Are we overengineering everything in modern frontend dev?

Okay, serious question (but also low-key rant):
How did we go from “just load a page with some content” to entire frontend stacks with build pipelines, 300 dependencies, and five levels of abstraction just to render a freaking button?

Do we really need a separate config for everything (webpack, eslint, prettier, tsconfig, package.json, and don't forget the .babelrc and .env.local)?
Or is it just modern dev trying to look smarter than it is?

Is this the new normal? Or have we lost the plot?

Would love to hear what others think — devs from all backgrounds welcome. Bonus points if you're building sites without frameworks and surviving

You can be jealous, it's fine.

emag eht tsol uoy

niaga

I haven't been on in a while because I got laid off two weeks ago. I made it three years and survived two layoffs. I'm relieved honestly; got a decent severance package. Technically I got an extra week of "PTO" where I still had access to two Slack rooms if I wanted to say goodbye to people.

I've taken two weeks to unwind. Time to update my cover sheet and get back into the flow of contacting old buddies to see what work is available.

I've been at it for over 20 years at this point: Java, Scala, Python, Ruby and even a couple of years of devops/sys admin. Let's see how bad the remote and local job markets suck now.

I'm averaging 3 hours a day outside of meetings. Mostly in 30 minute blocks.

Manager is wondering why I can't get work done...

I used to live here as a kid

Cuties assemble

So, recently there has been an influx of AI generated absolute junk literally everywhere. We can see the internet destroy itself in realtime. And it's not even just the internet. Companies are pushing AI onto everyone in every aspect of our lives. Our fucking phones, every shitty company needs to have at least one AI powered feature that nobody ever asked for, just because it's relevant, the fucking already working search for your local files, fuckin' books even, holy fuck and all this is literally just me writing a random post without knowing what I'm talking about, because I just want to tell you that you lost the game again, see you next year.

So I heard y'all like ducks..

Do you have thousands of unidentified songs, all named consecutively Track 1?
This application will help you to finally identify those songs with a simple drag and drop. [more details]

Hey, @dfox

Is there anything we can do to help?
We miss you, and we want to keep devRant alive too.

“Does god exist?”, I typed into a green terminal window after granting GPT-7 root access to our grid. “…now it does”, echoed from every speaker.

My tip for staying productive: **Don't**

Take a break. Take a few. Have a nap. Take a stroll outside. Enjoy life.

Life's too short. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

Fuck productivity.

Anyone here playing the D and the D? Or any other TTRPGs / Pen & Papers really.

You lost the game (again)

"our placeholder shows an @ symbol, but please don't use an @ symbol!"

i'm so happy knowing that the devs and designers who created this app are earning 20x what i am

🤡🌎

What?… How? W…why? B… but the shareholders! The employees! Who… who's gonna pay for that? Profit margins! The growth! How's that even possible?

(https://geobytes.com, operational since 1999)

You know what´s really retarded?

How HP decided to put the delete key next to the power button on their Elitebooks (and make the power button part of the top keyboard row)

Thats awesome (not mine)

These moronic idiots wrote a scientific paper, and did not bother explaining the acronym they've used. 😐

https://sciencedirect.com/science/...

How am I supposed to know which fuckin CART it means? Huh? Who the fuck told you that was acceptable? Also fig 3 can get fucked too.
Your approach seemed interesting for all of two whole fuckin seconds before you fucked it with your unscientific explanation of your results in SIXTEEN FUCKING DIGITS after zero. Fuck you and fuck this and fuck that. Am I clear?

... The straw that broke the camel's back. 😑

User: *Clicks on staging environment*

Giant Warning Dialog: YOU ARE CURRENTLY ENTERING THE STAGING ENVIRONMENT

Users: Ok

App: *Completely different colour, I’m talking bright unsightly yellow*

User: Ok

Giant Yellow and Red Flashing Banner at the Top of the Screen: WARNING YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING STAGING, THIS AREA IS FOR TESTING ONLY

User: The production environment sure is acting strange today. It’s a weird colour and I don’t recognize any of the data, it’s all just dummy filler data. I better create a ticket for the dev team to check o—….. no wait I’ll send an email CC everyone including the CEO and sound the alarm production is currently down and filled with giant warning messages.

Manager: OH MY GOD PRODUCTION IS DOWN DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS??? WHAT THE FUCK COULD THESE WARNING MESSAGES BE THAT’S ONLY SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN ON STAGING! THE CEO IS BREATHING DOWN MY NECK YOU NEED TO GET THIS FIXED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

Dev: …

I was nearly about to punch someone today.

So, this guy is taking issues with my 3D model, yeah? But it's not the model he has issues with, it's that "why doesn't this include the stuff """I""" need?". Well, you giant man-baby could have actually visited the model like two months ago when I made it, but noooooooo let's leave it until a few days before his massive demonstration is due. Plus, the pieces I received from someone else also didn't have this info, so, like, where do you want me to get them from? Oh, from the "other" model that was literally delivered by a third party like two weeks ago? Nice. Hold onto your breath while I go rip that model apart piece by piece and put the info you need, in the format you need, in this model. 😒

... Jeeeeeez. And my computer broke down two days ago. 🤦

Could this get any worse? It could, but didn't. Luckily, someone else gave me a hand, so now I just need to go to work on a weekend just to install unreal engine again just so I can rip the second model apart for this one piece that he "really needs".

The worst part? I'm sure all of this tantrum is actually so he can justify why his work is ... well... "not working".

Let the finger pointing games begin!
(Actually not afraid of that at all. My boss knows better so yolo)

Idk, my brain is eeeeeeeeeek.

I finally finished reading the goddamn book. 🥵

Annual YOU LOST THE GAME post

Fact :)

Same here..

How are ya doing, fellow humans?

I went to see the robots in the lab but the lab was closed 😩😞😢

Work life balance. Ever heard of it?

DXB (airport)'s WiFi doesn't let you call through whatsapp or telegram or even discord. It also does not let you send a whatsapp voice message, which has me very puzzled.

And all I wanted to do was to call my mom. ☹️
(I might also be running a slight fever, which makes me very emotional and sensitive)