[cpursley]

I love Ruby/Rails and owe my career to it, but I don't see the advantage of choosing this stack in 2019 over Elixir/Phoenix for greenfield projects. Elixir tooling and libraries are now up to par and I'd argue have surpassed RoR.

At this point, it's just as productive (perhaps even more as you don't have to glue on a bunch of additional components) and joyful to work with like RoR but massively scalable out of the box thanks to the Erlang VM.

[LanceH]

1. You can find a RoR developer.

[zukzuk]

Or not! Here in Toronto we've had a req open for a senior Ruby dev since like last October. We're seriously debating switching over to something else for no reason other than lack of available Ruby talent. Relatively view new devs are picking up Ruby nowadays. Job posting is here if anyone's interested --> https://angel.co/company/akira-2/jobs/106786-sr-full-stack-r...

[purple_ducks]

That job posting is more than just a rails dev.

> lead the development of...Our Java, Swift, and React Native-based mobile apps

> - Experience with building application backends in Ruby

> - Experience with React and Redux

> - Interest in machine learning and other next-gen technologies.

That job posting doesn't know what it wants.

[diveanon]

That's not a senior ruby dev, it's a full stack unicorn.

I read a post like that and think "why bother when I can get paid the same for doing one of these things well somewhere else".

[wolco]

A switch to PHP/Laravel would net you more candidates.

Offering remote would help.

[cpursley]

Right, and train them up on Elixir. I learned the basics and become productive in a month or so (OTP takes longer, but worth it).

[jjeaff]

Ha. It's so hard to find Ruby developers. But I will grant that when you do find one, they are usually pretty good developers.

[LanceH]

Ok, this is true. But as a Ruby developer, I'm being approached to program in Elixir, because those are even more difficult to find.

You can find more experienced Ruby devs -- finding someone with multiple years of Elixir would be very difficult.

[diveanon]

Go to any con and you will find plenty.

My experience with ruby devs is that they are usually employed and not actively searching. Since it isn't the flavor of the week anymore you don't have as many programmers entering the field as ruby devs.

Mentoring is always a solid option too, the language and frameworks are simple. Any CS graduate worth his degree will pick it up in no time.

[wry_discontent]

Maybe I'm biased, but I recently relearned rails (having done one project in it about 6 years ago) and found it much easier to pick up than Elixir/Phoenix, despite liking Phoenix quite a bit.

[mlpinit]

I love both Elixir and Ruby and the somewhat overlapping communities but I wouldn't say the libraries are "up to par".

[andrei_says_]

I’ve been considering Phoenix and looked at Elixir which made me realize how much I love Ruby. So I am starting my new Rails project and loving every second of it.

[WillPostForFood]

I agree, Elixir/Phoenix is really great. One advantage Rails still carries though, is the massive Ruby ecosystem.

[diveanon]

Talent availability is a major factor in building a viable tech stack for startups.