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The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

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Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#331

Post by tomclive »

dx034 wrote: post #308
whalesalad wrote: post #273

Technology is usually just a means to an end. Unless IP is what you are selling, boring is great. I’ve seen SO many teams burn SO much energy on complicated stacks just to drink kool-aid. It’s mind bogglingly frustrating, especially as a contractor. At the end of the day it’s great for me: I get brought into shit shows to clean up the mess. But deep down, I want projects to succeed and clean/sound systems architectur…

The only problem I see with rails is that it's hard to find devs these days (at least in Europe). Even if they could learn Rails for that project, many I've spoken to wouldn't want to take a job where Rails is required. I just witnessed a project switching from rails to React (for the frontend) because they just couldn't get enough good people willing to use Rails.

That's interesting. This year, for the first time, I've been working with Rails. It wasn't my choice but I've really enjoyed it. A lot just makes sense and it's been so quick to get things from idea to code.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#332

Post by bsder »

corndoge wrote: post #290
kabacha wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is HN so against people who _enjoy_ engineering? Why should I run some run-of-the-mill stack that has enourgmous legacy cruft and just not "fun". Not every business wants to be sillicon-valley optimized money farm - some people want to do some enjoyable work.

That's fine, but that's not engineering. Bridge designers do not try to build bridges out of materials discovered in the laboratory last month.

Exactly. Look at Eiffel's Folly, for example.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#333

Post by Volrath89 »

stupidcar wrote: post #328
chrischattin wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! So much this. Every startup I've worked with regretted choosing a trendy tech stack early on. Speed of development is BY FAR the most important thing and the SPA/Javascript framework de jour trend of the past few years is an antithetical to rapid iteration. As a consultant, I'll happily bill hours to untangle that mess, but it's very frustrating to see startups with lots of potential spinning their wheels with u…

Totally disagree re. SPA frameworks. Having mastered one of the popular ones, I've found I can now turn out fairly complex apps that I never could have contemplated building solo a few years ago.

Completely agree. My default stack is now react + an api in the backend. The way you can reuse components is a great time saver (even for simple apps). I also like redux-thunk to separate all my API calls from the components. Makes everything very lean and readable.

I feel way more productive today than in the old jQuery, knockout messes

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#334

Post by r_singh »

Volrath89 wrote: post #333
stupidcar wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally disagree re. SPA frameworks. Having mastered one of the popular ones, I've found I can now turn out fairly complex apps that I never could have contemplated building solo a few years ago.

Completely agree. My default stack is now react + an api in the backend. The way you can reuse components is a great time saver (even for simple apps). I also like redux-thunk to separate all my API calls from the components. Makes everything very lean and readable. I feel way more productive today than in the old jQuery, knockout messes

Same here! What's your choice of stack for the api?

PS - I need to build an api for an app with a React front-end. My choice of language is Python (because I'm super familiar and because of the great ORMs Python has).

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#335

Post by mcjiggerlog »

kabacha wrote: post #288
whalesalad wrote: post #273

Technology is usually just a means to an end. Unless IP is what you are selling, boring is great. I’ve seen SO many teams burn SO much energy on complicated stacks just to drink kool-aid. It’s mind bogglingly frustrating, especially as a contractor. At the end of the day it’s great for me: I get brought into shit shows to clean up the mess. But deep down, I want projects to succeed and clean/sound systems architectur…

Why is HN so against people who _enjoy_ engineering? Why should I run some run-of-the-mill stack that has enourgmous legacy cruft and just not "fun". Not every business wants to be sillicon-valley optimized money farm - some people want to do some enjoyable work.

If you want to hack on new technologies, great, that's understandable. But do that on your own time, not when you're being paid to achieve business objectives.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#336

Post by dx034 »

tomclive wrote: post #331
dx034 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem I see with rails is that it's hard to find devs these days (at least in Europe). Even if they could learn Rails for that project, many I've spoken to wouldn't want to take a job where Rails is required. I just witnessed a project switching from rails to React (for the frontend) because they just couldn't get enough good people willing to use Rails.

That's interesting. This year, for the first time, I've been working with Rails. It wasn't my choice but I've really enjoyed it. A lot just makes sense and it's been so quick to get things from idea to code.

I don't think devs hesitate because Rails (or Ruby in general) isn't good, they hesitate because they hope to gain more relevant experience by working with JS frameworks.

But again, that's just my experience, it may differ for other companies and/or regions.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#337

Post by zhdc1 »

strzibny wrote: post #315
dx034 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem I see with rails is that it's hard to find devs these days (at least in Europe). Even if they could learn Rails for that project, many I've spoken to wouldn't want to take a job where Rails is required. I just witnessed a project switching from rails to React (for the frontend) because they just couldn't get enough good people willing to use Rails.

I heard this before, but when we tried to find a React dev for the front-end part we couldn't find any either. There are more JS devs for sure, but you also compete with literally everybody for talent.

I kind of get the impression that there is a glut of developers who know/are learning React and a glut of companies that are having trouble finding someone willing or able to use React (at least where I'm located).

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#338

Post by saiya-jin »

corndoge wrote: post #290
kabacha wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is HN so against people who _enjoy_ engineering? Why should I run some run-of-the-mill stack that has enourgmous legacy cruft and just not "fun". Not every business wants to be sillicon-valley optimized money farm - some people want to do some enjoyable work.

That's fine, but that's not engineering. Bridge designers do not try to build bridges out of materials discovered in the laboratory last month.

... and bridge designers don't design 'to have fun', but to have structurally sound, cheap and reliable infrastructure tool to cross rivers. Or imagine hiring a construction company for your dream house, realizing only after all is built that they were experimenting and 'having fun' with new unproven materials, construction, wiring etc.

OP's approach is mighty fine for his own endeavors, but if I had such a worker hired, there would be a serious talk about priorities. If no agreement is found even 100x engineer would be let go.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#339

Post by danmaz74 »

kabacha wrote: post #288
whalesalad wrote: post #273

Technology is usually just a means to an end. Unless IP is what you are selling, boring is great. I’ve seen SO many teams burn SO much energy on complicated stacks just to drink kool-aid. It’s mind bogglingly frustrating, especially as a contractor. At the end of the day it’s great for me: I get brought into shit shows to clean up the mess. But deep down, I want projects to succeed and clean/sound systems architectur…

Why is HN so against people who _enjoy_ engineering? Why should I run some run-of-the-mill stack that has enourgmous legacy cruft and just not "fun". Not every business wants to be sillicon-valley optimized money farm - some people want to do some enjoyable work.

I love engineering. I don't love over-engineering.

I also love to experiment with new interesting stuff. But that's not engineering, it's learning.

Re: The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

#340

Post by Scarblac »

SyneRyder wrote: post #145
Scarblac wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. This isn't Tech Business News or Startup News, it's Hacker News.

Hacker News was originally called "Startup News". At launch it was exclusively about startups. https://news.ycombinator.com/hackernews.html

But the name changed to reflect the broader focus. It's not just that anymore.
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