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. :-)
