Independently discovering that you need 'foo' when you start off dismissive of 'foo' is a great way to learn. And in many ways, is natural. Applications evolve

Independently discovering that you need 'foo' when you start off dismissive of 'foo' is a great way to learn. And in many ways, is natural. Applications evolve in complexity, just as our understanding of them does. Until you need a tool that your current toolchest doesn't offer, you're fine, and likely benefited from having simple, easy-to-understand tools. Switching to a different toolchest will not be trivial, but it alters which problems are easy, and which are hard. I understand what you're getting at, but there is real architectural choices right now that didn't exist in 2012. It's true that React enjoys good mindshare and attracts new talent based on name-recognition alone, but there already is a next wave of alternatives to React (like Vue, Mithril, Aurelia) that are borne out of lessons learned from React and Angular/Backbone/Ember. If someone discovers that React doesn't in fact meet their needs, there's others to turn to, organically.