The reality is that that lightweight or even hand-coded apps and sites are faster, more semantic, and easier to maintain, and often look less cookie-cutter. But

The reality is that that lightweight or even hand-coded apps and sites are faster, more semantic, and easier to maintain, and often look less cookie-cutter. But you don't get hired for knowing how to create a great web app with HTML, CSS, a server-side language, and a little JS or jquery for flavor. You get hired for becoming an "expert" in something that has only been around 2.5 years and is at the inflection point in the hype curve. What you're seeing is the result of resume-driven development.