# Ruby on Rails Analyst/Programmers, Glasgow

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 16, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126 "2010-06-16T12:37:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/1 "2010-06-16T12:37:42Z")

</div>

Hi All,

I would like your advice. I’m helping a young company set up a ROR team  
from entry level to Senior A/P. I’ve not worked with this tech before so  
have some basic questions.

What are your thoughts:  
Is this a well exploited technology in Scotland/UK?  
What’s the typical career path for an RoR A/P ( from a PHP background or  
other)?  
If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
takes to become proficient?

Thanks in advance for any insights shared.

Deirdre

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/2 "2010-06-16T12:52:22Z")

</div>

Deirdre S. wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> I would like your advice. I’m helping a young company set up a ROR team  
> from entry level to Senior A/P. I’ve not worked with this tech before so  
> have some basic questions.
> 
> What are your thoughts:  
> Is this a well exploited technology in Scotland/UK?  
> What’s the typical career path for an RoR A/P ( from a PHP background or  
> other)?  
> If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
> takes to become proficient?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any insights shared.
> 
> Deirdre

Firstly, it doesn’t matter how well exploited the technology is because  
the support you (may) require for it can be done remotely. This includes  
hosting, of course. RoR already has an extensive community and a growing  
API, with support from major banking bodies and other industry-specific  
experts.

Secondly, A CS graduate is likely to have studied C of some variation  
and should, considering their assumed capabilities, be able to  
understand the structure of Ruby and the way in which it communicates  
with Rails.

Thirdly, may I ask why you have nominated the use of RoR? Surely, it  
would be better to let the Senior team decide which language is more  
suitable. I am asking this in spite of using RoR myself.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/3 "2010-06-16T13:13:59Z")

</div>

PH, Thank you for the reply. I am trying to assess how available A/Ps  
will be hence this question. What’s API mean here? The company already  
use RoR, they are looking for more developers, that’s where I have come  
in.

Deirdre

Pale H. wrote:

> Deirdre S. wrote:
> 
> > Hi All,
> > 
> > I would like your advice. I’m helping a young company set up a ROR team  
> > from entry level to Senior A/P. I’ve not worked with this tech before so  
> > have some basic questions.
> > 
> > What are your thoughts:  
> > Is this a well exploited technology in Scotland/UK?  
> > What’s the typical career path for an RoR A/P ( from a PHP background or  
> > other)?  
> > If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
> > takes to become proficient?
> > 
> > Thanks in advance for any insights shared.
> > 
> > Deirdre
> 
> Firstly, it doesn’t matter how well exploited the technology is because  
> the support you (may) require for it can be done remotely. This includes  
> hosting, of course. RoR already has an extensive community and a growing  
> API, with support from major banking bodies and other industry-specific  
> experts.

> Secondly, A CS graduate is likely to have studied C of some variation  
> and should, considering their assumed capabilities, be able to  
> understand the structure of Ruby and the way in which it communicates  
> with Rails.
> 
> Thirdly, may I ask why you have nominated the use of RoR? Surely, it  
> would be better to let the Senior team decide which language is more  
> suitable. I am asking this in spite of using RoR myself.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/4 "2010-06-16T13:25:23Z")

</div>

Deirdre S. wrote:

> PH, Thank you for the reply. I am trying to assess how available A/Ps  
> will be hence this question. What’s API mean here? The company already  
> use RoR, they are looking for more developers, that’s where I have come  
> in.
> 
> Deirdre

Firstly, the availability of RoR Developers in the area specified is  
impossible for me to determine but there is _certainly_ a lot of logic  
in making the opportunity available to CS graduates; as I said, they  
should be more than capable of understanding Ruby and the way in which  
it communicates with Rails.

Secondly, an API is an interface that considers the expansion and  
development of an application by providing it with support and  
information for additional implementations. [http://api.rubyonrails.org/](http://api.rubyonrails.org/)  
is a specific example of this.

My apologies, I assumed the company had no current developers and were  
looking to build a team from the foundations.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/5 "2010-06-17T16:22:44Z")

</div>

“If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
takes to become proficient?”

It will be very difficult if you are just a CS grad.

ROR is a framework of whole set of web technologies. So, it will be very  
difficult to master it in less than 6 months.

You need a strong web development technical leader with reasonable ROR  
expertise for atleast a year.

CS graduates dont get educated with open source technologies. They  
usually  
come up with Java background.

If you get graduates with PHP background and who have self-learnt Ruby  
languages, you are lucky.

Put an advertisement in ROR job sites, eg  
jobs.rubynow.comand see how many are turning from Glasgow.

On 16 June 2010 11:37, Deirdre S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
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## –

Nandri(Thanks in Tamil),  
Amala S.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@dshell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dshell)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-analyst-programmers-glasgow/190126/6 "2010-06-17T16:22:08Z")

</div>

On 16 June 2010 11:37, Deirdre S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I would like your advice. I’m helping a young company set up a ROR team  
> from entry level to Senior A/P.

Firstly, I’d query why there has been a choice of any technology  
platform without anyone of experience to decide? Normally, I’d expect  
the CTOs platform of experience is what’s plumbed for. What’s the  
rationale for RoR? (not that it’s necessarily a bad choice! 😉

> What are your thoughts:  
> Is this a well exploited technology in Scotland/UK?

In Scotland, you might try to ask at [Rubaidh.com is for sale | HugeDomains](http://rubaidh.com/company) -  
although they may not be inclined to respond if you’re starting a  
competitor!

In the rest of the UK there does seem to be a fair spread of us, but  
it is a small pool.

> If a CS grad, is it difficult to pick up - how long would you think it  
> takes to become proficient?

Very few people I have met are straight to Ruby/RoR from uni. The  
majority have arrived after a period of their career and are thus  
quite senior. As far as CS grads (or self-taught techies) are  
concerned, you may find yourself in the position of having to teach  
them everything - even re-teach a some of what they’ve covered in  
their courses - from HTML, CSS upwards.  
But on the flip side (and I worked with one guy like this) very bright  
people _can_ pick stuff up very quickly.

> Thanks in advance for any insights shared.

If you’d consider temporary help - even consultation advice while you  
set up your team. Feel free to get in touch directly - I’m a freelance  
developer.

Regards
