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Thanks for the reply! I guess that is actually what I'm asking. At HN, seems there are more people requiring Rails/web devs, but outside, seems iOS devs are mo

by BSousa 14y ago

Thanks for the reply! I guess that is actually what I'm asking. At HN, seems there are more people requiring Rails/web devs, but outside, seems iOS devs are more in demand. Right now and in all honesty, my main concern is supporting my family, I have a few months salary I can burn through while developing the portfolio, but I'm afraid of betting on the wrong horse so to say.

michaelpinto 14y ago
Well I think if you are just looking for a quick buck reverse engineer what Objective-C and Ruby programmers are getting paid by looking at both the volume of want ads and which is getting the higher rate. Just keep in mind that languages can go out of style faster than you think. Another way to look at is if you want to bet on apps vs. the web in terms of growth over the long term. And frankly I don't think anyone has a real answer for that yet, in fact over the long haul it might even be a false divide. Lastly for my money I think the best programmers are always ones who are good at multiple languages. So for example you might build a native app with Objective-C (maybe Java for Android) and then create a backend using Ruby or something on a server. I'd also point out to you that other skills like a knowledge of a specific industry and just the ability to communicate can make an average programmer very desirable as an employee or freelancer.
- BSousa 14y ago
  I'm actually quite proficient in various languages (C++, C#, Haskell, Objective-C, Ruby) and have done work on various frameworks (ASP.net, ASP MVC, Rails, yesod, CastleMVC, QT, wxWdigets). Right now my main problem is getting clients as most of my work is 'hidden' by contracts and NDAs. btw, you last name Pinto, latin/portuguese by chance?