Arguably, option 2 soft-caps their technical progression because their day is spent untangling things, keeping up with dependency updates, and other makework that can spawn from not corralling complexity. However, in some sense, they have consciously chosen this approach, and associated with like-minded people.
Using a big brush here, but webdev has a LOT of this “just throw tons of libs at it and hope for the best.” I ran away screaming once I got a taste of that. It is antithetical to what I want out of my career. And it seems to breed a lack of rigor, exemplified by how many people complain of “slow tests” but refuse to refactor in such a way to make them faster. IOW, you don’t want fast tests as much as you want to bitch on Twitter.
Plus, long-term I believe option 2 is somewhat dangerous: there’s a huge pool of applicants looking to employ the same approach. Why pay a premium for those skills? What’s your differentiator?
> Using a big brush here, but webdev has a LOT of this “just throw tons of libs at it and hope for the best.”
My experience matches this. And not only that, many of them will passionately argue in favor of this approach, under mantras like "I ship" and "it gets the job done", and dismiss attempts at corralling complexity as fussy and wasteful.
Yep. I feel like I’ve watched the web lay waste to any sort of collective technical aesthetic. It’s a combination of huge numbers of new devs entering, SEO, and everyone chasing the short tail of devs who are 1-5 years into their career.
It almost feels like it is a bit gauche to actually talk about programming itself. Instead, you’re supposed to be talking about microservices vs monoliths, k8s, monorepos, or some other inanity. Though this is not exclusive to devs: guitarists write books on gear and then a few sentences on actual technique in most forums. Something about our platforms seems to actively resist deep content.
It’s been pretty alienating for me. I work with other technologists in R&D and that is great, but when I glance at industry, I see a ton of self-inflicted wounds paired with denial that there’s even a problem.
Using a big brush here, but webdev has a LOT of this “just throw tons of libs at it and hope for the best.” I ran away screaming once I got a taste of that. It is antithetical to what I want out of my career. And it seems to breed a lack of rigor, exemplified by how many people complain of “slow tests” but refuse to refactor in such a way to make them faster. IOW, you don’t want fast tests as much as you want to bitch on Twitter.
Plus, long-term I believe option 2 is somewhat dangerous: there’s a huge pool of applicants looking to employ the same approach. Why pay a premium for those skills? What’s your differentiator?