Comment by bravesoul2
6 days ago
I found a correlation between Rails and lower salaries. Not sure why though. I was actively looking to move to Rails for a change of scenery, until I realised it comes with a tax.
6 days ago
I found a correlation between Rails and lower salaries. Not sure why though. I was actively looking to move to Rails for a change of scenery, until I realised it comes with a tax.
What country were you searching in? I'm an American work-from-home Rails + React engineer (admittedly with 12 years of experience), and I'm in the 96th % income bracket for individuals of my age (mid-40s). And I just started this position a month or two ago, so it's not like I got this job during the time of ZIRP.
IMO it completely depends on the company you're working for. I've seen job ads targeting my skill level offering $200k/year, and others offering $130k or even less. There will always be companies out there either trying to lowball people, or who genuinely don't operate in a vertical which is profitable enough to pay top-band salaries.
Australia. Typ would be 50k converted to USD when I was looking a few years ago.
What's the delta on Rails + React vs Rails without?
The delta in terms of salary? The median is roughly similar, maybe a slight edge for Rails + React depending on region or company. But the big difference is volume. There are way more Rails + React roles out there, and the Rails-only ones tend to be more variable in scope, stack, and compensation.
On the developer experience side, I haven’t worked extensively with the latest versions of Rails, so I don’t have a strong opinion yet on whether Hotwire provides a better frontend experience than React. That said, people I respect in the Rails community speak highly of the Hotwire approach to building modern, interactive UIs without the overhead of a full SPA. I’m sure I could pick it up with a little effort, but it’s not a top priority for me right now.
From a technical perspective, my sense is that teams adopting or reverting to a pure Rails stack, especially with Hotwire, tend to be more conscientious about keeping versions up-to-date, and generally more opinionated and deliberate about tech choices. A few years ago, replacing Rails views with React SPAs was not uncommon. But now that Rails has caught up with tools like Turbo and Stimulus, some teams are intentionally moving back toward server-driven UIs.
In terms of employability, most of the job listings I came across during my recent search were still Rails + React. And given that being fluent in multiple tech stacks broadens my opportunities, I plan to stay in the Rails + React camp for now.
I mean, if you want to tie your fortunes to one team and company forever, then sure, it can make sense.
I've had decades like that in my career, which began in the nineties. It would be nice to have another such decade; I don't enjoy always keeping one eye on the exit and my back to the wall, rather than being able to count on a given environment to stay stable enough long enough with enough upside to really repay my investment.
This doesn't feel to me like such a decade, though. Too much is changing too fast.