Should I do Ruby/Rails or JavaScript/Node?

Some of my thoughts on this common question.
I went back and forth on a few ideas here...but my core message is to choose something and stick to it.

[MitukaBwanausi]

I value your perspective. I started learning Ruby just a month ago. For me, the goal isn't so much to secure a job, but rather to develop my own startup projects. Ultimately, it's not the programming language that matters most, it's the problems it helps solve.

[gastonhenrich]

From a learning perspective, I believe Ruby is a more approachable and easier language to comprehend compared to JavaScript. However, when it comes to securing your first job in the programming world, while you may encounter more competition in JavaScript, there are far more opportunities for juniors in that language.

[RA-xxmz]

I tried starting with JS. Syntax wasn’t as easy get a hold of as Ruby.

I learned Ruby/Rails THEN JS/Express

[edudolsa]

I started with JS path but after doing a better research and more specifically after hearing your opinion I will go back and start the ROR path, thanks for your honest opinion, I liked that your videos seems sincere without promoting something in specific due to money incentives and that you truly want to help others with the knowledge that you already acquired without influencing on people to make certain decisions, thanks!

[ModernStacker]

Great discussion. Thanks for sharing your insights.

[avgGamer]

I'm a Odin project student. I initially chose javascript path. After learning React, i got my job as my first job as front end engineer. I wanted to be a. Full stack with MERN.But when i started Node, i didn't like it. My intuition was that it was never supposed to use in the server. Single threaded non blocking scripting language. So I've switched to rails path. So far I'm loving it. But jobs are less

[Bananas]

I have (for longer than I would like to admit) fallen prey to the 'shiny object syndrome' although I believe that I struggle with a different 'version' of it. There may be a name for it, I am unsure. My own struggle with regard to choosing & sticking to a path re what sort of development / tech stack, etc, is that I am often in the position of being anxious over the choice of which 'direction' to begin / continue studying with regard to choice(s) between (but not limited to) web development, mobile development, application / enterprise development (think Java or C++), game development (Unity, C#), data science (Python). It seems every time I feel 'committed' to a path firmly, I am beset with concern that there lies larger potential for employment & earning in ANOTHER path - and as such I find myself in a continuous circuit of hopping from one path to another, staying busy but accomplishing not more than refreshing myself on the first 10% of a language / framework, tech stack, etc. It can be very frustrating, and even moreso while I am seeing myself doing it and knowing that it's unproductive. Challenging to say the least.

[TheCrusaderRabbits]

Some advice: look for Ruby jobs in your city to see how popular it is.

[digitalsketchguy]

I wish the Oden Project offered Python & Django & Flask as a 3rd option.

[RR-etzp]

node js is good for experienced developers who know what their doing and what libraries they need to know. Rails is a bit better to get an overall view of how a backend should be built. Then levelling up is important because companies want mid. level dev minimum. Ther are also for different reasons right? node js more for chat app features, rails more for standard backend. At the end of the day if your site has a lot of traffic, you'll optimize with a load balancer, maybe write some Go instead of node js but these are all good problems to have

[TheJackTheLion]

Great great great. Honesty. Love the odin project

[nyahhbinghi]

Node.js is far superior, but it doesn't matter that much in terms of learning. The best choice is whatever is easier for you to learn and keep the momentum up

[ASMRcode]

I'm glad I stumbled on your video. This is my 10th day of following the Ruby path on TOP. I was wondering how long it took you to complete the entire path?
I've reached OOPs now and I now have a fair bit of understanding of how classes and inheritances work. But I still need to dig deeper.
Also, I'm practicing a lot with chatgpt as well. If you have any tips on how you practice what you learn, it would be great.

My goal from doing TOP is do build plugins for the Sketchup software with Ruby and Sketchup's API.
I also want to land a job here in Germany in the web development space.
There's loads of jobs in the javascript space but I still want to stick to the ruby on rails path. My goal is achieve a decent level of mastery by end of June and apply for jobs from July.
Thanks for your videos and looking forward to more content from you :)

[odinapprentice]

Thanks for putting this together. I've been somewhat agonizing over picking the "right" path, even though the curriculum says "it doesn't matter". I understand that, but when people say "just pick something and stick to it" it feels like a big commitment, knowing that TOP isn't a 2-3 week program. Just spinning a wheel and saying "i'm going to commit the next xx months of my spare time to this process" feels like it's minimizing the time and effort commitment that TOP will demand. This video helps ease the nerves, and is helping me feel better about sticking with the Ruby path!

[jobnacorconcepcionabad]

Even in 2024 with the new “IA BOOM” still worthy to learn Roby on Rails?

[lazyhrse]

People often forget that what made go / rust / js popular is big corporations, they have much more resources to burn than an individual. So they value performance on the long run. But somehow this misled a lot of people (myself included) into thinking that rust / go is a good way to make successful startups. Because what if you grew 1 million visitors per month? It's the phantom fantasy of a foolish developer who haven't started a single successful product.

The lesson is, choose the fastest stack for shipping features, and if you still got throttled by their "slowness" then just double the bill. By that time, you would make much more money, you can hire staff, you would do much more. And the language won't hold you back because it's so simple to add a new feature down the road.

I wish I have known about rails earlier, but hard lessons come later when you got punched hard.

[ijazkhan]

Learn both. Ruby and JS might compete, but the fact is that in almost any rails project, you will have JS code.

[bashehu]

I am wondering, why was TOP website built with Ruby/Rails rather than Node/Express?

[naveensinghraanaa]

In one of the replies above, you have mentioned you got your first job in Python. Did you learn Python from some other resource? Because TOP seems not to be teaching that.