I’m debating between moving my career in one of two ways :

Rails

Study ruby on rails, leave Microsoft development, move my career in a new direction. I feel immediate happiness in this endeavor.

Pros

• Test-driven development “baked in” to the development software
• Installation and environment setup is free. No extra computer is required.
• Ruby language contains “best-practices” of multiple languages and is “modern”. Ruby applies “LOLA” (Law of least astonishment), which makes it easier to apply “best-practices” to written code.
• Community is VERY robust. Meetings are regular. IRC and listservs have heavy message traffic
• My current skills apply to Ruby/Rails, even when from a different language/framework (IE Microsoft)
• Best practices of Ruby/Rails align with current software-development industry research on best way to structure project management, design software, and build maintainable large-scale web systems.
• By writing code in a system that aligns with best practices, I feel like I’m doing “the right thing” when I’m writing software.

Cons

• Job Market is “currently” limited.
• I need time to develop the skills/experience to support current income
• Achieving experience appears to be a catch-22

.NET

Study Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) / .NET 2.0. Give in to “the state”, admit that a governmentally structured certification machine also has a thriving job market. Join a Microsoft Consulting Firm full time and be a valuable contributor to their technologies.

Pros

• Easy Job Market
• I have valued skills (according to last job-seeking process)

Cons

• Cost of Entry (Need new computer ($1000) + Software + Certification Testing $)
• I don’t agree with Microsoft attitude toward developer community
• I don’t agree with Microsoft attitude toward open-source / linux
• Developer community is not robust (Few user group meetings in Chi, Forums/Elists don’t answer questions)
• Microsoft web-development software (ASP.NET 2.0) does not support test-driven development
• Microsoft development software is often confusing to read and confusing to use. Microsoft does not apply “LOLA” (Law of least astonishment).

Updated: 20 June 2007 12:35:00. This rounds out the pro/con list to more clearly present my perspective on what direction to take my career.