Web Developer Then vs Now… Back then: HTML, CSS, JavaScript… and you could build almost anything. Simple stack. Clear focus. Now: React, Angular, Vue, Node, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS… And the list just keeps growing 😅 Sometimes it feels like we’re spending more time learning tools than actually building. But here’s the truth: This complexity exists because the problems we solve today are bigger than ever. The real edge? Not knowing every tool… But knowing what to use, and when. Curious to hear your take 👇 Are we overcomplicating things… or just evolving? #webdevelopment #softwareengineering #programming #developers #tech #coding
This is so accurate it hurts 😅 I think we’re definitely evolving—but also adding layers faster than we’re simplifying them. The challenge now isn’t learning everything, it’s learning how to filter. The best developers I’ve seen aren’t the ones who know every tool—they’re the ones who:• Understand fundamentals deeply• Pick the right tool for the problem• Avoid unnecessary complexity Tech stacks will keep changing, but good judgment is what really scales. Curious—what’s one tool you learned that you rarely use now?
Ahm still kam ha or skills chia 😂
In today's date, we have a lot of options, I think the main thing today is to know which tool to use where, making systems cost efficient and avoiding over engineering
I’d say it’s both, but mostly evolution. The fundamentals haven’t changed, it’s still about solving problems with good structure and logic. What’s changed is the scale and complexity of what we’re building. The real skill now is knowing what to use, and more importantly what not to use. Simplicity is still the goal, it just takes more tools to get there.
I've never understood the belief that you can solve problems by making everything more complicated. There's little evidence for it. After 60 years, software products are still delivered late, over budget and failing to do what is asked of them. Ask your AI agent if it prefers complexity to simplicity. The answer will be no. Modern software stacks have a huge surface area and are guaranteed to cause errors, misjudgments and other failings. When AI gets it wrong we call it hallucination, but it's nothing of the kind; it's the inevitable consequence of making things too complex. Most people in the software business think AI just helps them code faster. True, but it misses the point. There's a paradigm shift under way that few have noticed. With the help of Claude Code I've been diving into this, and our conclusions are that a radical rethink is needed. With my help, Claude has just written this article: https://dev.to/gtanyware/ai-doesnt-need-your-programming-language-2bg0
It's happening, but not new. In the early days, tech stacks were not organized and structured. Learning curves are not a challenge because we are in the Era of AI. So, getting expertise in these areas is quite easy and fast. Each technology has its own set of benefits. It takes time for a coder to evolve into a software engineer. But I'm worried about the new generation of coders. They might be frustrated by the sheer number of technologies available.
What's your go-to framework right now, and what made you choose it over the others?
I think its the other way around for someone who's well matured. Building something from raw html, css, js or any other languages without a framework will be the most time consuming and buggy way. That's why so many frameworks came around to overcome that common complexities by establishing many common standards and eco systems. One who understands the real underlying mechanisms of any technology will truly know what comfort latest frameworks give us.
I'd say we're evolving, but the key insight you nailed is that knowing what to use and when matters more than knowing everything. After 7+ years of fullstack work with React and Python, I've found that the best projects aren't the ones using the most tools — they're the ones where the team made deliberate choices about what NOT to include. What's your approach to evaluating whether a new tool actually earns its place in the stack?
I think the real comparison isn’t just between a simpler stack then and a more complex one now — it’s between information scarcity in the past and information overload today. Years ago, tools were fewer, but knowledge was harder to access, which made learning itself a major challenge. Today, resources are everywhere, and that changes the game completely. The challenge is no longer finding information, but developing the judgment to filter noise, focus on what matters, and choose the right tools for the right problems. That, more than anything, is what defines a strong developer today.