DEV Community

Cover image for Why I ignore the hype (and you should too)

Why I ignore the hype (and you should too)

Stephen Belovarich on May 10, 2019

It’s been 20 years since I made my first website. I've been burned by the hype time and again. If you haven’t already I bet you will too. Below are...
Collapse
 
drm317 profile image
Daniel Marlow

Junior Dev = How can I write this code?
Senior Dev = How can I make this code better?
Tech Lead = How can I avoid writing this code?

Collapse
 
steveblue profile image
Stephen Belovarich

Or me as I went through these stages:

Junior dev = How can I write this code? How can I make this code better?

Senior dev = How can I write this code? How can I teach people to make this code better?

Tech lead = How can I teach people to write this code? How can I teach people to make this code better?

Collapse
 
pavelloz profile image
Paweł Kowalski • Edited

I would say senior should look for ways to not reinvent the wheel and not use a hammer to nail a screw.

Tech lead should know which one of proposed hammers to use when there is no other option.

Collapse
 
iamzoka profile image
Zoran Zlokapa

Totally agree! Wrote something similar just the other day (dev.to/iamzoka/simplify-web-develo...).

It's like developers just want to use the new shiny thing without thinking about consequences or what will happen down the road.

Collapse
 
steveblue profile image
Stephen Belovarich

I’m constantly on the cutting edge, playing with new browser API well before they make it into spec at times. That’s fun and all but it doesn’t mean those API make it into my everyday workflow. There is a time and place for experimenting with bright shiny new things.

Collapse
 
iamzoka profile image
Zoran Zlokapa

Exactly. That’s what personal projects and playgrounds are for.

Collapse
 
kriyeng profile image
David Ibáñez

Glad to read this! 👏
Sometimes I think I'm alone fighting with this!
I'd say, make things simple for your goal, no matter the trends!

Collapse
 
thejoezack profile image
Joe Zack

There's nothing wrong with "boring" tech choices, especially when you have a problem that you really care about solving.

Collapse
 
mhenrixon profile image
Mikael Henriksson

Could not agree more! I'm playing with new toys all the time but using them in a real project is something I've become very suspicious of.

I've run into problems with abandonware too many times to count.

Collapse
 
piyukore06 profile image
Priyanka Kore

Completely agree!! I think we should always keep our eyes open to know what’s going on.. use them only when it makes sense..

Collapse
 
madza profile image
Madza

The second point is the skill itself :)

Collapse
 
juhanakristian profile image
Juhana Jauhiainen

For work projects I always use tried and true technologies. Too many times I've had to work on a legacy project built with some early version (or even alpha!) of a framework or library.

On side projects I explore new stuff I find interesting and worth looking into.

Collapse
 
dirtycode1337 profile image
Dirty-Co.de • Edited

When you said "this vs. that" - where did "this" point to? Just asking for a friend! ;)

(I am a great friend of making libs like jQuery obsolete by using small vanilla js functions, which are used by the site instead loading the whole library wherefrom 5% are used)

Collapse
 
jankapunkt profile image
Jan Küster

New shiny tech is my toy in my free time. At work there are decisions to make based on use cases, requirements, architecture, technological dept and many more. When it's getting serious there is no hype (besides in the sales and marketing department).

Collapse
 
matsp profile image
Mats Pfeiffer

Agree. Just imagine how many hours worldwide will be lost due replacing classes with hooks... not that I like classes anyway ;-)

Collapse
 
selceeus profile image
Matt Andrews

At one position I had worked at, I was part of that transition crew. We would find new and fun ways that things were overdeveloped, overly complicated in the projects we were tasked to migrate.

We would look at each other, nod, and say, "Developers be developin'!"

Usually, just the bare minimum of documentation would cover a lot of issues.

Collapse
 
netaisllc profile image
CSSian

And a Zen Dev thinks also about the individual or team who will work with the ZenDev's choice at some far point in the future. While solving the problem, why not also be good to our future selves....

Collapse
 
juancarlospaco profile image
Juan Carlos

I agree, too much GIF, but nice opinion whatsoever.

Collapse
 
quantumfillet profile image
QuantumFillet

An affirming as well as enlightening post. =)