Why does Microverse teach Ruby on Rails?
There are many programming languages to choose from, and the fact is, you simply have to start somewhere!
Which language you start your programming journey with really doesn’t matter all that much. What matters most is choosing one and mastering it completely. You need a solid foundation of knowledge for at least one core language, which then acts as the building blocks for all other programming concepts that follow it. Let’s dive into more details on this topic.
We chose Ruby because it is one of the current top 10 programming languages (as ranked on GitHub).
And based on its long-term history, its ranks have only been increasing:
The positions of some of the programming languages of many years back. Please note that these are average positions for a period of 12 months. (Full listing here: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/)
Ruby also has a vibrant active developer community. For example, the Ruby on Rails framework has almost 3,500 contributors on GitHub. By contrast, the Django framework for Python has less than half as many (slightly over 1,500). An active community also equals a large amount of content, so Ruby developers can often find in-depth guides to what they would like to achieve.
Ruby on Rail (RoR) was designed to turn developers into extremely efficient productivity machines (on average, 30-50% faster than other technologies). Because of this, a lot of big name tech companies like Airbnb, Crunchbase, and Indigogo use RoR to iterate product ideas quickly for their web applications. Startup companies have also found the benefit of this cost-effectiveness and have quickly moved towards using RoR. On top of that, startups are often more open to hiring remote employees. There are plenty of jobs for each stack, but again, what really matters is that once you choose one, you stick to and get really good at it.
Lastly, keep in mind that as a programmer, you should always be learning new languages to diversify your portfolio, broaden your skills and stay up to date on the latest trends. :)