[bob1029]

I've reduced my stack to C#, raw HttpContext middleware and string interpolation (aka poor man's PHP). Multipart form posts and full page reloads are my bread and butter these days. I'll still reach for Ajax and websockets if need be, but it's not the default. The entire site doesn't have to be one gigantic fucking SPA. Targeted application of the distracting shiny tech will take you so much further.

The problems themselves are way more interesting to me now. I get very upset when the tech gets in the way. I'll happily pay for licenses, fees, royalties, etc to clear the path.

It wasn't always this way though. The first decade of my career I didn't really care for the problems I was working on, so theorycrafting the tools all day was a nice respite. Coming up with principled clean architectures is a lot easier when you don't have to answer directly to the customer.

[jfengel]

Programmers love programming for other programmers. We most respect the writers of operating systems and languages. We hold them as having the deepest wisdom. But really, it's just because their target audience is us.

Doing stuff for actual customers is seen as grunt work. Their interests aren't ours, and we can't share what we learn with our peers.

So we end up reinventing the wheel just because it's more fun. And it is fun, and that's ok. Sometimes it's even useful. You just have to figure out what your real goal is, and not spend your whole life polishing your craft for its own sake.