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Ask HN: Are you on top of your tech stack?
I have this nagging fear about the tools and technology stack I use in my business.
For example, something that could have been built with just WordPress and a few plugins for a couple $100, your tech partner convinces you to use the flashy new tech stack and a couple months of development time and the expenses related to it. The sad part about software decisions is that once you go down a path, it's hair pulling to change track.
With technology advancing so rapidly and so many options to choose from, How do you guys ensure you are up to speed on if the tech stack you use in your company is relevant and also that you are not overspending in your tech department?
How do you deal with such situations? How do you make decisions? I am curious to know.
Is it a real problem that you all face or am I exaggerating?
- byoung2 9y agoRemember the Matrix, where all of humanity is trapped in a giant simulation so they can be drained of their energy? And only a few people were able to wake up and see the real world? The business world is like that, where most people believe they have to go down the standard path of using the sexy new tech stack and a whole team of devs, when they should really be looking for an off the shelf product or service or an established tech. In 2009 a company I worked for operated several coupon/deal sites and they published affiliate links on them. They had a team of several editors who monitored a shared email account that received updates from the various affiliate programs. In order to keep track of which emails had been read by each editor, they hired a contractor who built a custom Ruby on Rails app to read the inbox, ingest the emails into a database, and display them in a dashboard so they could be assigned to users and tracked. The paid tens of thousands of dollars to have it created. When I was hired, the first thing I asked was, why didn't you just use Email Center Pro (now Outpost) for $10/month?
- viveksp 9y agoWow. I can see billions of dollars and time going down the drain across the world because of choosing a wrong tech stack or not using whats already available...