it makes me be focused. There are tons of distractions when you use a browser to learn
@mattarmstrong you can check your community college to see if they offer a coding class ( many do). You can join one as a Continuing Education student. If you realize that you aren’t cut for coding, there are other fields in CS that you can take up (Cybersecurity, Cloud, DevOps, Datascience etc…)
Ahhh, in my industry the tools are getting dumbed down by the day. I do marketing sites for homebuilders and the agencies they use. Whatever their CSRs find that they understand to let the client maintain their own content (which they don’t). Unfortunately that means WordPress and other bone head CMSs. I’m slowly losing my developer cred as I spend more time fixing bad HTML5/CSS and bloated code libraries. Grrrr…
Thanks so much guys! @gr3atj0b @Josh_Melnick @Lampy @srini
This is an incredibly helpful conversation! @srini, I’ve had a similar thought regarding Udemy vs subscription. The only thing that makes me lean toward a subscription is my experience with Codecademy. Their subscription includes coursework, online teachers, a planned path, etc. they actually have a web dev plan that follows much of what @gr3atj0b recommended. I think Farmers Branch library does offer Lynda, so I’ll check that out as well.
Oh, if codeacademy style teaching can help you, please go ahead. I just prefer my learning (at least the basics) to be face 2 face or live/webex. If you are choosing to be a coder (any programming language), please do keep in mind these fundamentals to be learnt. These would help you to become a great coder.
Im using Datacamp right now, I think its a good intro, also Udemy and Codeacademy are also quite good.
I just switched from embedded dev to front end. MEAN and MERN are leading the charge with a growing emphasis on MERN. PHP still powers 80% of the web but I don’t think you’ll find many new greenfield projects using LAMP.