"Combine that with Ruby's horrible preference for metaprogramming and you get unmanageable code":
Is it impossible to write maintainable code in Ruby or is it just teams of people with varying skill levels working under pressure and hard deadlines?
Do you think the average Rails app is less maintainable than the average Node / PHP or even Java app? I'm not so sure.
It's teams of people with varying skill levels under time pressure.
Ruby is a language where projects can suddenly bloom with hyper-complexity if you're not careful. You really have to strictly adhere to a style guide and have seniors who can catch the violations automated checkers like Rubocop can't.
It might be a bit more pronounced in Ruby, but I doubt this doesn't happen a lot in javascript / python / whatever language actually.
You always better have at least a couple of seniors in each team that go over every PR and maintain the project's health. No getting around that no matter the language.
Now languages like php / ruby / js are notorious for their low code quality but that's less about the language and more about how and where they're used: tons of startups, young people in the beginning of their careers, pressure to find market fit etc. I'd be surprised if .net / java / python projects don't turn into crap under these conditions. The worst code I've produced was written like that and I really doubt the tech stack would have made any big difference in the quality of code I produced.
