[LRUG] Not for profit organizations using Ruby

[Ronny Ager-Wick]

On 02/09/12 15:51, Tom Morris wrote:
> On Sunday, 2 September 2012 at 02:57, Ronny Ager-Wick wrote:
>
>> Just out of curiosity, why do you ask?
>> Please don't find this offensive (geeks wouldn't, but I don't know if you're a geek or not), I mean well. It's just that I find it hard to see the need for such information, and also, I think you'll have a hard time getting it, as I doubt many of the non-profits using Ruby are part of LRUG, or even know they're using Ruby.
>> If you're thinking of using Ruby for a project, but want to make sure other non-profits are also using it, then first of all, why is this relevant?
>
>
>
> Non-profits often (not always) pay less than organisations in the private or public sector, meaning recruiting people can often be harder. Recruitment can be hard (been there, done that) - the same reason any organisation can be sceptical about a new programming language or tool.
>
> Incidentally, if any of you are looking for a PHP/MySQL gig at a London-based non-profit that pays about £10,000 less than one could get doing similar commercial work… hit me up. I know, attractive proposition, right? ;-)
>
Thanks, Tom. That *is* a good reason to ask :)

OP,
Ruby developers are in great demand. Demand drives the price up. If you're 
looking for cheap per hour rates, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
However, hourly rates are not indicative of the full project cost. Ruby 
developers may have productivity advantages over developers of certain other 
languages, especially using frameworks such as Rails and Sinatra. This means 
that although the hour/day rates (if that's what you pay) may be higher, the 
total project cost may end up being lower. This is especially true if you're 
comparing a really good Ruby developer to a mediocre one (which is often what 
you get if you underpay) using any language.
I would focus on the total cost rather than cost per time unit.

Ronny.