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Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

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Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#21

Post by el_dev_hell »

xondono wrote: post #9

One of my gripes with web development is that it looks like its primary driven by fads. A LOT of companies change the whole stack just to copy the latest gimmick they’ve seen somewhere else. Devs need to be constantly relearning how to do basic things, so you either chose some tech and hope it gets popular, or you get to know a lot of frameworks only superficially, which leaves a lot of the internet broken.

I see this as a common sentiment, but I don't see it IRL.

SPAs aren't a fad anymore; instead, they're the norm.

Web development over the past 3 years has majorly stabilised compared to the last 10 as a whole.

Want to work on the frontend? React. It's everywhere and can't be considered 'just a fad' in 2021.

Backend? Wrap your head around REST and you'll be fine with most languages (C# with .net core is very common, although often underpaid in my experience).

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#22

Post by carpedimebagjoe »

kar5pt wrote: post #12
bwh2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is ageism really that bad at the companies where you all work? Dang. Can't imagine working someplace where turning 26 puts you at risk of sounding old and washed up.

I think he's exaggerating. The workplaces I've seen aren't nearly that bad (and definitely don't have 27 year old managers).

I took a contract once at a mobile handset mfgr that had this. This sysadmin-cum-manager dude (with zero previous management exp) thought he was hot sh*t because of his title. Dude was robotic/patronizing fake, arrogant, useless, and just got in the way. He thought his role was to unsolicited "coach" mission statement BS and insult my intelligence.

Oddly enough, I was fired from that gig for witnessing a senior manager repeatedly mute the conference call to make racist remarks about overseas staff.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#23

Post by rekabis »

carpedimebagjoe wrote: post #22
kar5pt wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's exaggerating. The workplaces I've seen aren't nearly that bad (and definitely don't have 27 year old managers).

I took a contract once at a mobile handset mfgr that had this. This sysadmin-cum-manager dude (with zero previous management exp) thought he was hot sh*t because of his title. Dude was robotic/patronizing fake, arrogant, useless, and just got in the way. He thought his role was to unsolicited "coach" mission statement BS and insult my intelligence. Oddly enough, I was fired from that gig for witnessing a senior manag…

> for witnessing a senior manager repeatedly mute the conference call to make racist remarks about overseas staff.

This sounds like the perfect opportunity to have your phone in your shirt pocket such that the camera just barely peeks above the cuff of that pocket. As long as you are in a one-party-consent region (most states, all of Canada), you can have some pretty juicy stuff that HR can make “go away” with a golden parachute of sufficient size.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#24

Post by loosetypes »

slipwalker wrote: post #18
Clubber wrote: post #7

Tech interviews have been horribly broken for at least a decade now. They've been mostly broken for a couple decades. Fortunately I haven't had to talk to a recruiter for a job since 1998 and hopefully I never will again. Maybe call up some people you worked with before and see if their company is hiring. They most likely are. Anyway, C# is still very relevant, but it depends on location. In my city, it's huge, in ot…

>In my city, it's huge, in others, not so much do you mind telling us which is your city, and why it's huge on C# ?

Presumably the area of WA where Microsoft resides.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#25

Post by carpedimebagjoe »

rekabis wrote: post #23
carpedimebagjoe wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a contract once at a mobile handset mfgr that had this. This sysadmin-cum-manager dude (with zero previous management exp) thought he was hot sh*t because of his title. Dude was robotic/patronizing fake, arrogant, useless, and just got in the way. He thought his role was to unsolicited "coach" mission statement BS and insult my intelligence. Oddly enough, I was fired from that gig for witnessing a senior manag…

> for witnessing a senior manager repeatedly mute the conference call to make racist remarks about overseas staff. This sounds like the perfect opportunity to have your phone in your shirt pocket such that the camera just barely peeks above the cuff of that pocket. As long as you are in a one-party-consent region (most states, all of Canada), you can have some pretty juicy stuff that HR can make “go away” with a gold…

Sadly, it was in a two-party consent state. ):

I'm now in a one-party consent state and have a trusty-dusty digital audio recorder.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#26

Post by krypton2k »

carpedimebagjoe wrote: post #20
readonthegoapp wrote: post #2

I can't speak from the point of view, directly, as a current web dev, but I'm 100% confident that the landscape has completely changed -- from the point of view of someone who looks at, evaluates, prototypes in new stacks all the time, and product/project-managed modern web stacks. I complain here and everywhere about the insane complexity in modern-day web app dev. The truth is that, after you learn the 20 new tools…

> Get off my lawn xD I'm a 43 yo autodidact + BS EE/CS. Haven't had a problem except for resume gaps when doing side-hustles and unnamed startup consulting for too long, HR at shops raise their eyebrows. When it gets to in-person interviewing, I may have a leg over with ~10 years of neanimorphism, look somewhat between a neohippie artist and an idle trustfunder (definitely neither, LOL!), and (obnoxious bragging here…

Lol I think you mean "a leg up" a leg over is something quite different :)

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#27

Post by sbacic »

readonthegoapp wrote: post #2

I can't speak from the point of view, directly, as a current web dev, but I'm 100% confident that the landscape has completely changed -- from the point of view of someone who looks at, evaluates, prototypes in new stacks all the time, and product/project-managed modern web stacks. I complain here and everywhere about the insane complexity in modern-day web app dev. The truth is that, after you learn the 20 new tools…

> I complain here and everywhere about the insane complexity in modern-day web app dev.

As a frontend dev, I don't think complexity is the issue. I _love_ the new tools at my disposal and am grateful that time has done away with many issues we used to have, such as poor cross-browser compatibility.

Rather, I think the main problem has to do with layers. The bottom layers - the hardware, the kernel - they just work. It's the topmost layers that are the problem - there's a constant battle with dependencies, configurations and tools.

I'm sure that a lot of this frustration would go away if people weren't forced to do yak-shaving every time they wanted to develop an app.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#28

Post by aristofun »

Main goal of most good interviewers is simple — hire smart developer.

Algorithms is one way of achieving this goal (another question if it’s good way).

Since CSS knowledge (and honestly wordpress) is not a big deal (you don’t have to be smart to learn them) — make sense that interviewers asking you a lot of stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Are my web dev skills still relevant?

#30

Post by xondono »

el_dev_hell wrote: post #21
xondono wrote: post #9

One of my gripes with web development is that it looks like its primary driven by fads. A LOT of companies change the whole stack just to copy the latest gimmick they’ve seen somewhere else. Devs need to be constantly relearning how to do basic things, so you either chose some tech and hope it gets popular, or you get to know a lot of frameworks only superficially, which leaves a lot of the internet broken.

I see this as a common sentiment, but I don't see it IRL. SPAs aren't a fad anymore; instead, they're the norm. Web development over the past 3 years has majorly stabilised compared to the last 10 as a whole. Want to work on the frontend? React. It's everywhere and can't be considered 'just a fad' in 2021. Backend? Wrap your head around REST and you'll be fine with most languages (C# with .net core is very common, al…

> I see this as a common sentiment, but I don't see it IRL.

It might be true, I’m definitely not an expert, I do embedded in C mostly, but I’m always curious to learn the stacks used in each company I get in. Everywhere I go, there’s a completely different one, and all of the leads talk to me about moving to something shinny soon.

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