I guess that depends on what a year of experience unit is. 2000 hours? If you used Rails full time in your day job since it was released and built a Rails-based startup on the side, it could be possible to have 10+ unit-years of experience with it.
But yeah, it's a poor measure, plain and simple. Someone who tinkers with Rails one week out of each year could soon claim eight years of experience, even though they'll have no experience compared to someone who has used it in their full-time job over the same number of years.
You have a fair point and cool insight that I'm going to keep in mind :)
But does the average non-tech HR person recruiting have any awareness of this? I think they'd communicate it if they knew better, it would only make them better at their jobs.
But yeah, it's a poor measure, plain and simple. Someone who tinkers with Rails one week out of each year could soon claim eight years of experience, even though they'll have no experience compared to someone who has used it in their full-time job over the same number of years.