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Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#11

Post by manuscreationis »

phren0logy wrote: post #8
discountgenius wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess my real questions are: Are Macs the best tools available? If yes, will they remain the best tools available? Will the trend of development tools and communities targeting Mac OS continue?

Quit worrying about this crap and start making stuff. I know that sounds like a harsh non-answer, but it's true. I offer it because sometimes I have the same problem. Quit sharpening pencils and start writing. Do as much as you can with whatever computer you have and a copy of gedit or something similar. If you hit the limits of this within the first few months, it's probably your limit, not the tools. If not, then b…

Amen to all of this

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#12

Post by manuscreationis »

thoughtsimple wrote: post #6

Hmm, tough question but if you don't have a Mac how do you test? With a Mac you can test easily on Windows and Linux. But if you just use Windows, then you need an alternate machine to test for Mac compatibility, you can dual boot into LInux.

What do you mean by "Mac Compatibility"?

Safari?

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#13

Post by kls »

staunch wrote: post #4

It depends what you want. If you're trying to get a job, then yeah, it might actually help to seem more like the cool kids. Get a Mac, use RoR/Node.js, insist on NoSQL, and wear a Afghan scarf too for good measure. In practical terms it doesn't matter at all. The web is cross-platform and if anything I'd say Linux has the advantage as a development environment. It allows you to create a local environment identical to…

I'd say Linux has the advantage as a development environment

It really depends on how far you lean towards design, if you do a bit of design you are going to find more support on the OSX side, if you do pretty much all code, then I would say you can forgo the Mac. I agree with the parent post though that Linux or one of the Unix variants (Including OSX) has broader development tools support that Windows.

The other thing is a quality PC laptop is going to be pretty close in cost. I view the Sager laptops as being on par with Apple as far as quality of components and they where not that much cheaper last time I looked at them.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#14

Post by thoughtsimple »

manuscreationis wrote: post #12
thoughtsimple wrote: post #6

Hmm, tough question but if you don't have a Mac how do you test? With a Mac you can test easily on Windows and Linux. But if you just use Windows, then you need an alternate machine to test for Mac compatibility, you can dual boot into LInux.

What do you mean by "Mac Compatibility"? Safari?

Sure, you can test on equivalent browsers under Windows during development. That covers most problems. I wouldn't be comfortable with that though. Not for a final product.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#15

Post by manuscreationis »

thoughtsimple wrote: post #14
manuscreationis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "Mac Compatibility"? Safari?

Sure, you can test on equivalent browsers under Windows during development. That covers most problems. I wouldn't be comfortable with that though. Not for a final product.

Wanting the tried and true Mac environment for testing is fine.

But that's testing. Your QA team (even if its a team of 1) should have access to some kind of Mac environment. That doesn't mean your devs need to use Macs.

Ideally, anyways.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#16

Post by mirsadm »

staunch wrote: post #4

It depends what you want. If you're trying to get a job, then yeah, it might actually help to seem more like the cool kids. Get a Mac, use RoR/Node.js, insist on NoSQL, and wear a Afghan scarf too for good measure. In practical terms it doesn't matter at all. The web is cross-platform and if anything I'd say Linux has the advantage as a development environment. It allows you to create a local environment identical to…

That's hilarious. We just bought the cheapest stuff with the best hardware we could find. At the end of the day it gets the job done and we saved a bunch of money that we can use to keep going longer.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need a Mac in order to be taken seriously as a web developer?

#18

Post by thepreacher »

I have also thought about this lately although not exactly in terms of being taken seriously as a developer but I am noticing more and more that, the "publicly seen" portable computer of choice is Mac OS X. In more and more recorded video tutorials, presentations(seminars)- you see the developer using Mac OS X. Sure I know it doesn't matter what you use as long as the job gets done. However sometimes you wonder why a mentor or someone you learn from change from say a Linux box to a Mac. You want to know what tipped the scale in favour of a Mac.
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