JavaScript is my toxic ex

I've been faking my orgasms with JavaScript for a couple years now... And I know I'm not the only one! Is just that I don't need to fake it anymore just to get hired. Those are the advantages of not getting hired for JavaScript roles anymore. JavaScript is not paying my bills like it used to.

All the survival drama aside, kinda feels liberating not needing to fake being excited about wasting my spare time learning the newest and coolest JS tool. A tool that I know really well is going to get deprecated next week.

JavaScript makes me feel old

I haven't been around for so long, barely 7 years, but JS (and webdev in general) really outperforms any other tech niche on making you feel old.

I remember back in 2021 doing job interviews where Redux was one of the most powerful keywords on your resume, "a must".

I remember seeing it in the job title, YEP! not the description. Stuff like "React with Redux Developer" or "Front End Developer with Redux".

One year later, in 2022 any dev who picked Redux was now seen as a shitty developer that relayed on a shitty redundant library when React Context was more than enough for the job. And we are not even talking about a new tool that replaces an old one in this case.

That's just one of the many anecdotes I can think off as I write this shitty blog post. There are hundreds of deprecated tools that have stolen my weekends. Most of them never been used long enough or brought me enough cash to justify the time I spent on mastering them.

I can share some guilt

OK, sometimes is just our fault. Our curiosity as well as the motivation to stay ahead of the rest. Nobody pointed me with their gun to spend my weekends learning React 360 for example. I just though the Metaverse was gonna be a thing and I would crown myself...

React 360 got deprecated and archived WAY BEFORE Metaverse characters had legs. The rest is history. I sold my Oculus Quest glasses and went back to try to guess the next big thing in JavaScript ecosystem. Yeah, Oculus, that's how they were named back then.

The super fancy tool you are wasting this weekend on learning that you think will give you an edge and make you appreciated at work will be legacy next month, better go outside, grab a beer and let them call you mediocre while you enjoy your life. Somebody else can be the people pleaser. That's my advice to my past self.

Although, to be honest, don't even get into full-stack development at all would be a better advice. Go somewhere else where your knowledge really stack (not sure if this sentence makes sense in English, I refuse to use translators or AI assistance)

No hard feelings... But I think it's time we see other people!

JavaScript is just like that ex you can't get away from. Hoping that little tweak will make things work again. But when you reflect calmly and look back you come to the realization that it has never really worked at all.

I guess is hard to start over fresh as a non-JS or non-web developer... Probably that's why I delayed this move and many others do so.

Is like being trapped in a building on fire where jumping out of the window is just so much out of your comfort zone that you just stay there hoping the fire will go away. Man the building ain't that high, just jump already! Job market is cooked anyways, you ain't losing that much.

We are not in 2022 anymore, yeah nobody gives a fuck about your React skills so you have very little to lose. I can't see myself regretting leaving JavaScript ten years from now. Is just the immediate effect that scares me and makes me constantly postpone the change. Is it just me tho?

There is a whole universe beyond browsers

I love both: solving problems that are just enough big to feed my ego and being able to go a bit wild with design. But I eventually came to the conclusion that I don't need browsers for the first one, neither figma for the second.

While we're all fighting over the scraps of remote JavaScript or webdev jobs, there's a whole world of work in tech that actually needs human hands.

So I'm planning to spend less time with my mechanical keyboard to spend it with actual mechanical tools. If possible, without leaving tech industry.

I won't miss the constant anxiety of wondering if my entire skill set will be obsolete next Tuesday. Tech is tech, things move fast, I might be just seeing the grass greener outside, but come on, data supports this. "JavaScript fatigue" is not a new term... And "JavaScript fatigue" along with "over-supply of developers" makes it all just not worth anymore. Hard to stay here without feeling stupid, the opportunity cost is brutal!

JavaScript, it's not me, it's definitely you. You are ungrateful and toxic

Most devs wanna still get cocky and will refuse to leave until the last minute. Some just can't drop the Senior title, they think they are too good for that. Can't be seen as quitters. I respect that... But good luck with that! I'm moving out to where I'm needed and appreciated. Web dev, you are barely needed. You are not special. You are not a cool kid anymore. And you'll definitely not be needed at all in a couple of years.

Masks off, I just started with web/webapp development for the money 8 years ago. I though it would be for life, but there's nothing left to do here, unless you wanna stay and watch it burn while missing hundreds of opportunities outside just so you can keep your "Senior" title.

Who would trade their "Mr.Clever-Senior" status in a field they've been working on for years just to start from scratch somewhere else as juniors, right? But at the end of the day I agree with Forrest Gump on "stupid is as stupid does". Intelligent web developer is an oxymoron today. Unless, of course, you don't give a fuck about money and paying bills.

But me? I do.

So I'm out...