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> They finish a project using React, then ask to be put on a Vue or Angular one next so they can 'widen their skillset'. Seems like reasonable behaviour. When

> They finish a project using React, then ask to be put on a Vue or Angular one next so they can 'widen their skillset'. Seems like reasonable behaviour. When looking for your next job, the first question asked is "Do you know tech stack X?" People are always going to optimize for market demand. When companies stop caring about your familiarity with specific technologies, people will stop seeing learning specific technologies as an end goal. > If you want to distinguish yourself from the crowd, learn a boring technology in an area that you're not as proficient in. I'm not sure I agree. I've spent an inordinate amount of time learning about concepts, which can be applied using either boring or exciting tech stacks, that have never successfully caught on outside. To stand out, my time would have been better spent focusing on one thing and becoming more familiar with the equivalents of React, Angular, and Vue around that thing. For personal growth I don't regret spending that time. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to expand my horizons. But in terms of standing out among others, it hasn't proven to be useful. Knowing both React and Vue is much more eye-catching.

twic 6y ago
> When looking for your next job, the first question asked is "Do you know tech stack X?" I've never been asked that. I have had jobs where i was expected to know a particular programming language, but never some specific framework within it. I don't doubt that these jobs exist. But if someone is hiring permanent employees on the basis of flavour of the month frameworks, they have no idea what they are doing, and i would advise against working for them.
- em-bee 6y ago
  unfortunately they seem to still be in the majority. companies are not interested in training and overestimate what it takes to learn a new stack. they also want people who can hit the ground running. i see that kind of job offer frequently
- randomdata 6y ago
  > I have had jobs where i was expected to know a particular programming language Which falls under the same thing we are talking about. If you know one programming language, you can figure out them all. You'll probably fall down flat when it comes to idioms of an unfamiliar language, but the same can be said around the idioms of frameworks. Many programming languages even include their own frameworks out of the box as part of the standard library, muddying the lines further. As far as this discussion goes, there is no meaningful distinction to be made here. > But if someone is hiring permanent employees on the basis of flavour of the month frameworks, they have no idea what they are doing The ask isn't necessarily flavour of the month. I still see tons of jobs looking for people with experience in Rails, for example. It hasn't been popular for at least a decade. However, from the job seeker perspective only knowing Rails limits to only Rails jobs, even when one knows everything about web development and could just as easily develop a web application in bash if you asked. > and i would advise against working for them. It is not an unreasonable ask, to be honest. Gaining familiarity with idioms is unquestionably the hardest problem in computer science, even above what the familiar joke suggests. While you can start to write code in a new language/framework almost immediately, It can take years to gain the understanding necessary to write great code. That is why businesses shy away from great programmers who don't know the idioms of a particular system adopted within the business.
kls 6y ago
It gets worse as a freelancer, due to the fact that for 6 months you may be doing React, then back to Angular then you are on a legacy JSP or ASP project. You really can't blame people for wanting to optimize for future market demand and many times it is not clear, who is going to be the winner when in fact most of the time the market splits between two or three technologies that solve that layer of the stack, and then they can be mixed and matched with other layers. I do believe there is a natural curiosity that drives developers to want to learn new stacks, but there is also an underlining fear of not knowing the next big thing and being left out cold in the job market.

twic 6y ago

> When looking for your next job, the first question asked is "Do you know tech stack X?" I've never been asked that. I have had jobs where i was expected to know a particular programming language, but never some specific framework within it. I don't doubt that these jobs exist. But if someone is hiring permanent employees on the basis of flavour of the month frameworks, they have no idea what they are doing, and i would advise against working for them.

em-bee 6y ago
unfortunately they seem to still be in the majority. companies are not interested in training and overestimate what it takes to learn a new stack. they also want people who can hit the ground running. i see that kind of job offer frequently
randomdata 6y ago
> I have had jobs where i was expected to know a particular programming language Which falls under the same thing we are talking about. If you know one programming language, you can figure out them all. You'll probably fall down flat when it comes to idioms of an unfamiliar language, but the same can be said around the idioms of frameworks. Many programming languages even include their own frameworks out of the box as part of the standard library, muddying the lines further. As far as this discussion goes, there is no meaningful distinction to be made here. > But if someone is hiring permanent employees on the basis of flavour of the month frameworks, they have no idea what they are doing The ask isn't necessarily flavour of the month. I still see tons of jobs looking for people with experience in Rails, for example. It hasn't been popular for at least a decade. However, from the job seeker perspective only knowing Rails limits to only Rails jobs, even when one knows everything about web development and could just as easily develop a web application in bash if you asked. > and i would advise against working for them. It is not an unreasonable ask, to be honest. Gaining familiarity with idioms is unquestionably the hardest problem in computer science, even above what the familiar joke suggests. While you can start to write code in a new language/framework almost immediately, It can take years to gain the understanding necessary to write great code. That is why businesses shy away from great programmers who don't know the idioms of a particular system adopted within the business.

kls 6y ago

It gets worse as a freelancer, due to the fact that for 6 months you may be doing React, then back to Angular then you are on a legacy JSP or ASP project. You really can't blame people for wanting to optimize for future market demand and many times it is not clear, who is going to be the winner when in fact most of the time the market splits between two or three technologies that solve that layer of the stack, and then they can be mixed and matched with other layers. I do believe there is a natural curiosity that drives developers to want to learn new stacks, but there is also an underlining fear of not knowing the next big thing and being left out cold in the job market.