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> I constantly feel that I'm behind on my homework having to evaluate new libraries and frameworks showing up. Every two weeks, another one shows up with anothe

> I constantly feel that I'm behind on my homework having to evaluate new libraries and frameworks showing up. Every two weeks, another one shows up with another paradigm shifting approach. Every two weeks? Try every day. I hate to be that guy, but this sounds like whining. You're a developer, it's an incredible privilege (we're part of one of the fastest-growing, most-successful businesses ever, and we basically get paid to solve puzzles by writing machines directly from our minds and in most dev shops I've worked in nobody cares if you roll in at 10am, not to mention that we get compensated quite well while arguably becoming ultimately smarter than doctors yet without any required certification or schooling... I mean, in the history of human jobs, I can't imagine it getting much better!!), and staying on top of new developments is part of our job description. If you're getting fatigued, perhaps it's time to take that vacation you've been putting off, or to (wo)man-up and ask your superiors for more. Or to ask yourself if this is the right career path for you (although there's so much work now that you can get by just fine even relying on decades-old technology/libraries/languages). OR... to specialize. The full-stack developer's days are unfortunately numbered, there's no way a full-stack developer can keep up with every new development while keeping his job anymore. I myself gave up on keeping up with frontend around the time Angular came out...

hnrem 11y ago
"it's an incredible privilege" -- how do you figure that? It's as accessible as accountancy, and I wouldn't say that's a privilege either, unless you're going to bring in the lack of educational opportunities available to bedouin kids. Maybe it's an accomplishment, it's a job, but how is it a privilege?
- lectrick 11y ago
  I filled out my explanation further.
  - hnrem 11y ago
    Thanks. That looks like the SV experience. I realise that this is an SV site, but it sure is tiring hearing the 1%s point of view as if it's the norm across the industry globally.
    - lectrick 11y ago
      I'm at a loss- I don't know what the SV acronym stands for :O
    - lectrick 11y ago
      ...silicon valley. sigh
onaclov2000 11y ago
Sure if you don't have a family and kids, go ahead spend every second keeping on top of things, but not everyone is holed up in a dark corner just programming and researching new frameworks. It's not part of our job description, our job description is to ship, and if you're spending all your time re-building so you can be using the "new" hot gizmo framework, you're not shipping. Sorry you hit a nerve expecting everyone to be on top of everything. I get about an hour a day, if I can convince myself to wake up after putting kids to sleep, so is it better to work on my project and get something done, or just keep researching new frameworks?
- lectrick 11y ago
  > Sure if you don't have a family and kids Family and kids are, by any measure, a huge time and energy sink. But that too is also important work that must be done, even if it has professional costs. The guys writing these new things, more often than not, don't have a family and kids and do have all that extra time. If you have committed to a family and kids, then join a shop where family people work and be content to use yesterday's stuff to get work done, it will still work fine for the most part. You don't have to keep up with everything, perhaps just general trends. Just watch out for that gentle slide into irrelevancy. ;)
  - onaclov2000 11y ago
    I don't actually work on Web related stuff at all professionally, I am only using these things because they are my "side projects".... but I do like to keep on top of things when I can. I think just saying that someone HAS to keep on top to be able to be a developer is a bit much.
  - gclaramunt 11y ago
    > You don't have to keep up with everything, perhaps just general trends. Just watch out for that gentle slide into irrelevancy. ;) I would argue that wasting time learning the JS "framework of the day" is not the best approach to stay relevant. Learn the logic and math behind programming and you can watch the industry slowly catch up...
spenczar5 11y ago
> man-up and ask your superiors for more. Or woman-up, right?
- lectrick 11y ago
  Yes. Person-up. Adult-up, whatever. I'm not very PC. ;) For the record, I changed it to (wo)man-up.
manigandham 11y ago
Come on, I'm a full-stack guy and worked on lots of teams/projects/companies. I have yet to see a need to stay on top of every new development constantly, especially JS frameworks that still need to be proven. None of the productive developers I know care about all the daily/weekly noise, if something is truly new and good it'll become known on a monthly or quarterly scale. And about job description - developers are hired to build functionality, not learn new things. It might help further your personal goals and eventually help provide functionality faster/better using new tools but at the end of the day, the business doesn't care and would rather have something that works. Don't get caught up in the hype. It's great that you seem so passionate about it but keep in mind what the work is really about.
- lectrick 11y ago
  > the business doesn't care and would rather have something that works True, but unless you own the business, the business' goals are not your goals. The business wants a working product; you need to stay relevant in a career. Sometimes these may align, but not always.
  - manigandham 11y ago
    Right, which is why I said learning isn't part of the job description. When I hire devs, I base their relevancy on what functionality and results they produced for their employer/project, not how new their tech stack was. Go ahead and learn new stuff but if you know the fundamentals, the frameworks are just different syntaxes for the same thing. But don't assume that someone who doesnt keep up with things every day or week is somehow irrelevant. These frameworks won't change your productivity that much and your output is what matters.
- nkassis 11y ago
  That's how I see it too. I try to at least stay aware of what's new but I don't dive deep until it becomes apparent that this new thing will be of use to me. I imagine most here have day jobs with projects that last more than a few months so I doubt the need to learn things faster than your cycles of your job.
Dewie3 11y ago
> Or to ask yourself if this is the right career path for you Yeah. No wonder people figure out that it is not the right career path for them when people will jump on them for admitting any kind of "programmer weakness"[1], or for not being perfectly passionate about programming all the time, or for not thanking their boss for having the privilege of getting their generous pay-check and almost salivating at getting more overtime to work on the companies' interesting problems. Sometime the work itself might not be as bad as the people you have to do it with. [1] In their minds.

