
11 Tips on Hiring a Rails Developer - luccastera
http://www.rubyinside.com/11-tips-on-hiring-a-rails-developer-662.html
======
ardit33
"Be wary of holes in proficiency. Rails developers should be fearless. Its
reasonable to expect them to have a command of everything from database
indices to cross-platform JavaScript. (Bonus points if they are handy in
Photoshop and Illustrator.)"

\-- This is pretty retarded. While most decent developers have toyed around
with lots of technologies, it takes a lot of work and time to know one in
depth. Anybody that claimes that knows everything:

1\. Usually are jack of all trades but master of none. Basically they have
mocked around with everything, but they are pretty mediocre and never had the
chance to involve in a technology in great depths.

2.Are the "heroic" types, the especially young ones that have played or mocked
around with certain technologies, and the "claim" they know them. This is more
a naive interpratation of being familiar with a technology is the same as
knowing it, and this guys are about a rude-awekening when they actually have
to do something serious on their technologies they "know".

Yes, I mocked around with photoshop/firwork, but I am not a good designer, I
have done some PHP work, but I am not good at it, I have designed some
databases, but I am not that knowlageble person to know everything at least I
admit it.

Be wary of people that don't admit they weakness, but appear to "know
everything"

~~~
downer
Apparently this article's advice is "just hire someone who is good at
everything!"

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nikolaj
I run a django shop, and my technique for hiring is finding people who
preferably have had freelancer experience (know how to get something out the
door), know a little (preferably a ton) of bash, actively learn new things,
are up on the latest stuff (i should be able to have a conversation about js
kits with them), and when i explain the advantages of django to them they show
an understanding of Why it is so cool. Python or django is not 'required'.. i
can ramp them up on that with lots of little tasks at first.

A big plus is being a unix nerd.

~~~
tocomment
Why the emphasis on bash?

~~~
nikolaj
i think a sign of a good programmer is the tendency to engage with the
computer using a language, not just pointing clicking and dragging. Bash
familiarity tends to coincide with shell-aptitude.

------
jkush
This is a pretty narrow list of things to look for in a Rails developer. Isn't
it more prudent to find a smart developer who has a wide range of interests?
Smart developers such as that would surely be able to do the job well.

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mrtron
A classic UW grad - suggests that a university degree is not required, but
drops in that he just happened to graduate from "Canada's highly-regarded
Math/CS program at Waterloo". I suppose it is now only appropriate I say I
also am graduate.

I have to agree with him that a university degree is not required - but I
would still interview a UW grad above a few other candidates. My reasoning? I
know much of the basic algorithm, design and other fundamentals will have a
higher chance of being there than someone who is entirely self taught.
University forces you to learn things that don't necessarily meet your exact
interests - but that graph algorithm you didn't really enjoy but learned could
come in handy next time you are writing a google maps mashup hack.

Edit: I also forgot to mention a huge indicator among my peers is pet
projects. The good developers are always working on something (a lot of
android apps lately), and the bad developers aren't.

~~~
jkush
I completely understand why you'd interview a UW grad above other candidates.
You have to make an intial cut somewhere, right?

As a high school dropout, I hate having to compete against those with
diplomas. But I guess that's what I get for dropping out.

~~~
mrtron
Yes it is quite the dilemma. I know one or two people who are self taught and
great coders. However, the majority of people I have worked with that are
primarily self taught aren't good.

I guess the key to competing against diplomas is making separating from the
herd - perhaps with pet projects, a blog showing your expertise, etc.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
The key to competing with anybody is to show recent experience. I don't care
what kinds of certificates you have -- what have you done lately?

It doesn't matter what you did last year. Programming (and startups) are all
about what you can do this year.

~~~
Retric
This seems a little narrow minded. Many highly talented programmers find a
lucrative area and stick with it for a while, but they can pick up on the "new
big thing" almost instantly.

