My guess is it's some of both, really. There's the old saw about levels of SWE expertise: * Beginner: doesn't know much and knows it * Intermediate: knows a l

My guess is it's some of both, really. There's the old saw about levels of SWE expertise: * Beginner: doesn't know much and knows it * Intermediate: knows a lot, hasn't lived with the consequences * Expert: knows a lot, including when not to use what they know The two comments here seem to be articulating the community shifting between I->B and I->E respectively. I think it's safe to say we have both a maturing developer base and a huge influx of newbies. That intermediate "look what I can do!" stage still exists, probably as much as ever, but is being professionally tempered by the caution inherent in the other two cohorts. The Intermediate stage is the most fun to watch, though, and probably a lot of what drives innovation. The coolest projects come from people who ostensibly should've known better than to try that thing.