[t4ngent]

Libraries can only take you so far.

A python developer with limited experience is likely to use too many 3rd party libraries in simple cases where they are really not needed. As the application grows this turns into a maintenance and/or performance nightmare.

Not to mention the fact that it takes experience to understand/troubleshoot/fix third party code. When things go wrong the dev with 10 years experience is going to be vastly more productive than one with less experience.

I am a python dev with >10 years experience and I manage numerous junior devs with limited experience, so I see this kind of thing all the time.

[phamilton]

But are you actually gaining productivity when fixing third party code? Or are you losing productivity? I would say you are paying back the gains you got from using the library in the first place and therefore losing productivity. Granted, you generally come out ahead.

I think that's the plateau in most languages. You get to a point where you are fighting the language/ecosystem as much as it's helping you and so productivity plateaus.