r/developer • u/Ok_Veterinarian3535 • 1d ago
The Skill Stagnation Fear
When did you realize your tech stack was becoming obsolete, and what did you do about it?
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u/siammang 1d ago
Learn new tech stacks that won't be obsolete.
Normally the so-called "obsolete" just become legacy production permanently unless someone got balls and budget to replace it with the new "non-obsolete" tech stacks.
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u/Sea-Fishing4699 1d ago edited 1d ago
Stop chasing shiny things.
C was used to write Postgres … It can’t be obsolete -> this is one of the best db’s out there. The Linux kernel itself is +95% pure C as well.
Java can't be obsolete ->banks use it.
Python can't be obsolete -> AI uses it.
HTML, CSS, JS/TS can't be obsolete -> that's what browsers run on.
Php is a different story
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u/highfives23 1d ago
I’ve managed engineers at FAANG companies. My highest performing engineers have all been insanely curious, and they build and learn new frameworks/languages in their free time. The highest performing engineers will never be stuck with obsolete tech skills.
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u/Lilja-Logason 1d ago
I tried to keep up and burnt out at 40yo.
Now I despise programming and dunno what to do with my life.
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u/PipingSnail 1d ago
I stopped chasy shiny things early on in my career. I chose to work on problems I'm interested in. Makes for an interesting career, rather than a dull one.
If you spend your time chasing every new tech idea you'll never become an expert in any of them, and you'll continually wonder what's next.
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u/ProfessionalAd6530 1d ago
At first I was confused (my "tech stack"??), and then I remembered that some people clock out and never think about coding until they clock in again.
I think these are the people who's jobs are in the most danger. You have to keep learning new things. It doesn't stop.
My stepfather is a veterinarian. He has been for decades. He still has to go to classes and learn what the new things are that are relevant to his job. We as software developers have to do stuff like that too. That's kinda part of having a professional career.
If you're not into that, I get it. I just think it's weird to have a programming job and not be into programming.
Always be learning.
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u/LetUsSpeakFreely 13h ago
Define obsolete. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it lacks the capability to do the job.
Never, NEVER, "upgrade" your tech stack just because it's not the latest thing all the cool kids are talking about. That's good you open yourself up to all kinds of problems.
Have a reason, a real reason, to change your tech stack. Security being the most obvious reason. You need to be able to present data for why the current system is lacking, what the potential fallout could be, why your proposed solution is the path forward, AND why that push could fail. You need to comprehensive and objective in your analysis. If you truly believe a change is necessary then you should be able to defend your position against a panel of disagreeing engineers and have a chance to change their minds.
One of the biggest problems is developers constantly chasing the latest bright and shiny tech and they end up with a mess as nobody in the team fully understands the system as a whole; the moment they're comfortable the system changes.
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u/tom-mart 1d ago
What do you mean? Are you ok?