
Is being a niche language developer good for your career? - nickb
http://blog.jayfields.com/2007/12/is-being-niche-language-developer-good.html
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gruseom
It's not programming in a niche language that's limiting his options. It's
assuming that he has to "be" a niche language developer and "focus" on one
thing. Saying _I am a Ruby developer_ in that sense is like saying _I am a
hammer carpenter_. Good programmers learn new languages easily, and
specialization is the wrong approach to apply here.

~~~
davidw
It depends:

That guy's more likely to get a job where they need a _Ruby_ developer. Maybe
I'm more likely to get a job when they need someone to do X Y and Z and they
think they'd like to use Ruby, but use other languages for other things, too.

~~~
Goladus
It depends even more. If I were looking for a Ruby developer, I'd hire a guy
who could write an optimizing compiler for Javascript in C and had never used
Ruby than someone who only knew Ruby; even if they knew Ruby pretty well.

If you are going to become a Ruby _Language Lawyer_ , then you'll probably get
the best compensation and find the most rewarding work at a limited number of
companies; but in the process of learning a language well enough to be called
a language lawyer it's almost impossible not to become proficient in other
languages as well. I'd argue that if you don't know anything but Ruby, you're
most likely not a Ruby _expert_.

~~~
cstejerean
I'm not sure if I agree. Sometimes what a company really needs is an EXPERT in
their field.

Generally smart people can of course learn any subject matter but a) you'll
need resources to coach them and b) they'll write mediocre code for a very
long time.

Any smart Java developer can learn Ruby but for a long time they'll be writing
Java code in Ruby. It takes a while longer to become adept with Ruby and start
writing Ruby code like a pro. And sometimes you just don't have the resources
or the time so you need to hire candidates that have expertise in the right
area.

~~~
Goladus
_Any smart Java developer can learn Ruby but for a long time they'll be
writing Java code in Ruby. It takes a while longer to become adept with Ruby
and start writing Ruby code like a pro._

I'm not talking about "any smart Java developer," I'm talking about a top-
quality hacker that really understands computers. From a hiring perspective,
it may be hard to tell the difference between a great hacker who solves big
problems and a Ruby Pro who can only write effectively in Ruby. But it's the
truth. A programmer who really understands the inner workings of a system and
the point of high-level languages shouldn't have any problem learning to use
Ruby effectively in a very short period of time with minimal coaching(No more
coaching than you'd likely need to do anyway, if you're planning to actually
integrate his code).

If you're trying to plan your own career, "should I become a niche developer?"
is the wrong question to be asking, unless you have failed an attempt to
become a great hacker and aren't interested in trying again.

~~~
akkartik
Yup.

The good developer may not know all the idioms in ruby. But that will have
negligible impact on his productivity or the quality of the code he writes.

