- tech
- software-engineering
- adaptability
Navigating the Tech Landscape: The Power of Foundation in Software Engineering
Martin Beck Andersen
My personal Journey & Insights
I feel extremely grateful and lucky for having entered the tech industry before all the frameworks took the center stage. Back then, it was all about grappling with vanilla JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, XML, CSS, PHP, SQL and what have you. To me, these weren't just coding languages, or simple libraries; because they would soon become the initial foundation upon which I have built my deeper understanding of the web.
It meant that once the frameworks rose in popularity and became an industry standard, I wasn't just learning the frameworks. I understood them and had a good idea of how they work under the hood.
This meant that once I transitioned into the realm of frameworks, I did so with extreme confidence. It meant that I could rely on my core concepts, so even if the frameworks had certain gaps in their toolkits, depending on what I needed to do, I was not at the mercy of the scope of the framework.
- Pattern matching not supported by the ORM? No problem, I knew how to write the raw SQL.
- Difficulties scaling the frontend UI due to overreliance on opinionated UI libraries? (Yes, I'm looking at you MUI users out there…) No problem, I could build my own UI components.
- Encountering a unique scenario with a legacy software module needing to be integrated into the React and TypeScript parts of the application? (RappidJS before it became JointJS+) No problem, because I understood the intricacies of JavaScript and its interplay with React.
I just want to give a quick mention here and say that working with the JointJS team on coupling a vanilla JS library (RappidJS) with a React + TypeScript ecosystem was an awesome experience in itself. It ultimately lead them to create a fully typed version of the library (JointJS+), although I am sure plenty of people had the same obstacle. Today, they have full compatibility with all the major frameworks; React, Angular, Vue and Svelte, as well as TypeScript support. Maybe I will make a separate blog post on this at some point.
But as you may notice, there are just too many examples to cover. As powerful as these frameworks may be, there will at times be edge-cases, where either the framework, or one of its dependencies, leads to certain obstacles.
This journey of going through the landscape of vanilla development shaped me into a "software engineer", rather than a specific framework developer. It instilled confidence in embracing and adapting to new languages, based on the belief that if I've done it once, I can do it again.
Adaptability has become an invaluable asset in today's tech landscape — a terrain where frameworks and libraries launch incessantly, while low-level languages vie for efficiency and speed.
Opting to be a software engineer means exceeding the boundaries of specific frameworks. It's about wielding a deep understanding of foundational concepts that resonate across languages and paradigms.
The ability to seamlessly switch between languages, frameworks and paradigms not only enhances proficiency, but also cultivates a mindset of continuous learning. This adaptability becomes a prized asset in a rapidly evolving industry, where the capacity to pivot and learn swiftly is crucial.
Conclusion: You are a Software Engineer
As we navigate this ever-evolving tech landscape, the choice becomes clear: become a software engineer — a versatile professional equipped with a strong foundation to navigate and thrive in any technological ecosystem.
So, let's embrace this mentality — to break free from the confines of specific frameworks, to leverage foundational knowledge for enduring solutions, and to drive innovation beyond the transient waves of technological evolution.