Before you decide on adding a Gem

2 things to remember when searching for gems to execute your projects are...

1. Security
   To me this is probably the most important. As Im working on a project and doing my best to write efficient re-usable code I don’t want to waste time with ineffective gems! If a gem is not kept up to date with security features or has bugs those issues will be reflected in projects. you could potentially spend more time than anticipated restructuring or de-bugging simply because of a gem hasn't been kept up to date. There are plenty of resources on google to figure out what issues a gem might have as well as solutions from others on how they managed to fix gem issues.It’s always a good idea to check on how maintained a gem is before adding it to your project.

   1. Is it really needed? I think about the concept that "gems are shiny"... there are plenty of gems that have amazing abilities and its easy to get caught up in the "bells" and "whistles" of dynamic gems. When faced with a problem it's sometimes so much easier to search for gems that can bundle and execute what you’re trying to accomplish, when really all it would take is a little extra effort to figure out a way to write better code. Part of the fun of creating dynamic applications or projects is the tinkering and re-writing and collaborating with others to solve an issue. Sometimes those gems are absolutely needed and the functionaries have been created for a reason, that doesn’t mean certain gems need to always be depended on.