Nixbly
How front-end dev is becoming a popularity contest instead of a craft
🧱 HTML, CSS, and JS used to be enough.
Now? You need to choose between:
- React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, Qwik, Angular, Lit
- Tailwind, Chakra, MUI, Radix, DaisyUI
- Vite, Webpack, esbuild, Turbopack
- CSR, SSR, ISR, SSG, hydration, partial pre-rendering
And next month? Something even newer.
⚠️ We’re not building websites — we’re collecting badges
- Devs jumping ship to the next shiny thing before mastering the current one
- Portfolios that are 90% boilerplate and 10% original logic
- Job listings that ask for 5+ years of experience in tools that are 2 years old
- Junior devs scared to start because everything changes every quarter
It’s no longer about solving problems — it’s about staying relevant in the hype cycle.
💥 The real damage?
- Projects that are overengineered and underperforming
- Teams slowed down by complex toolchains they don’t understand
- Codebases filled with tech debt from “framework hopping”
- A growing generation of devs who know tools… but not the web
The tech stack is growing — but the skill stack is shrinking.
🤔 When did we stop caring about fundamentals?
- Semantic HTML? Forgotten.
- Accessible, responsive design? Optional.
- CSS mastery? Outsourced to utility classes.
- Understanding the DOM? Replaced by hooks and abstractions.
We’ve layered so much on top of the browser, we forgot what it can actually do.
✅ What should we return to?
🌐 Master the platform: Learn the browser, not just the framework
🧰 Pick tools with intention: Not everything needs a reactive UI
🎯 Solve the problem, not the trend
📉 Fewer dependencies = faster load times, simpler debugging
📚 Teach fundamentals first: The stack is secondary — the web is primary
❓Ask yourself:
- Are you choosing your tech stack… or just following Twitter trends?
- Can you explain how your framework works under the hood?
- If your tools disappeared tomorrow — could you still build a website?
👉 Frameworks are tools, not identities.
Let’s stop chasing hype and start building with purpose.
Post inspired by dev burnout, the never-ending JavaScript fatigue, and a growing call to refocus front-end education around real skills — not trendy logos.