Well, that depends. I completely agree that needlessly messing around with the cool-database-of-the-week was inadvisable and a waste of time. But sometimes it'

Well, that depends. I completely agree that needlessly messing around with the cool-database-of-the-week was inadvisable and a waste of time. But sometimes it's necessary to learn something new. I'm a rails dev who's recently started what is basically a multiplayer game, and which will require many simultaneous connections. I don't know if you know Rails, but it is basically the worst possible technology to use for such a requirement. It would be ridiculous for me to commence work on a project knowing I was using the wrong tool for the job and that I'd have to rewrite completely if we ever went above 10 or so users. So I'm learning and using something else, and I think that's the right decision. The trick is in being able to tell when to go with the tried and tested, and when to jump into the new tech. That comes from experience, and you've just gained some :)