http://www.softiesonrails.com/2007/8/22/net-free-for-365-days
somebody following? (emphasis mine, flamebait intended =)) )
.NET Free for 365 Days 3
Posted by brian one day ago
Time flies. One year ago, I announced
<http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/8/21/rails-is-officially-life-changing>
I would be leaving my cushy .NET architect job in favor of working
with Rails full-time.
When I left my full-time job, I honestly didn't have much of a plan.
I just knew I was ready to the trade the comfort of the enterprise
.NET world I was working in for something riskier, but ultimately
more fulfilling (and fun). The idea was to spend more time
concentrating on my the small business I was already building on the
side (sales software for the hotel industry) while filling in the
gaps with Rails contract work, if it was available.
Lessons learned
I've been developing for the web since college (1995!), but I've
never spent the time to really learn crap about Linux. That has
changed a lot. As we've mentioned before, if you're not comfortable
finding your way around a *nix shell, that's going to be the biggest
barrier to a fruitful career developing web apps with Rails. The
same holds true with the tools commonly used by non-Microsoft
developers -- subversion, apache, etc.
And, there's no better way to become comfortable with this new
environment than to dive right in. In fear of starting the PC/Mac
holy wars once again, I'll just say that it helps if you learn to
work on Mac or Linux, as you'll be forced to quickly learn a lot of
commands that you probably didn't in the Windows world. /*I probably
haven't used Windows for about six months, and I don't miss it.*/
Business-wise, my consulting rate is a bit lower than my .NET rate
ever was. But I'm fine with it, because I really am having more fun
and am happier on a day-to-day basis with the work I'm doing.
And the verdict is...
In short, I've been busier than I could have ever imagined. I've
finished converting my company's products from .NET to Rails, and
business is good. On the consulting front, I've spent most of 2007
working on various Rails development projects for a large systems
integrator based in Japan, and helping a startup here in Chicago
with their Rails development efforts. I've also been hacking away
slowly on Coastr <http://coastr.com>, and have some new personal
projects up my sleeve as well (stay tuned). All while Jeff and I
have been quietly building what we hope will be a successful Rails
training offering <http://www.essentialrails.com/>.
Throw in the fact my wife and I just had our second baby girl (pair
programming now possible), and that's one busy, no, /a blur/ of a year.
--
Hendy Irawan
www.hendyirawan.com
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