Ruby Skills

What is Ruby?

Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented programming language known for its simplicity, elegance, and developer-friendly syntax. It was created in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro Matsumoto, also known as Matz, to combine the best features of Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp into a single language.

At its core, Ruby emphasizes developer happiness and productivity, with a focus on human-readable code and programmer convenience. Its expressive syntax and rich set of built-in features make it a pleasure to work with for both beginners and experienced developers alike.

Hired platform data named Ruby as the fourth hottest programming skill in 2023. In this context, ‘hottest’ means the employer demand for expertise in this skill is greater than the supply of talent with it. Engineers experienced in this language receive 22% more interview requests compared to the marketplace average. 

Ruby versus Ruby on Rails

In recent years Ruby has seen a huge surge thanks to the Ruby on Rails framework becoming one of the de-facto leaders in modern web development. But how exactly do Ruby and Ruby on Rails compare? 

• Ruby is the programming language: Ruby provides the foundation for building applications. It’s a versatile language that can be used for a wide range of purposes beyond web development, including scripting, automation, and prototyping.
• Ruby on Rails is a web application framework: Rails is built on top of Ruby and provides a set of tools, conventions, and abstractions for building web applications. While Ruby on Rails is written in Ruby, it’s important to note that Ruby on Rails is not the same thing as Ruby itself.
• Ruby on Rails leverages Ruby: Ruby on Rails makes extensive use of Ruby’s features and syntax to provide developers with a productive and enjoyable development experience. Rails developers write Ruby code to define models, controllers, and views, leveraging the expressive syntax and object-oriented principles of Ruby.

What to use Ruby skills for

Ruby’s versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of applications. Here are some of the key uses of Ruby:

Web development

Ruby on Rails, a popular web application framework written in Ruby, is widely used for building dynamic and scalable web applications. Its convention over configuration approach and emphasis on RESTful principles make it a favorite among web developers.

Scripting

Ruby’s clean and concise syntax makes it an excellent choice for writing scripts for automation, task automation, and system administration tasks. Its built-in support for scripting and text processing makes it a powerful tool for automating repetitive tasks.

Prototyping

Ruby’s expressive syntax and rapid development capabilities make it ideal for prototyping new ideas and concepts. With Ruby, developers can quickly build and iterate on prototypes to validate ideas and gather feedback.

DevOps

Ruby is often used in DevOps workflows for tasks such as configuration management, infrastructure automation, and deployment scripting. Tools like Chef and Puppet, written in Ruby, leverage its expressive syntax and flexibility to manage infrastructure at scale.

Data analysis and processing

Ruby’s rich ecosystem of libraries and tools make it suitable for data analysis and processing tasks. Libraries like Nokogiri for web scraping and ActiveRecord for database manipulation make it easy to work with data in Ruby.

Companies of all sizes use Hired to find engineers with Ruby skills

What is a Ruby developer?

A Ruby developer is a skilled software engineer who specializes in using the Ruby programming language to build a wide range of applications and systems. Beyond just writing code, a Ruby developer is proficient in understanding and applying Ruby’s principles, designing elegant and maintainable architectures, and collaborating effectively with other team members. Here’s what it means to be a Ruby developer:

1. Proficiency in Ruby: A Ruby developer is fluent in the Ruby programming language, including its syntax, object-oriented principles, and idiomatic expressions.
2. Mastery of Ruby on Rails: While not strictly necessary, many Ruby developers are also proficient in Ruby on Rails, the popular web application framework written in Ruby. They have a deep understanding of Rails conventions, MVC architecture, and ActiveRecord ORM.
3. Frontend development skills: Ruby developers often have experience with frontend technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build user interfaces and enhance user experience.
4. Database management: Ruby developers are proficient in working with databases, including relational databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL, as well as NoSQL databases like MongoDB.
5. Problem-solving abilities: Ruby developers are adept at solving complex problems and troubleshooting issues that arise during the development process, whether it’s optimizing performance, fixing bugs, or implementing new features.

Most important Ruby developer skills in 2024

As we look ahead to 2024, the landscape of software development continues to evolve, and Ruby developers need to stay ahead of the curve. Here are some of the most important skills for Ruby developers in 2024:

1. Proficiency in Ruby: A deep understanding of the Ruby language, including its latest features and best practices, is essential for building modern and maintainable applications.
2. Knowledge of Ruby on Rails: While not strictly necessary, familiarity with Ruby on Rails is valuable for Ruby developers, especially those working on web development projects.
3. Frontend development: Ruby developers should have a solid understanding of frontend technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build responsive and interactive user interfaces.
4. Testing and Test-driven development (TDD): Ruby developers should be familiar with testing frameworks like RSpec and MiniTest and practice test-driven development to ensure the reliability and maintainability of their code.
5. DevOps skills: Ruby developers should have a basic understanding of DevOps principles and tools, including version control systems like Git, continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, and containerization technologies like Docker.

Ruby resources

Check out our resources to continue sharpening your Ruby skills.

Hired profiles help developers showcase their top tech skills

After passing Hired skills assessments, candidates have the chance to showcase their skills to employers. They can opt to present an ‘Assessments’ badge on their profile. Candidates may take various assessments including Programming Skills, Full Stack, Backend, Frontend, iOS, Android, Debugging, Dev Ops Generalist, and Dev Ops AWS.

Why should you hire Ruby developers?

Hiring Ruby developers can bring numerous benefits to your organization:

• Productivity: Ruby’s focus on developer happiness and productivity enables developers to write code quickly and efficiently, reducing time-to-market and accelerating project delivery.
• Scalability and maintainability: Ruby’s elegant syntax and object-oriented principles make it easy to build scalable and maintainable applications as they grow in complexity and user base.
• Strong community support: Ruby has a vibrant and supportive community of developers who contribute to open-source projects, share knowledge, and provide assistance through online forums, meetups, and conferences.
• Access to a wealth of libraries and gems: Ruby developers have access to a vast ecosystem of libraries and gems (Ruby packages) that can accelerate development and solve common challenges, from authentication and authorization to payment processing and geolocation.
• Flexibility and customization: Ruby’s flexibility allows developers to customize and extend the language to meet the specific needs of their projects, whether it’s integrating with third-party services, implementing complex business logic, or building custom features.

Assess tech candidates for Ruby skills

Looking for candidates skilled in Ruby? Technical assessments are a multi-pronged solution. They allow you to streamline the hiring process and reduce bias with tech skill-focused benchmarks. 

Hired Assessments offer a library of hundreds of questions and customizable coding challenge campaigns tailored to technical preferences. Centralize and standardize your evaluation process as you surface top talent with specific, hard-to-find skills.

See how Mastercard and Axon used Hired Assessments to vet top candidates.