Hello,
I'm currently in the market for a full-time position and saw a job opening for a ruby on rails developer in the area (north-west US). The position pays between $40k and $45k / year. This seemed pretty low to me, but then, I'm not really aware of what the going rate is. I can take other jobs (asp.NET, PHP, C, etc..) but would rather work with ruby on rails. Am I setting my hopes to high expecting to earn more than $45k / year?
Thanks, Carl
I'm a part owner in Quality Humans, Inc. and we have several positions available around the country that pay far better than that, in great locations around the country including Nashville, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara.
Two things to note here:
1) There is no "market" for Ruby on Rails developers. There is, on the other hand, a tremendous shortage of talented people that know RoR and get results using it. Our customers are NOT interested in this time at anyone below top-notch highly qualified individuals.
2) Each individual is a market of one. While we find that rates for individuals with particular skill sets do vary over time, we find it ever increasing true that employers are focusing more and more on talented and productive individuals than they are on lists of skills.
The idea that I'm laboring to get across is that *you* are worth *exactly* what *you* can convince someone else you're worth. The very core of the capitalistic society that we live in is based on that very premise.
Generally speaking, we find employers rate people on these points, weighted highest to lowest importance:
1) Enthusiasm and passion (within limits!) is highly desirable. No negativity allowed. If every place you've ever worked have sucked, and all the managers and co-workers you've ever worked with were idiots, you'll not get through our screening. This is very hard to fake, by the way, as it comes out in millions of ways.
2) General social fit and wide outlook beyond technology. They're looking for people that get along with and communicate well with other people. Written skills are *highly* important. We do not ever pass people through who don't know (or don't use) punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc. An ideal candidate could demonstrate killer technical skills during a technical interview, then be fun, interesting, and engaged in a current events discussion during dinner.
3) Deep technical skill, rather than wide. Do you know 22 languages inside out, and use them daily? Thanks for applying. Have you used 22 languages in your career but only 2-3 in the last 8 years? You're what they're looking for.
4) Domain specific knowledge that matches the employers current need.
We are highly focused. We used to be all about Perl, but RoR changed our ways. We've been particularly well suited for employers seeking employees to help convert a Perl application into an RoR application.
To answer your question indirectly, let me say that we cut about 90% of
applicants up front. Now, I *know* those people are working somewhere,
but they're just not working for our customers. 
The general sense that I get is that cutting edge employers that have decided on Rails are really looking for those top-notch folks that have always been desirable. Yet, they're *not* looking for lesser folks to fill in underneath those top coders. This time around, they're going for small teams of talented people who can go out an bury their competition.
Tom Mornini wrote:
If every place you've ever worked have sucked, and all the managers and co-workers you've ever worked with were idiots, you'll not get through our screening.
But what if it's really *true*?
Jeff www.softiesonrails.com
Tom Mornini wrote:
We are highly focused. We used to be all about Perl, but RoR changed our ways. We've been particularly well suited for employers seeking employees to help convert a Perl application into an RoR application.
With all due respect, you're telling us more about yourself than about the general state of the Rails labor market. I care about the latter, but not about the former.
Sorry about that. I was just trying to answer Francis Cianfrocca's question:
Strictly out of curiosity, in filling positions for disciplines other than RoR, do you find that your customers are interested in hiring less-qualified, non-top-notch individuals? How would your answer have differed had the OP been asking about Perl, PHP, Java, or anything else besides RoR?
My point being that we're focused, so I'm *not* a highly reliable source of general Rails job market data, if there even is such a thing.
Jeff wrote:
Tom Mornini wrote:
If every place you've ever worked have sucked, and all the managers and co-workers you've ever worked with were idiots, you'll not get through our screening.
But what if it's really *true*?
What did you do about it
Justin
It depends. For the most part, _your_ going rate for Rails work is how much you can successfully get paid for doing rails work. Its like any other software job - it depends on location, skill set, supply and demand, the type of work, the company, other benefits included, etc, etc. There is no one true "going rate".
- rob
Tom Mornini wrote: > If every place you've ever worked have > sucked, and all the managers and co-workers you've ever worked > with were idiots, you'll not get through our screening.
But what if it's really *true*?
I currently make a great living at Rails development, exclusivly, and have been for the last 6 months. I personally provide a unique skill-set in the fact that I am a designer and artist that can code a few web languages. I ran into the same situation that everyone is speaking of and there being no real bar set for pricing and what not. How I went about it was by looking a geographic area and what I wanted from Rails work. The compromise was this.
I live in a geographic area that housing prices are not that high with regards to other areas of our country (I’m in SW Pennsylvania, US). I do own a house and have ambitions to improve both my investments here as well as my life-style in general. These thing weighed in heavily on where I set my prices.
I did not want to have to travel every morning to get to a job. I have more computing power for development and staging of web applications here without the “job site” restrictions usually to be had in corporate life. Plus with a new renovated studio space for myself the surroundings and general comfort was a given for me. This, I knew would not allow me to command as high a fee than if I would be willing to consult on site.
I looked at my recent background as a PHP developer and User Interface designer and what I made then (this was my last on site) and then looked at my background as an *NIX administrator and network designer. 12 years ago this is where my career started an is prevalent now as it was then, especially being that I had to be my own support staff.
Those points can be taken and modified as per your skill sets and general experiences, the best thing I was told way back in the days of the dot bust with contracting and career moves such as these what, “What will make you happy, and is it worth it for the experience to get you to where you want to be”. I don’t believe there is an ideal price nor do I believe there is a wrong answer. But don’t forget to look at where you live and how you want to live, make sure you will be comfortable. I know guys that command $20 to $30 more on a per hour rate than me in the New York and San Fran areas, but know a girl that gets less in the mid-west. I’m comfortable and happy with what I get.
One final point, raise your rates / ask for a promotion every year, inflation sucks and will get you quickly, especially now with the fuel crunches. That’s my $.02, take it for just that.
J “Brien” | HybridIndie Productions | http://hybridindie.com | hybridindie@gmail.com
Hmm.. I don't know how it is there. But here in Iceland, although price fixing is illegal, it is completely legal to say what salaries you yourself are getting. It's actually illegal to have a confidential clause conserning your salary in a contract.
Hey All,
We compiled some data on Ruby on Rails trends that show some (hopefully) very interesting info for individuals looking for job rates for Ruby on Rails jobs. You can find some fascinating wage stats about our fellow Ruby on Rails developers. Check our Ruby on Rails Developer Job Trends from USA, India, Russia. Also, if there is specific data anyone would like to know, ping me and I may be able to reach into our database and pull them up for our forum readers!
Hope this info helps, if you are still looking. The link to the page is <ahref="http://www.odesk.com/trends/Rails" alt="Ruby on Rails Developer Jobs Globally">
Let me know if you have any questions.
Eric Rivas
Carl Lerche wrote: