What Is a Ruby Rails Developer and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

Ruby on Rails is a server-side framework for developing websites, databases, and web services. "Rails" is the name of the overall development framework. As a Ruby Rails developer, you write code for server-side applications in a language called Ruby. After programming your solutions, your responsibilities focus on testing your work and performing debugging duties if necessary. You may also check and improve existing applications. You usually work as part of a development team, and you help integrate other elements, such as database functions, into the framework. Employers may expect you to work with front-end development languages such as HTML and JavaScript.

To become a Ruby on Rails developer, you need to know Ruby programming language and how to utilize it within the Rails application development framework. Most Ruby on Rails developers have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field, experience with databases, and coding skills within object-oriented programming languages, such as python. Some come from a background in testing, like software QA or development. Ruby on Rails developers responsibilities include communicating with other developers and programmers to ensure the Ruby code works with the rest of the app. Acquire an internship or a junior level Ruby on Rails developer position to get hands-on experience and learn from experienced developers.