I’ve had the privilege of working on a Rails project at work over the last 2-3 months.  I got to do a small project (the “test” project for this one) last December before Rails 2.0 came out and now that I have started really diving into Rails this time around, I’m thoroughly enamored.

The creators of Rails basically wanted to create a framework that made it fun to code and solve problems again.   It’s not without its problems, but it certainly accomplishes this goal.

I’ve never been able to SOLVE A PROBLEM as fast as I can with Rails.   I’ve also never been able keep things clean and readable like I have this project.   This is a probject that at any other company on any other framework would have 4 developers on it trying to coordinate and discuss, instead, it’s got one.   I am constantly “in the know” and don’t have to coordinate, this saves tons of time and maintenence costs alone.  On any other framework, it probably would have still taken twice the amount of time it’s taken to create as well.

But there’s something that’s a little troubling about this whole thing.   With such easy and fun programming, lots of developers are flocking to Rails.   So instead of being a guy with a unique skill, I’m YARD.   You guessed it.  Yet another Ruby/Rails developer.  I think YARDs are a lot like real yards in the sense that most of them drain a lot of resources and end up just sitting there and looking nice and pretty.   You don’t really want to do without your yard, but most developers that are in it for the fun might not be the best at solving your problems.

So maybe I’m not YARD, maybe I’m ARDVARK - Another Rails Developer that’s Valuable, Agile, Resourceful and Knowledable. Oh… too much.

Until I’m found out one way or the other, I’m finally having fun coding again, and that’s more than I can say for some.