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To some extent, that is true regarding my personal preferences, but being in tech and writing code for over 20 years teaches you a few things. Developers should

To some extent, that is true regarding my personal preferences, but being in tech and writing code for over 20 years teaches you a few things. Developers should be more picky about tools they adopt without becoming too cynical or dismissive of new technology. Every so often you have to go through your technology shed and be sure you aren't being biased towards existing comfortable tools. It's nice to work out of your comfort zone and learn new things, but it's also nice to be very efficient at problem solving. When I feel a new tool or technology crosses a threshold from hype to having proved its value I tend to take it seriously and learn it. I try to avoid getting sucked into tech stacks that I don't think will make it. Some times I am wrong, but usually not. I could have made my description of technology more generic, but in general, things like Django/Rails/Postgres/MySQL/NodeJS/Redis are battle proven technology that won't let you down. IMO that is the hardest part about being a lead engineer / CTO -- knowing when to say Yes and No to given technology stacks :)

root_axis 6y ago
I agree with everything you've written here, particularly your process of tool evaluation and refinement. My only push back is with respect to the way you characterized the merit of "overhyped" tools (in your previous comment) that didn't line up with the productivity profile of your personal experience. I agree that Django/Rails/Postgres/MySQL/NodeJS/Redis are all reliable tools, but I am not a fan of the philosophy that labels other people's work as unnecessary or harmful simply for existing outside the pantheon of worthy tooling.
- bitexploder 6y ago
  In isolation of any constraint new things are always worth playing with and trying. I know I am certainly more biased (hopefully in a mostly good way) now than I was when I started in tech. Your thought strikes me as Very similar to when someone shares some hobby project they are working on and someone else doesn’t get it and states: “wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands”. So I do try to take new projects seriously while at the same time balancing time constraints. It’s hard :)

root_axis 6y ago

I agree with everything you've written here, particularly your process of tool evaluation and refinement. My only push back is with respect to the way you characterized the merit of "overhyped" tools (in your previous comment) that didn't line up with the productivity profile of your personal experience. I agree that Django/Rails/Postgres/MySQL/NodeJS/Redis are all reliable tools, but I am not a fan of the philosophy that labels other people's work as unnecessary or harmful simply for existing outside the pantheon of worthy tooling.

bitexploder 6y ago
In isolation of any constraint new things are always worth playing with and trying. I know I am certainly more biased (hopefully in a mostly good way) now than I was when I started in tech. Your thought strikes me as Very similar to when someone shares some hobby project they are working on and someone else doesn’t get it and states: “wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands”. So I do try to take new projects seriously while at the same time balancing time constraints. It’s hard :)