I have seen this happen in a couple different industries. I did web development from 96 to 06 and I felt the same forces at work over that time. After that I s

I have seen this happen in a couple different industries. I did web development from 96 to 06 and I felt the same forces at work over that time. After that I spent 6 years in AAA game development. Again, many custom systems were replaced with middleware. It's my opinion that these trends are driven by the needs of business, generally. Technology (and other disciplines) are a means to a business goal. Imagine a game designer with an idea (or anyone with an idea). They want to execute the idea with as little pain between conception and execution. They don't care about linear algebra or DMA. It's this force that leads to commoditization of tech. IMHO you can't avoid this, and it is not necessarily bad. It's also been my experience that you can find places that do the work you want to do. But you might have to move. Best of luck to you.