> I think this is true of a much larger category of developers than JS developers (though one could argue that defining yourself by a specific language is indicative of belonging to this category), that is developers who can't do more than plumbing, i.e. developers who can't actually solve problems properly on their own.
> The flighty attraction to the new shiny is somewhat driven by a lack of understanding of how either the new or the old shiny actually work. If you understand the job you're setting out to do you're in a much better position to decide upon tools, frameworks, what to do in house, etc.
I agree with this. Many developers never think to ask clients "why do you want to do this?" also. Sticking boxes together, cleaning up code and coming up with clever coding tricks is fun and distracting; it's easy to lose sight of or never even learn of what high-level problem you're meant to be solving.
> The flighty attraction to the new shiny is somewhat driven by a lack of understanding of how either the new or the old shiny actually work. If you understand the job you're setting out to do you're in a much better position to decide upon tools, frameworks, what to do in house, etc.
I agree with this. Many developers never think to ask clients "why do you want to do this?" also. Sticking boxes together, cleaning up code and coming up with clever coding tricks is fun and distracting; it's easy to lose sight of or never even learn of what high-level problem you're meant to be solving.