October 24, 2024

A lost generation

There is a whole generation of developers who no longer know how to build simple websites and web applications. I am not the only one who thinks so. I read the following on reddit:

“I do client side heavy websites for a living. React, Vue etc. Even properly optimised they are all garbage and the DX of supporting them long term is insane. This whole way of building websites needs to go the way of the Dodo. And I say that as someone who makes a living doing it.”

“I feel you! I’m currently working on a PWA that would have been done months ago and been faster and more responsive if it wasn’t front-end heavy. But users are apparently allergic to page loads or something.”

“It’s all just naive assumptions at this point I suspect. We don’t need all of this. The problem is that there are multiple generations of web developers who are unable to do anything without these types of tools. And how do you hire competent frontend devs for a website that actually well put together without all this JS nonsense? The tech stack would almost be indistinguishable from one built in 2010.”

This shows that even the people who are in the thick of it can see that it is wrong, let alone the skeptics who look at it from a distance, like me. If you read the thread above, you will see that these two developers are not the only ones who think this way. It is a widely held opinion.

The amount of capital destruction that has taken place by teaching these people the wrong tools is truly unbelievable. How did we get here? And how do we get out of it? Because now client side heavy is the norm and mastering this technology is a requirement in almost every job opening.

I think the only thing we can do is not make the same mistake with the next generation. So it all starts with education.

()  Joost van der Schee