- Published on
Your Stack Sucks
- Authors
- Name
- Alex Lee
- @alexjoelee
Hey, you - the one who's been building that little app for too long. Your stack sucks! It's 2024, imagine using that stack in 2024. Your back end is part of your front end? You're not even using React? I'm surprised you could get Flask to run with all those dependency problems.
Nonsense and why we all talk about it
Every industry on the planet has their own version of shop talk. Mechanics talk about brands, models, or specific manufacturing runs of a part that fails often. The folks that cut your hair prefer their trimmer brand and the people building our power grid have their favorite set of 20kV insulating gloves. It's no different for the folks working on your startup, from your lead developer to the person you've never heard of racking and stacking in the DC. "What version of JunOS is that running? Oh, if it's non-ELS it's crap." "If you need more than Vim for development, you're f$%d."
We talk about it because it feels good to talk about. It feels to good to have an opinion, express it, and debate it with like-minded colleagues. Developers certainly are no exception, rather, they're a glaring example of this. Today, we have so many options in front of us: languages, frameworks, libraries, editors, APIs, even services like e-mail and AI-of-choice. We can debate the best of each of these forever, and we will.
The trouble comes in when people who are more green to the industry end up taking these conversations a little too seriously. You don't have to participate in the conversation to find yourself quietly thinking, "Well, maybe I should try something else...?"
The result of this endless deliberation is just that, and you never ship.
What stack should I use?
Use whatever stack makes sense to use. For you, your team, your app, your hosting environment. Pick your favorite, learn it, and use it. Do you need to try something else? Is the framework you've decided on simply not enough for you? Then change it, if you're sure.
The biggest mistake you can make is not shipping. Quit deliberating on the intricacies of irrelevant frameworks if it's just your excuse not to ship anything.