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There is a persistent attitude that developers are interchangeable, that the tech matters less than the knowledge of how to apply tech to solve problems. I thi

There is a persistent attitude that developers are interchangeable, that the tech matters less than the knowledge of how to apply tech to solve problems. I think that for architecting systems that's probably true, but as technology becomes more specialized and ecosystems become more complex it's harder for individuals to pick up and run with. Consider if someone has written lots of PHP and jQuery Now tell them to write a NodeJS server, React Frontend using NextJS. It's not just "Oh I need to pick up ExpressJS" anymore. It's a whole beast. Yeah the fundamentals stay the same. REST is still REST, SQL is still SQL, but actually writing lines of code is still a key activity of the job which people familiar with the technology will be better at. Personally I run into this any time I try and write C#. There's a massive undercurrent of stuff that I feel I don't understand about C# and I bounce off that ecosystem every time I try

scarface_74 3y ago
> SQL is still SQL And you’re going to hit a brick wall at 100 mph thinking SQL is still SQL once you try to treat a columnar database like Redshift or Snowflake like you would a traditional database. That would be an expensive lesson to learn on the job. That’s just one example of trying to pattern match based on what you know when you hit a new to you technology. It’s like the old school operations people who study one course of ACloudGuru, get a certificate, call themselves “consultants” and duplicate an on prem infrastructure and internal process and their poor clients wonder why they are spending twice as much and not moving faster.
- bluefirebrand 3y ago
  I've never actually used Redshift or Snowflake so I can't comment. I will say that even moving from Postgres to MySql has a speed bump or two, so I completely agree. Tech knowledge just isn't as interchangeable as hiring managers sometimes seem to think.

scarface_74 3y ago

> SQL is still SQL And you’re going to hit a brick wall at 100 mph thinking SQL is still SQL once you try to treat a columnar database like Redshift or Snowflake like you would a traditional database. That would be an expensive lesson to learn on the job. That’s just one example of trying to pattern match based on what you know when you hit a new to you technology. It’s like the old school operations people who study one course of ACloudGuru, get a certificate, call themselves “consultants” and duplicate an on prem infrastructure and internal process and their poor clients wonder why they are spending twice as much and not moving faster.

bluefirebrand 3y ago
I've never actually used Redshift or Snowflake so I can't comment. I will say that even moving from Postgres to MySql has a speed bump or two, so I completely agree. Tech knowledge just isn't as interchangeable as hiring managers sometimes seem to think.