

Python vs. Ruby – The Workshape.io Smackdown - carsie
http://blog.workshape.io/python-vs-ruby-the-workshape-smackdown/

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kyllo
Ruby devs build more web apps and Python devs do more systems dev and data
crunching. Not exactly a groundbreaking revelation knowing that Python has
much more in the way of bindings for C/C++ and Fortran libraries for
statistical / math routines, but still interesting to see this reconfirmed.

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ChikkaChiChi
Source?

My understanding was that before Rails, Ruby was considered primarily a
language used for mathematics. Anecdotally, it does seem that I see a lot of
stories about using python for statistics, but I haven't seen any hard numbers
one way or the other.

Python seems to also have a lot of web implementations. I'm not sure where you
are getting your numbers from.

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darrhiggs
I believe they are referring to the article

 _> The skills and time load sections both re-inforce that Python is more
heavily linked to Data Science than Ruby. Ruby is more of a web technology
with strong affinity to front-end technologies and iOS._

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teamhappy
I would have expected the C/C++/Linux people to have higher seniority than the
CSS/CoffeeScript/Node.js people. Can anybody explain this? Is it that they
work in two different industries (i.e., they both build web apps, but the
Python ones are heavier on the number crunching side)?

~~~
GordyMD
The seniority level was gathered by asking each person the seniority they
would like in their next job. This suggests that it is more common for people
working with Ruby to think of picture themselves in a higher seniority role
than their Python counterparts. It is not an actual reflection of their
current level.

Also it is completely subjective - Your definition of C/C++/Linux people being
more senior to CSS/CoffeeScript/Node.js people is your point of view - other
people's views may be different.

~~~
teamhappy
> It is not an actual reflection of their current level.

I know. I meant to say "have a higher seniority in the graph." I assume the
sample size was big enough to handle shy Pythonistas and/or overly-confident
Ruby devs. :P

> Your definition of C/C++/Linux people being more senior [...]

I said "I would have expected [...]".

> [...] other people's views may be different.

Clearly: [http://uk.businessinsider.com/best-tech-skills-resume-
ranked...](http://uk.businessinsider.com/best-tech-skills-resume-ranked-
salary-2014-11?r=US)

My personal experience is that somebody who doesn't know C/C++ and some UNIX
basics is going to write worse code _on average._ (Settle down.) My personal
experience probably isn't representative of anything (I'm a graphics
programmer), but I think it shows in the web dev world as well. Puma for
example (a Ruby web server I know virtually nothing about) is crazy fast
because the guy who wrote it knows about fork and signals. Another example is
Bluebird (JS promises lib), which only became popular because the guy who
wrote it knows how compilers work.

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ChikkaChiChi
Are Rubyists significantly less likely to have database skills than those who
have made a profession out of Python programming?

The secondary skills chart seems to indicate this (at least for Workshape
sample set). If so, is this the result of 10 years of working with an
abstraction layer in Rails? Is it simply because Rails developers have a
different focus?

The Average Workshops vis seems to indicate this slightly, but not nearly as
much as the premise would indicate.

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rshaban
The Secondary skills distribution chart seems the most interesting to me -- it
seems to indicate that Python users are more interested in other programming
languages and general Computer Science (C++/Java, Unix, machine learning),
while Ruby users are more likely to be focused on app/web dev (CSS,
Coffeescript, Objective-C). This makes sense given Rails' popularity and
libraries like scikit-learn, numpy, etc.

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nvk
Fun article, but there is a lot of selection bias here. Small sample, product
focussed at younger devs, etc...

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GordyMD
This is a fair criticism. As we build up a larger data set we hope that more
value can be attached to the it and the insights be more indicative of the
community. Until then we are just interested to share what we are currently
finding with the new primary data we have collected.

We could definitely do with a statistician to help us out and minimise any
selection bias, but i think that comes when we increase the amount in our data
set by another order of magnitude or two. :)

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
The article does a good job of explaining your methods of data collection, and
nothing in the content suggests otherwise.

I wish more articles on the Internet had this kind of transparency.

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davman
Unrelated to the article itself, but I have an ongoing issue with Workshape
that I'm wondering if anyone else has.

I've currently got a 97 "match" with a position there, but I still get "There
are currently no matches for your desired role". Does anyone else have this?
Am I doing something wrong?

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GordyMD
Hey. Apologies for the bad UX here. You are currently seeing the unmatched
screen. The reason for this is most likely that your desired location does not
match that of the position. I'll have a look into it though to confirm whether
this is the case. If you want to get back to me so we can talk about it more
then email me at gordon[at]workshape.io.

In the future we will be updating the experience for users who do not get
matches according to their profile. We currently show the closest matches,
which I can imagine being frustrating. Instead we are thinking of surfacing
insights from our data set based on your input. So, similar to this article,
we'd give insights relevant to you about opportunities in the area.

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lion_del
Interesting. A good addition would be to see your geographic data (I remember
saying where I wanted to work). I wonder if either are more popular in certain
geographies or not.

