It could be worse. I could be any other language / dev env. Trying getting a C or C++ open GL app to compile. the first hits are often 20+ years old NeHe tutorials. Every few years the libraries change, the dev environments change, and unless you're already an expert in them you have no idea what you need to change in the project to get them working again.
I've run into this issue in every language. Nothing special about Javascript here.
20 years later, I can still write an SDL app using just the SDL repo and my C compiler, with GL features and all the other bells and whistles that made me choose SDL in the first place. Its there, it builds, it runs.
There isn't a single Javascript project I've done in the last 10 years that I can return to and run again - they've all been borked by the eco-system. I dread the idea of even opening a package.json file to see what's wrong...
I've run into this issue in every language. Nothing special about Javascript here.