> ...if you use pow you HAVE to install gems to ./vendor or it won't work. Or
> another solution is to just not use pow, and just bundle exec rackup
> or similar.

I've found Pow to be more of a hinderance than a help when using it as an 
app-host. Personally, I think its biggest strength is as a DNS delegator / 
reverse proxy:

http://pow.cx/manual.html#section_2.1.4

Using that along with with Guard or Foreman managing passenger / thin / unicorn 
/ etc makes things a lot easier.

> Lastly, I find in general that the amount of "ops" a dev needs to know
> is rapidly increasing. I'd like to focus more on the language itself,
> but we find ourselves going "both ways" I guess, having to become
> almost experts in both the JS/SCSS fields for angular/ember based
> stuff as well as in the ops field to be able to deploy properly, deal
> with autoscaling groups, security/firewall issues and all that junk.
> Where the middle ground is, I am not sure.

I've been facing the same issues too, and I've simply resigned myself to 
accepting it as part of being a web developer. As the underlying technology 
gets better, people discover new and better ways to do things. Before long, the 
new techniques become best practice and you've got a new set of skills to 
acquire:

800x600 >> The Browser Wars >> WAP >> Web 2.0 >> Responsive Design

Font tags >> CSS >> LESS/SASS/SMACS/OOCSS

Static content >> PHP + MySQL >> Rails >> Angular, JSON, and a remote API

FTP, public_html, and cgi-bin >> Capistrano >> Heroku, or Puppet and AWS

If you're trying to go it alone, or as part of a small team, it's a daunting 
prospect. The only respite comes when the technology progresses to a point that 
it's simplicity and ubiquity mean that implementation can be done by people 
with a basic skill set. The rise of Wordpress and the ecosystem around that is 
a handy example: eight years ago I was building complex, php-based, 
database-backed e-commerce websites that can now be deployed in 10 seconds by 
someone with Wordpress.com and Spotify.

But then, another challenger approaches and the gradient on the learning curve 
goes up another notch. 

Ultimately, I don't think there is a middle ground--it's part and parcel of 
what we do. You can continue to diversify your skill-set and earn your way into 
a position where you can hire people with the skills you're missing so you can 
then focus on what makes you happy.

Or, you can leave the freeway behind, figure out what the best balance of work 
/ happy hacking is and find a way to make that satisfying.




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