RobertLong

I currently use PHP and ZendFramework at a startup that I'm working at right now. However, I definitely think the workflow could use some work and that combined with my aspirations to be a well rounded web developer has led me towards other web frameworks.

I currently love the startup atmosphere and don't plan to ever work for a large corporation. Do you think that there is any place for Play Framework in the startup scene?

For example if myself and a couple excellent Java programmers from my school tried to apply to an incubator, would we be taken seriously or written off immediately just because we picked Java for our language of choice?

I've been trying to learn Ruby and Ruby on Rails for the past 6 months. I've gone through tryruby.com, rails for zombies, watched many of the RailsCasts, and built a couple apps on my own to learn the language, but I still consider myself a novice.

Sure I can implement many gems into my application and just hack together other peoples work, but I really am gaining no knowledge of the Ruby behind all these gems and have no clue what the best practices for Rails are.

Online materials for Ruby and Rails are always made for different versions of the languages/frameworks and that can make things very complicated at times for someone just starting out.

So what do you recommend to REALLY learn Ruby and Rails?

I find Play to be very fast to develop for so far especially compared to Rails. While I haven't dove deep into either, the workflow in Play is very fast and the syntax is still kept fairly short.

For me, all of my education on Rails came from online tutorials and books which I have been able to learn the basics from, but not enough to get a job with.

How can students like myself without access to classes on web development really learn the subject? And why would anyone hire a web developer from a school that doesn't teach web development?