hnrem 11y ago

"it's an incredible privilege" -- how do you figure that? It's as accessible as accountancy, and I wouldn't say that's a privilege either, unless you're going to bring in the lack of educational opportunities available to bedouin kids. Maybe it's an accomplishment, it's a job, but how is it a privilege?

lectrick 11y ago
I filled out my explanation further.
- hnrem 11y ago
  Thanks. That looks like the SV experience. I realise that this is an SV site, but it sure is tiring hearing the 1%s point of view as if it's the norm across the industry globally.
  - lectrick 11y ago
    I'm at a loss- I don't know what the SV acronym stands for :O
  - lectrick 11y ago
    ...silicon valley. sigh

onaclov2000 11y ago

Sure if you don't have a family and kids, go ahead spend every second keeping on top of things, but not everyone is holed up in a dark corner just programming and researching new frameworks. It's not part of our job description, our job description is to ship, and if you're spending all your time re-building so you can be using the "new" hot gizmo framework, you're not shipping. Sorry you hit a nerve expecting everyone to be on top of everything. I get about an hour a day, if I can convince myself to wake up after putting kids to sleep, so is it better to work on my project and get something done, or just keep researching new frameworks?

lectrick 11y ago
> Sure if you don't have a family and kids Family and kids are, by any measure, a huge time and energy sink. But that too is also important work that must be done, even if it has professional costs. The guys writing these new things, more often than not, don't have a family and kids and do have all that extra time. If you have committed to a family and kids, then join a shop where family people work and be content to use yesterday's stuff to get work done, it will still work fine for the most part. You don't have to keep up with everything, perhaps just general trends. Just watch out for that gentle slide into irrelevancy. ;)
- onaclov2000 11y ago
  I don't actually work on Web related stuff at all professionally, I am only using these things because they are my "side projects".... but I do like to keep on top of things when I can. I think just saying that someone HAS to keep on top to be able to be a developer is a bit much.
- gclaramunt 11y ago
  > You don't have to keep up with everything, perhaps just general trends. Just watch out for that gentle slide into irrelevancy. ;) I would argue that wasting time learning the JS "framework of the day" is not the best approach to stay relevant. Learn the logic and math behind programming and you can watch the industry slowly catch up...

spenczar5 11y ago

> man-up and ask your superiors for more. Or woman-up, right?

lectrick 11y ago
Yes. Person-up. Adult-up, whatever. I'm not very PC. ;) For the record, I changed it to (wo)man-up.

manigandham 11y ago

Come on, I'm a full-stack guy and worked on lots of teams/projects/companies. I have yet to see a need to stay on top of every new development constantly, especially JS frameworks that still need to be proven. None of the productive developers I know care about all the daily/weekly noise, if something is truly new and good it'll become known on a monthly or quarterly scale. And about job description - developers are hired to build functionality, not learn new things. It might help further your personal goals and eventually help provide functionality faster/better using new tools but at the end of the day, the business doesn't care and would rather have something that works. Don't get caught up in the hype. It's great that you seem so passionate about it but keep in mind what the work is really about.

lectrick 11y ago
> the business doesn't care and would rather have something that works True, but unless you own the business, the business' goals are not your goals. The business wants a working product; you need to stay relevant in a career. Sometimes these may align, but not always.
- manigandham 11y ago
  Right, which is why I said learning isn't part of the job description. When I hire devs, I base their relevancy on what functionality and results they produced for their employer/project, not how new their tech stack was. Go ahead and learn new stuff but if you know the fundamentals, the frameworks are just different syntaxes for the same thing. But don't assume that someone who doesnt keep up with things every day or week is somehow irrelevant. These frameworks won't change your productivity that much and your output is what matters.
nkassis 11y ago
That's how I see it too. I try to at least stay aware of what's new but I don't dive deep until it becomes apparent that this new thing will be of use to me. I imagine most here have day jobs with projects that last more than a few months so I doubt the need to learn things faster than your cycles of your job.

Dewie3 11y ago

> Or to ask yourself if this is the right career path for you Yeah. No wonder people figure out that it is not the right career path for them when people will jump on them for admitting any kind of "programmer weakness"[1], or for not being perfectly passionate about programming all the time, or for not thanking their boss for having the privilege of getting their generous pay-check and almost salivating at getting more overtime to work on the companies' interesting problems. Sometime the work itself might not be as bad as the people you have to do it with. [1] In their minds.