Dilemma of a modern day developer
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Am I a good developer ? This question bugs me at times. On one hand I am always able to provide solution to business problems using what I know or by learning something new to resolve problem. On the other hand I don’t know all the latest and greatest frameworks and tools out there. I have been doing development for more than 7 years now. In those 7 years I have worked on so many different tools, technologies and libraries to solve business problems. I have .NET as my main technology stack but I did development on Java, SQL, Integration tools, Salesforce, PLC and few other technologies. One thing is consistent in all those projects is business generally don’t care about underlying technology stack as long as it serves their requirement. As a developer you make conscious decision on what to offer to your client as a solution. You cannot ask a small shop to go on and invest arm and a leg on some product just because you are comfortable working with it and on opposite side there are big organizations which can afford to buy or build products using latest and greatest technologies. As a developer you understand that latest is not always the best. Why would you implement a solution using some new JavaScript framework or any other latest fad that takes more time and effort and eventually becomes a maintenance nightmare? Just because Google and Facebook uses Python I must use it ? As a developer you are not only required to know programming languages but also different server platforms, deployment tools, source control tools, CI / CD platforms, testing frameworks etc. A developer’s job is a demanding job. In today’s market there is ever growing expectation from developer to be proficient in whatever technology is hot at that time and there are quite a few at any given point in time. Not only you need to know that technology inside out you are expected to know any other tools, libraries and frameworks build around it. It makes you question are you really a good developer even if you don’t know latest technologies or tools ? You don’t know those technologies because up until now you did not have a need to use it in whatever application you are building. Just because AngulrJS sounds cool and everyone is using it I must use it ? One thing I have felt is if you don’t use today’s latest fad you are perceived to be old school and at times will not get a chance to even be considered for a new role. Do you ever wonder are you a good developer or not ?
Simple: According to the Dunning Kruger effect ( Dunning–Kruger effect - Wikipedia[^] ) if you question your depth of knowledge, you are more likely to be good at something. People who don't know enough to know what they don't know - are usually overconfident. :) Conversely - talented people tend to question themselves more - because they know they don't know it all.