IMO it all comes back to talent and drive which are almost impossible to judge
in an interview but they tend to swamp all other factors over time.

~~~
downer
> IMO it all comes back to talent and drive which are almost impossible to
> judge in an interview but they tend to swamp all other factors over time.

I would narrow that down even further, to _drive_.

Plus I don't believe in talent; but one's level of _skill_ will increase if
she has the drive to improve.

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edw519
"A personal rails blog is required."

Not only would you be excluding 99% of the population, you'd be self selecting
those who have the time to blog. If you want the best, you have to understand
that they're already working. And quite possibly, too busy to blog.

~~~
eusman
I agree except in the "too busy too blog". I'd say blogging helps you be
concetrated on what you are working on. While writting about it you rethink
your choices etc.

It's also not that time consuming, if you are not doing it every single second
that is...

~~~
edw519
"I'd say blogging helps you be concetrated on what you are working on."

This makes no sense to me.

Working on what you're working on helps you concentrate on what you're working
on.

~~~
eusman
if the posts are related to the things you are working on, then writing about
them, during a break, it could help you not get distracted in case you did
something else totally irrelevant.

~~~
Goladus
It's still a bad idea to associate blog-writing skill with technical and even
interpersonal skill. It's also a bad idea to make too many assumptions about
the reason why someone might choose not to have a blog. A guy with a family
might not want to risk getting the wrong sort of attention, for example.

------
hello_moto
#5 might counters #8

"but several of the best Rails developers I know didn't study computer science
at all"

That's because Rails developers were previously PHP developers were previously
"Web Designer" or "Graduate from school but interested in Web Development due
to DotCom"

"First, Rails developers need their MacBook Pros and fat external screens,
obviously"

I thought Ruby = type less more magics? Why would you need a fat external
screens (like those 30" Mac Monitor).

~~~
davidw
> previously PHP developers

A lot of people fled from Java and its verbosity, as well. Rails is really a
sweet spot in the sense of using a language that doesn't feel like such a
drag, yet also being fairly structured, well ordered, and with a culture that
places some value on writing good code.

~~~
hello_moto
That's the second wave :). The first wave was pretty much PHP and web
designers.

I agree Ruby is a cool language with all the features you mentioned.

While it may be true that the culture in Ruby world is to "write good code", I
kind of doubt that statement in the real world. Probably only a handful of
Rails developers that actually stay true to that culture. The rest just want
their share of web 2.0 fame.

Sorry if I'm being skeptical. Maybe cause I saw a lot of Rails blogs that
don't reflect the Ruby/Rails culture.

~~~
michaelneale
I don't think thats skeptical. Probably realistic. Rails is the new VB
(maybe).

~~~
tyler
I'm so tired of that comparison.

Heres the difference: Rails is programmed on Ruby.

Rails in itself is, to me, not that impressive. It does a lot of things right,
but it does probably just as many wrong. Not the least of which is scaling.

But the advantage that Rails has is that its programmed on top of Ruby. And
for that reason it will never be truly akin to the monstrosity that was VB.

Except in that it attracts poor developers. But, thats simply because its
easy. The trick is finding the people who use Rails because of Ruby... not the
other way around.

~~~
michaelneale
I'm so tired of that rebuttal. But really, it doesn't matter. Rails is great,
as long as people build great stuff in it. Too much talk is all that bugs me.

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jraines
Thanks for this. I am always wondering how far away I am from being a "real"
Rails developer -- programming is a longtime hobby for me, and I love Rails
and maybe would like to one day build stuff in it for a living. Number 6 on
the list is especially encouraging, and numbers 4 and 5 give me some nice to-
do's.

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tocomment
On the employee side, is it worth learning RoR just to get a job? I haven't
had much luck finding a Python job.

~~~
hello_moto
Short-term job: maybe

Long-term job: I doubt it (small chances)

If you want to have a web-dev job, PHP should be good enough seeing that most
web-consulting companies will pick either Wordpress, Wikimedia, Joomla/Mambo,
and Drupal to get the job done.

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gsiener
And how do we find a good rails freelancer?

~~~
qaexl
From the other side of the fence: [http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/how-to-
get-clients-to-com...](http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/how-to-get-clients-
to-come-to-you/)

