Friday, March 13, 2009

So why do you do it?

That was the question a member on my team asked me when I said "even though our team has a bright Ruby and Rails future it doesn't seem like anyone else in Calgary does".

You see he's not a Java developer or a Ruby/Rails developer but rather a data warehousing/ETL expert, and after hearing us rave about all things Rails he thought it might be a good idea to pick it up too. I didn't want to discourage his exploration but I also didn't want to give him the impression that in these tough economic times that being a Rails guru was really going to turn him into a hot commodity. That's plainly not true. In Calgary, it seems like the wind is in the sails of the Microsoft .NET community.

And while I don't despise C# (or Java for that matter) I don't have the affection for those technologies that I do for Ruby and Rails so his question threw me off. And he has a point, if it's not going to improve my marketability as a developer outside of my current contract then why in the world would I choose to develop non-mainstream skills?

Well for me the answer is easy. I've worked with Java for about ten years and done the odd C# project or two so I feel pretty confident in my abilities to use either one if I have to (C# just isn't that different from Java). But that's the point. My current environment doesn't make me use those technologies so I choose not to because I know I can be more productive with Ruby and Rails. In other words I can provide more value to my client for the same amount of money they're spending to have me sit there. I can deliver software to my users faster than I can with the other mainstream choices, and I can do it with less code that is better tested and I think more maintainable. And although I know there are developers who like to squeeze every billable hour they can from their client, I prefer to deliver so that my users have a positive experience. My theory is that the positive experience will make them think of me the next time a potential project rolls around.

That's why I do it! And oh yeah, I love it too. :-)

1 comment:

Aaron said...

I cringe when I hear the argument against technology because it doesn't benefit your "marketability". Most of us who have been in the industry for around 10 years heard this about Java when Powerbuilder was the incumbent enterprise development tool.