# Is Rails in decline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700 "2009-05-11T18:39:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700/1 "2009-05-11T18:39:57Z")
Hi, I was doing Rails and was hired away to do .NET. I’m wondering what the state of Ruby/Rails is? I’ve heard it is in decline… I’m asking because I want to build an app in my spare time. It would make more sense to do it in C# because I could leverage what I know. But Rails was my first love…I prefer to work in it. I just don’t want to spend time on something that people aren’t interested in anymore… Do people have a sense of the demand/interest/support level that Ruby and Rails has? Thanks, Ron ---
**Author:** ![ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700/2 "2009-05-11T18:44:43Z")
On May 11, 5:38 pm, Ron [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi, > > I was doing Rails and was hired away to do .NET. I’m wondering what > the state of Ruby/Rails is? I’ve heard it is in decline… Railsconf certainly seemed healthy, a fair chunk of people new to rails (and plenty of more experienced people too). Fred ---
**Author:** ![ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700/3 "2009-05-11T19:43:27Z")
On May 11, 2009, at 12:38 PM, Ron wrote: > Do people have a sense of the demand/interest/support level that Ruby > and Rails has? > > Thanks, > > Ron If you want to build something in your spare time, why would you use anything you didn’t love? There are plenty of people/companies working with Rails. The fact that it is in decline _for you_ (you let yourself be hired away after all) doesn’t mean that the industry is being lured away from the power and expressiveness of Ruby (and Rails) so easily. -Rob Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700/4 "2009-05-11T20:29:41Z")
Rob B. wrote: > There are plenty of people/companies working with Rails. The fact that > it is in decline _for you_ (you let yourself be hired away after all) > doesn’t mean that the industry is being lured away from the power and > expressiveness of Ruby (and Rails) so easily. I don’t agree, I think that the impression on people like Ron is the same as on the industry as a whole, and I think that it is mainly due to the very poor PR that Rails have. Take the recent Twitter Scale Controversy for instance, I didn’t see an official and strong response to that, although some individuals did a good job responding to it in their personal blogs. The same about the recent departure of Mike G. (which was one of the most active promoters of the technology) after the “Pr0n Star” issue. Such things give the impression that the technology is poor and the community is unstable or even immature. I’m a tech person, so I evaluate Rails based on technical merits, but managers usually have a very different point of view when choosing a technology. ---
**Author:** ![ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@ron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ron)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-rails-in-decline/167700/5 "2009-05-11T22:20:24Z")
I don’t think RoR is in decline. Here in silicon valley, RoR is gaining foothold with startup companies. Java and C++ are traditionally favored by big corporations.