Beginner here: What does it take to find a decent job as Rails developer and live from it

Hi all.

I’m a newbie developer that’s been working with Joomla + PHP till now, but I’ve decided some weeks ago to start with serious development and specifically Ruby & Rails. For the history I was searching which language/framework to go with and I was between Python/Django and Ruby/Rails so I’ve decided Ruby. I’m currently reading the Cooper’s “Ruby for Beginners” and then I’m planning to move onto “Agile Development with Rails” and dive into Rails. Thing is, I’m currently very passionate about Ruby and web technologies generally and I can’t wait to start developing with Rails, plus I think I’m learning fast and I also have a nice idea in mind for a site I want to develop (might as well be called a “startup”).

I would like to know however, from the experienced developers here, what are the job opportunities worldwide for Rails developers at the current time? I’m listening a lot that the Rails market is hot right now. Does this mean that if you’re a new yet decent Rails developer (always evolving), you can still find nice jobs worldwide?

What does it take to be “employable” Rails developers? What are the most companies asking for? What if you’re decent developer with experience etc, but have no relevant University-College studies/certificates?

Hello there!

Rails is growing up very fast in the market

To give you an idea, here in Brazil there are many opportunities for RoR web development, both in small and in multinational companies and some academic attempts too

About "employable" Rails developer...

This is very concerning...

Depend's the region or companie...

Experience is more needed than studies/certificates, but without these you will have to make a good advertising and have a presentable portfolio to convince companies that you really have a difference in your work

The combination would be ideal

Experience is good, especially comercial experience of Rails.

If you've been doing Rails for 5 years but you are actually employed as a Java programmer you will probably lose to someone who has been employed as a Rails developer for 2 years.

It's hard to sell enthusiasm over experience :frowning:

Fabricia, where can I find this opportunities here in Brazil?

github.com find people on quora.com and stackoverflow.

twitter isn't a bad place to start streaming tags. and i think it's always good to form relationships first then ask for a recommendation 2nd. people still hire people.

i have a freelance opt if you're ever interested.

thanks, ruby!