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My Experience Learning Ruby on Rails in the AI Era

A personal journey of learning Ruby on Rails in 2024-2025, building a music app with AI assistance, and why Rails still rocks in the modern development landscape.

By Fadly•January 12, 2025

My Experience Learning Ruby on Rails in the AI Era

Introduction

Back in 2024, I started learning Ruby through Codecademy's basic course and, surprisingly, with help from GPT. By 2025, the coding landscape already feels more mature—AI makes it so much easier to ask questions, get explanations, and explore new frameworks.

I decided to get my hands dirty by building a music app (which I plan to launch soon). That's where the real Rails learning journey began.

Getting Started

Before GitHub Copilot or Windsurf became hype, I actually used DeepSeek AI to help me create my music app from scratch. From setting up Devise for authentication to creating APIs in a monolith, I quickly realized something: if you don't understand the fundamentals, you'll get lost.

So I went back and sharpened my basics:

  • Took Codecademy courses seriously
  • Read the official Rails guides
  • Dug into things step by step

It wasn't smooth at first, but having tons of questions (and AI to help answer them) made the learning process much faster.

Building with Rails

I started small, then grew into building a monolith with Hotwire + TailwindCSS—a perfect combo for speed and simplicity.

The most fun part? Designing my app while Rails gave me superpowers:

rails g model User
rails g scaffold Release

Every rails g command felt like magic. It made me more confident to shape the app and actually enjoy the process.

What Made Rails Click for Me

  • Convention over Configuration - Less decisions, more building
  • ActiveRecord magic - Database interactions that just work
  • Built-in helpers - From form builders to routing, everything's there
  • Rapid prototyping - Ideas to working features in minutes

Deploying the App

For deployment, I experimented:

  1. First, the easy path with Heroku - Perfect for getting started
  2. Then, managing my own setup with a VPS - More control, more learning

Each step taught me something new about scaling and taking ownership of the infrastructure.

Deployment Lessons Learned

  • Start simple with platforms like Heroku or Railway
  • Learn Docker for consistent environments
  • Database migrations in production require careful planning
  • Environment variables are your friend

Why I Still Choose Rails in 2025

Here's why Rails works for me, even in 2025:

🚀 Readable like plain English

Perfect for building fast without overthinking.

⚡ Tailwind + Hotwire combo

Modern frontend experience without drowning in React boilerplate.

🎯 Great for MVPs

Rapid development is where Rails shines.

🤖 AI-Friendly

Rails' conventions make it easier for AI to help you code effectively.

For serious hobby projects or rapid MVPs, Rails is still my go-to. It's fast, reliable, and honestly—fun to use.

The AI Advantage

Learning Rails in the AI era has unique benefits:

  • Instant explanations for Rails conventions and patterns
  • Code generation that follows Rails best practices
  • Debugging help when ActiveRecord queries go wrong
  • Architecture advice for scaling Rails applications

But remember: AI amplifies your knowledge, it doesn't replace understanding the fundamentals.

Key Takeaways

  1. Start with the basics - Don't skip fundamentals, even with AI help
  2. Build real projects - Theory only goes so far
  3. Embrace Rails conventions - They exist for good reasons
  4. Use AI as a learning accelerator - Not a replacement for understanding
  5. Deploy early and often - Real-world experience is invaluable

Closing

Rails isn't just an old framework hanging around. In the era of AI, Rails becomes even more powerful because you can learn faster, ask better questions, and focus on building.

For me, Rails is still the framework that lets ideas turn into apps quickly. And my music app is proof that in 2025, Rails is alive and kicking.

Ready to build something amazing with Rails? The framework that makes programming fun is waiting for you. 🚀

FAQ

Is Ruby on Rails still worth learning in 2025?

Yes. Rails remains highly productive for building MVPs and full apps quickly. The conventions reduce decision fatigue and help you ship features faster.

Can I combine Rails with modern frontend tools?

Absolutely. Hotwire and TailwindCSS provide a modern, reactive UI without heavy SPA complexity, and you can still integrate React where it makes sense.

How does AI help when learning Rails?

AI can accelerate learning by explaining concepts, generating boilerplate, and assisting with debugging—but you still need to understand the fundamentals.

Where should I deploy a Rails app as a beginner?

Start with platforms like Heroku or Railway for simplicity, then move to a VPS or containerized setup as you need more control.

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